It's going to shake some people up. Now we're getting people who are totally talented, guys like Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson have used it for a long time. They could putt with anything. Today, numerous young players use the longer versions because they simply got comfortable doing so early.
It wasn't because they couldn't putt with a traditional putter. It is not uncommon to see an entire group on the Nationwide Tour with long or belly putters. Belly putters are typically about 45 inches, or around 10 inches longer than a standard putter.
A long putter is usually around 50 inches. Such putters offer up plenty to debate, as Els acknowledged all those years ago. There is clearly an advantage to being able to anchor the club. I went to the pro shop and I was with my dad and I was kind of making fun of the belly putter, and I thought, I just have to make a couple putts with this. So I took it out on the course for nine holes and made everything.
I knew I was going to get made fun of by my teammates, but took it back to Wake. I used it, one of my teammates, two years older than me, he was making fun of me for using it, which I knew he would, but he saw me putt with it and he went out and got the same exact putter and won his first college event two weeks later.
I think it's pretty crazy, because if it was so easy, why isn't everybody using it? Longer putters still don't guarantee success, which is why golf's governing bodies have been reluctant to change the rules.
Mike Davis, the USGA's executive director, has often said the putters help, but that "we write the rules for all players. And then you look at some of the numbers. Not a single player in the tour's putts gained putting category who ranks in the top 10 uses a long or belly putter. Steve Stricker, who leads the stat and is followed by Luke Donald, is 44 years old and has used the same style putter for years. There's a lot more to it than the length of the putter.
Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Harig: Do long and belly putters give golfers an advantage? Using a belly putter, Ernie Els sank a foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole that eventually gave him his second British Open victory. Casey Martin is better known for needing a cart because of a leg condition, but he is also a user of a long putter. Carl Pettersson has used a long putter his entire Tour career and believes the effort to ban it is an overreaction to recent major wins by players using anchored putters.
Rocco Mediate became the first player to win a PGA Tour event with a putter anchored to his body when he won the Doral-Ryder Open using a inch putter. Phil Mickelson had a brief fling with a long putter at the Deutsche Bank Championship. It didn't last, but he later said banning long putters would be 'grossly unfair.
Martin Laird said he was 'tearing my hair out' over his struggles with a conventional putter before switching to a belly putter in mid Tim Clark won the Players with a long putter and says the club is easier to use due to a physical condition which makes it difficult to put his hands properly on a conventional putter.
Images from the European players and their wives and girlfriends at the 43rd Ryder Cup gala. Anchor men: Players who use long putters. Jim Furyk Jim Furyk is one of many players who has experimented with, but not committed to, a belly putter. Fred Couples Fred Couples uses a belly putter and doesn't think they should be banned.
Bernhard Langer Long-putter user Bernhard Langer passionately defends their use. What else am I going to do? He made the switch to the belly putter late in and won the Open Championship in July with the help of an Adam Scott collapse late in the final round.
Tim Clark has suffered with a variety of physical ailments over the years, but he won the Players Championship with a long putter. He credited the long putter for the victory because of a physical condition that made it difficult for him to put his hands properly on a conventional putter. Trevor Immelman won the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open with a long putter but went back to conventional again until when he went non-traditional.
Martin Laird used a long putter for a while in but got to the point on near-desperation with his putting back and went back to a belly putter.
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