This is a article from Chris King, I had to send this out, I use this type of putter and would not like to see this putter become illegal.
The PGA Tour has announced its opposition to the USGA and R&A’s ban on anchored putting strokes, a position that has outraged some of the game’s traditionalists.
Make no mistake, the Tour, along with the PGA of America and the National Golf Course Owners Association, made the right decision in their opposition to the ban.
Forms of anchoring have been around for decades and no great harm has come to the game. Nor will it going forward.
If the USGA and R&A were so offended by an anchored putting stroke, they should’ve acted years ago.
The hybrid putting stroke wasn’t a problem until Ernie Els used it to win the British Open and Webb Simpson anchored his way to the U.S. Open championship. At that point it became more than the game’s superiors could stand.
If the USGA and R&A have evidence that anchoring makes the game fundamentally easier, they should present it. The vast majority will then oppose anchored strokes the way they do the Polara golf ball.
That evidence has yet to emerge, and I’m not holding my breath awaiting its arrival. Neither should you.
This isn’t about “cheating,” it’s about perception and a pair of organizations that embrace new trends about as readily as North Korea. The proposed ban has its roots in the same type of decision making that got
Michael Jordan banned from a private course for wearing cargo shorts.
Jordan didn’t wear proper golf apparel. Anchored putting isn’t a real stroke.
Get real.
All that aside, the plight of professional golfers shouldn’t be the concern, in this case, of a pair of organizations that are at least superficially interested in growing the game.
It’s the amateur player that should be the focus. Do 20 percent of players use an anchored putting stroke, as Finchem asserted? The number almost surely isn’t that high, but what if it’s 7 percent?
A struggling industry shouldn’t risk alienating a not-so-insignificant portion of its customer base over a “stroke” that has yet to harm the game, despite a few anguished cries.
If the ban causes anyone to leave the game or play less (and I believe it will), golf’s governing bodies are committing a crime against the game they are entrusted to protect.
Claude LeBlanc 