There are two growing lists in the professional golf world at the moment regarding the topic of the belly putter: Those who are switching to a belly putter and those who believe they should be banned from the game. Tiger Woods is a member of the latter club. On Tuesday, Woods said he believes the USGA should place restrictions on the allowable length of a putter.
“I’ve never been a fan if it,” Woods said at Pebble Beach Tuesday according to CBSSports.com. “I believe it’s the art of controlling the body and club and swinging the pendulum motion. I believe that’s how it should be played. I’m traditionalist when it comes to that.”
Woods said he has spoken with Peter Dawson of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club — which is the organization that sets the game’s global rules — about doing away with belly putters. He believes he has a proposal that would make the rule change possible.
“My idea was to have it so that the putter would be equal to or less than the shortest club in your bag,” Woods explained.”I think with that we’d be able to get away from any type of belly anchoring. You can still anchor the putter like Bernhard Langer did, against the arm. But that’s still the art of swinging the club, too, at the same time.”
Obviously the belly putter works for some players. Veteran superstars Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els switched to it last year and Keegan Bradley became the first person to win a major using the longer putter. Does the belly putter give golfers an unfair advantage?
Woods and many others believe it does, but if that’s the case why wouldn’t everyone be using one? For example, if corking your bat was legal in the MLB I doubt anyone who choose to not cork theirs. Plenty of people choose to not play with a belly putter. Does that mean they are stubborn and unwilling to give it a try, or they believe it constitutes cheating? Time will tell, but those who use the belly putter would undoubtedly rather have a global icon like Tiger in their corner.
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