Poll Results: The Anchoring Ban Won't Affect Many Amateurs

With the anchoring ban (Rule 14-1b) quickly approaching (Jan. 1, 2016), there’s a lot of talk about how PGA TOUR players like Adam Scott and Keegan Bradley would do with a more-traditional putter.

I was wondering if this ban would affect many amateurs. According to the Google+ Golf Community, the answer is no. Only 14 percent of the people answering the poll question - “Have you ever tried a long putter?” - said yes. That’s 86 percent of us that have never even tried one, let alone actually have one in play.

+skpknight joked, “At 5'6" those long putters are usually taller than me. LOL!”

Funny. Tim Clark was using one on Tour and the announcer (David Feherty, maybe?) said it was just a standard putter that looked long because of his wee stature.

I fall in the same category as +Vipul Gidda who “Tried a few at Golfsmith and didn't feel right.”

I could never get comfortable over the ball. Same with +Jason Thompson, who tried it on the practice green for a few weeks, just didn't ever feel right.”

Across the pond, +Mark Hainsworth said, “Not only have a not used one, I've never even seen anyone else using one in the U.K.”

He agrees that it won’t affect us (amateurs) much. “If a player is so determined to stick with it just don't anchor it; simple. Going to be fun to police though, can you imagine the hawk eyes needed to establish whether someone is anchoring or not?”

So, many are agreement ... The vast majority of amateurs won’t be affected. What will be interesting is to see how the professionals fare. Will Scott or Bradley have significant drop-off, or will their talent shine through?