Bernhard Langer's new putting stroke (Merged)

[rony]

Perhaps the Anchored Stroke Ruling should have been worded as, "No hands permitted above the waist at address." Just sayin' :rolleyes:

[cxx]

The USGA clearly stated that the stroke the Bernhard is using, moving the hand away from the chest and the arm not anchored, is legal. Can't be illegal if they literally said it is legal. It couldn't be more clear.

 

Els should go back and try it.

[golfandfishing]

Perhaps the Anchored Stroke Ruling should have been worded as, "No hands permitted above the waist at address." Just sayin' :rolleyes:

 

Brilliant idea. Where, exactly is your waist? Hip bone to hip bone? Across belly button? Where a player wears his belt? Top or bottom of those features? What if it is maybe a 1/4 inch above, but you can't tell for sure?

[KevCarter]

Perhaps the Anchored Stroke Ruling should have been worded as, "No hands permitted above the waist at address." Just sayin' :rolleyes:

 

Brilliant idea. Where, exactly is your waist? Hip bone to hip bone? Across belly button? Where a player wears his belt? Top or bottom of those features? What if it is maybe a 1/4 inch above, but you can't tell for sure?

 

I would say the waistband of your pants. If you wear pants like David Leadbetter's, it's about at your sternum and OK to anchor. :D

[golfandfishing]

Perhaps the Anchored Stroke Ruling should have been worded as, "No hands permitted above the waist at address." Just sayin' :rolleyes:

 

Brilliant idea. Where, exactly is your waist? Hip bone to hip bone? Across belly button? Where a player wears his belt? Top or bottom of those features? What if it is maybe a 1/4 inch above, but you can't tell for sure?

 

I would say the waistband of your pants. If you wear pants like David Leadbetter's, it's about at your sternum and OK to anchor. :D

 

Rocco wouldn't have to change a thing.

[KevCarter]

Rocco wouldn't have to change a thing.

 

LOL

[SurfDuffer]

The rule should have banned creating any sort of fixed hinge or fulcrum weather that is created by locking the club to the torso or if its created by simply locking up the elbow on the upper arm.

[rony]

Perhaps the Anchored Stroke Ruling should have been worded as, "No hands permitted above the waist at address." Just sayin' :rolleyes:

 

Brilliant idea. Where, exactly is your waist? Hip bone to hip bone? Across belly button? Where a player wears his belt? Top or bottom of those features? What if it is maybe a 1/4 inch above, but you can't tell for sure?

 

Take a hike!

[El Shanker]

Seems very cut and dry to me. Black and white. Either anchored or not. There is no "grey area." It's not the old "vicinity" rule in baseball. There is no judgement involved. As long as a piece of paper would slide between the grip and the body, it's a conforming swing.

[pickerjohn]

I think there is a rule on length of driver -- 48"?

Why not have one for the putter?

[QuigleyDU]

Cheat

 

Care to elaborate?

 

Langer found a loophole that allows him to get around the rule while still using the same equipment and virtually the same stroke. Legally it's alright only because his left hand has moved 1/2" from where it original was. I suspect that according to most people it'd probably constitute an infringement on the spirit of the rule. Then again, maybe it doesn't since technically he's not "anchored" at any point.

 

It's really a grey area.

 

Let's avoid that moral debate though. There are thousands of things in life wherein we do and don't violate the spirit of rules/laws while still staying legal. That's between a person and themselves.

 

it is stupid that he even has to do that to comply to begin with.

[gvogel]

I think there is a rule on length of driver -- 48"?

Why not have one for the putter?

 

Why not just have one rule for all clubs - 48"? Use the club however you want to, so long as you hit the ball.

[Vindog]

The rule should have banned creating any sort of fixed hinge or fulcrum weather that is created by locking the club to the torso or if its created by simply locking up the elbow on the upper arm.

 

Well that effectively bans most well known and preferred methods even with a standard length putter.

 

 

Why not just have one rule for all clubs - 48"? Use the club however you want to, so long as you hit the ball.

 

I agree!

 

 

Brilliant idea. Where, exactly is your waist? Hip bone to hip bone? Across belly button? Where a player wears his belt? Top or bottom of those features? What if it is maybe a 1/4 inch above, but you can't tell for sure?

 

Take a hike!

 

Well the point is that you think you have solutions but really they are more problems. We've seen your goalpost move around from thread to thread. Where does it end?

[drbonesvt]

Cheat

 

Care to elaborate?

 

Langer found a loophole that allows him to get around the rule while still using the same equipment and virtually the same stroke. Legally it's alright only because his left hand has moved 1/2" from where it original was. I suspect that according to most people it'd probably constitute an infringement on the spirit of the rule. Then again, maybe it doesn't since technically he's not "anchored" at any point.

 

It's really a grey area.

 

Let's avoid that moral debate though. There are thousands of things in life wherein we do and don't violate the spirit of rules/laws while still staying legal. That's between a person and themselves.

 

 

^^well said^^^^

 

But damn does that stroke not look anchored ????

[drbonesvt]

[Brooks_Cupcake]

CHEATER.......

[beluga99]

Something about that just doesn't smell right. Good luck to him though.

[Shilgy]

In that picture don't you think that shirt is billowing a bit away from his body? And the top hand is clearly barely touching the shirt. Not anchored at all imo.

[Punchdraw]

Regardless if his hand is anchored, his left wrist/forearm is anchored on his chest in my opinion.

[iBanesto]

Doesn't Langer initially anchor his left hand on his chest and then moves it away?

[8602081]

Seems to me that he's not anchoring his hand..

He's anchoring his forearm against his chest, which is still anchoring..

I don't think that's right..

[bscinstnct]

[playa]

Make the putter max length 39"

 

Swinging the club from a fixed point should be illegal

 

Why 39"? How did you arrive at that number? Why the same max length for Tad Fujikawa and Phil Blackmar? There is about a foot and a half difference in their height.

 

I agree with tiger

 

Make the putter the shortest club in the bag and ban all anchoring

 

No need to make restrictions on putter length, except that I feel as if they should be the same as the other clubs (48'). If the issue is anchoring, then just ban anchoring. Oh wait, they already did.

 

Besides 39" would not make it the shortest club in the bag nor would it curb anchoring at all. A short player can still anchor a 32" club. Tiger could be the greatest player of all time, but not always the smartest. That suggestion he made was arbitrary and misguided insofar as the issue at hand is concerned

48 max length makes the most sense. A putter is after all a golf club. To me it seems unfair that a player using a long putter can use it to measure relief, giving him about 10 or so extra inches for two club lengths. Just bring the putterin line with other golf clubs and limit it to 48.

[hogans71]

CHEATER.......

 

Call out Phil Mickelson in one thread, now Langer. Anyone else?

 

Love these no proof, drive by posts... Reeks of originality and legitimacy.

[Brooks_Cupcake]

CHEATER.......

 

Call out Phil Mickelson in one thread, now Langer. Anyone else?

 

Love these no proof, drive by posts... Reeks of originality and legitimacy.

 

Referring to the anchoring, bruh.....

[hogans71]

CHEATER.......

 

Call out Phil Mickelson in one thread, now Langer. Anyone else?

 

Love these no proof, drive by posts... Reeks of originality and legitimacy.

 

Referring to the anchoring, bruh.....

 

I got that bruh...

 

Seems to me(and nearly everyone else with a pulse) that if he was actually cheating, he'd be called out on it...

[Yuck]

I think Bernhard is ok. It is McCarron that looks too close to call.

[disco111]

In truth, after 20+ years of allowing the long putter, the USGA had the gall to ban it, "for the good of the game". What a complete farse. Just like the Ping groove debacle, this banning was the result of a few power brokers within the PGA tour, that all of a sudden felt threatened, as a couple of players had a few wins with the putter. If you have tried the long putter, it's not as easy to use as you think. But the salient point was / is that it was LEGAL for all those years and nobody complained, until as stated, a couple of players started to have some success with it. The senior tour and the USGA have observed Langer with great scrutiny and they have deemed him legal.

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

IMO the Champions Tour is/will be the last (and also IMO, rightfully so) bastion for pushing the "no anchoring" rule to it's limits... you're not seeing any problem on the flat belly Tours (which is all the USGA/R&A wants anyway, those Tours set the example) because players have too many years left to play, they gotta move on... but Champions Tour players had a new rule forced on them, in the twilight of their careers mind you. and these guys have bigger problems popping Aleeve's, choosing the best McDavid products to wear, and having to head to the first tee covered in Blue Emu... if a little formearm pinning, or brushing of a billowing shirt happens, so be it. unless Mercedes Benz figures out how to replace everything in Langer with titanium and he plays forever... the anchoring era is going to go quietly into the books, so catch it on the Champions Tour while you still can ;) .

[augustgolf]

In truth, after 20+ years of allowing the long putter, the USGA had the gall to ban it, "for the good of the game". What a complete farse. Just like the Ping groove debacle, this banning was the result of a few power brokers within the PGA tour, that all of a sudden felt threatened, as a couple of players had a few wins with the putter. If you have tried the long putter, it's not as easy to use as you think. But the salient point was / is that it was LEGAL for all those years and nobody complained, until as stated, a couple of players started to have some success with it. The senior tour and the USGA have observed Langer with great scrutiny and they have deemed him legal.

 

Years ago, it was "legal" to have punched dots on the face for scoring, instead of the scoring lines we see today. Then, that changed.

 

It was legal, at one time, to play the British ball at the Open Championship. That ball was both smaller in diameter and lighter, and played differently into the wind, as well as putting. Then, that changed.

 

It wasn't that long ago that you could use one type ball to start a hole, then switch out somewhere through your round. Then, that changed.

 

I won't even go into the "square grooves" issue, because we all know what happened there.

 

Sam Snead putted croquet style....gone forever.

 

It is actually surprising that the USGA as well as the R&A didn't "ban" the sand wedge as created by Gene Sarazen. If a golf club were introduced to the game today, that has as much influence in golfers of all ability to play better like this sand wedge design....I have absolutely zero doubt that the USGA would do it's best to outlaw it.

 

So....we get to the model of: different rules and/or equipment for professionals vs. for "regular" golfers, trying to enjoy the game of golf the the fullest.

 

We see it in NASCAR.....they certainly don't drive what we road warriors drive, and then, there is the whole restrictor plate issue.

 

Different bats in college (amateur, if you can call it that) baseball, as opposed to professional.

 

I'm a traditionalist, just so ya'll know. I play Ping irons, the original Karsten 1's, which made a giant leap in how we play golf today, but even they weren't the fist perimeter weighted club, just the first that really were marketed well. They changed how the game is played today, and their perimeter weighting is still the rule for iron design, even incorporated into metal wood design.

 

Personally, I feel that as an amateur, for $hyts and giggles, play whatever you want, however you wish to play it.

 

For amateurs, in USGA events, there should be limits on the distance a ball can travel, how far a driver can hit a ball, how long a hole can be. But, as far as putting goes, there was really never any proven advantage in anchoring the putter during the stroke. Sure, some players won using that technique, but others won utilizing conventional methods as well.

 

Langer is a smart man, and an exceptional golf talent. He is definitely playing within the rules of golf, as outlined by today's governing bodies. Give him credit....it's all legal.