Is a long putter a magic wand?

I have no objection to long putters. I used one for seven years in a bid to correct the ‘yips’ a nervous stabbing at the ball with a putter longer than standard.

The problem is when these long putters are anchored against the body (something I didn’t do).

Anchoring a putter against the belly or sternum provides a third point of contact between golfer and club and that serves as a fulcrum for making a pendulum putting stroke.

Many believe our hands should be the only connection to any golf club and anchoring provides an unfair advantage.

The major advantage I found is with makeable putts four to 10 feet I was much more successful, I however found that longer putts suffered, which may have been lack of practice rather than anything else.

In four of the last five weeks, long putters were used by the winner on the PGA Tour.

Adam Scott, with his broomstick, captured the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in early August before, the following week, Keegan Bradley became the first player to win a major using the anchored belly putter.

Webb Simpson won the Wyndham Championship the week after and a fortnight later his belly putter helped him gain a second win, this one at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

The Rules of Golf state that a putter cannot be shorter than 18 inches, but there’s no maximum length.

However, there is a rule saying that equipment must maintain “traditional and customary” use which could give them leeway to change their current stance.

Users tend to fall into two groups of players, those that are afflicted with yips or something else that’s not good, or people that have back problems.

Success

Do we want to take clubs out of the hands of people who almost can’t enjoy the game anymore?

However, which group would Webb Simpson and Keegan Bradley fall into?

They are healthy young players without bad backs nor afflicted by the yips.

They have taken the attitude of ‘If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’.

Was the long putter actually the key to the spate of recent wins?

Clearly, putting played a key part in those wins but it’s also worth noting that Scott, Bradley and Simpson (in the first of his wins) all topped the all-round rankings (a measure of eight different stats categories from driving to putting) during the week of their wins.

In other words, good putting helped complete the picture. It wasn’t the sole reason for their success.

It’s inevitable given the flood of recent winners that golfers of all levels will be curious to see what all the fuss is about when it comes to long putters. But, like Mickelson, they might find that long putters aren’t magic wands that can provide a quick-fix.

So how do you try one, to see if it’s for you?

The key thing to understand is that the same fundamental rules should be in place, the arms should be under the shoulders so that they can rock smoothly without any compensating movements.

The only way to achieve this is to get custom fitted for the length and the weight as everyone’s torso and arm length are unique.

If you are interested in trying one out, we have some demo versions at Tucker’s Point and when Todd Sones — one of the top putting instructors in the world, both conventional and belly style — comes down this weekend you can get taught how to use this ‘new’ way of putting.

Todd has classes available on Sunday, September 11at 9am and 5pm on Monday 12 classes are for 2½hrs there are a limited number of slots available.

Contact me directly at [email protected]

Putters can be fitted and made in around five minutes so there is no waiting around for the putter to delivered! n

Paul Adams is the PGA director of golf at Rosewood Tucker’s Point.