Beyond the Game: Long, belly putters vs. traditional golf putters



MEQUON (WITI) -- When Tiger Woods gets on a roll on the golf course, he does so with a traditional putter, and Woods feels that's what every player should use. However, not everyone agrees.

It's fine if one golfer prefers a certain golf product to improve his or her game, while another golfer may want something different. However, is that also true when it comes to governing an important aspect of the sport as well?

"I think it's okay to have two things in golf," George Gruettner said.

Gruettner might see that happen. The Royal and Ancient and United States Golf Association are planning to enact a ban of anchored and belly putters starting in 2016. The PGA tour, though, doesn't plan to recognize the ban. That means a player would not be allowed to use such a putter in the U.S. Open, but would be able to in the PGA Championship in the same year. An amateur player out on the links in Wisconsin is supposed to follow USGA rules and that organization says about 15% of people buying putters now select an anchored type.

Gruettner's estimate is even higher.

"There are people that think they have a problem with putting, and they will definitely come in and look at the long, or the belly putter," Gruettner said.

Whether it is on the PGA Tour or at Missing Links Golf Outlet in Mequon, you drive for show, but putt for dough, and that's ultimately why this is an issue in the first place.

"The biggest difference is if you are a little nervous, or you're a handsy putter, which causes putts to go bad, okay. The anchoring with the belly putter, where you are anchored into your belly helps stabilize or secure your hands," Gruettner said.

The first anchored putter was used in the PGA Tour in 1991, but last year, each of the players ranked in the tour's top 20 in putting used the conventional syle.

"To make (a long putter) a belly putter, I would have to cut this, and you want it anchored around your belly button. That's where people normally anchor them. It's in your sternum or belly button and your hands are in the same grip and just make a stroke," Gruettner said.

It might still be too early to read the break on this issue.

Woods won last week's event on the PGA Tour, using a regular putter. Adam Scott and Webb Simpson are among the young players who prefer using an anchored putter.