GET over it guys! As from January 1, 2016, length no longer counts.
You are going to have to put your back into it and bend over to do the job using your shorter instrument with more skill.
This could well be a bone of contention for some, but it’s now a fact.
The golfing ‘gods’ on the Royal and Ancient Rules Committee at St Andrews (the chauvinistic home of golf) have now effectively banned the use of long putters as from the new year.
Rule 14-1b now states that your club may not be ‘anchored’ either ‘directly’ or by use of an ‘anchor point’ during the making of a stroke. In other words, apart from your hands holding your club, the instrument or your hands may not be anchored on any other part of your body while you make the stroke.
Of course, if you think you can still use your trusty ‘broomstick’ or belly putter to get your ball in the hole without ‘anchoring’ then give it a go by all means, but it will be difficult.
One can picture the arguments that might ensure:
“Your club touched your chin.”
“No it didn’t.”
“Yes it did.”
“No! It was my fist.”
“That’s still ‘anchoring’.”
“No it’s not.”
“Yes it is. Who’s got a rule book?”
Meanwhile, the other two players are already sitting in their golf carts, drumming their fingers impatiently on the plastic dashboard.
“For crying out loud… we’re holding up the field. Just let him make the putt and get his nine.”
Lady golfers must be laughing all the way to the 19th hole. Most of them are used to short putters anyway. This new rule could be seen as pay-back for those old chauvinists who invented the game in Scotland way back when a woman’s place was in the kitchen and she was forced to use a real ‘broomstick’.
For those who don’t know, the word ‘GOLF’ is an acronym for: “Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden.”
For starters, many present day male golfers certainly do not fall under the category of ‘gentlemen’, but that’s beside the point.
The ‘ladies’ are now rapidly becoming the backbone of most clubs so perhaps it’s time to reverse the name of the game to ‘FLOG’:
“For Ladies… or Gentlemen” (with short putters only).
