Over the last year, the PGA of America and the United States Golf Association have been pushing its "Tee it Forward" initiative in which it asks golfers to play from tee boxes that best suit their abilities and driving distance. It's an attempt to grow the game, speed up play, and with hope, increase a golfer's enjoyment.
So why is the USGA – and the R&A, golf's rules-keepers – effectively stealing away some of golf's enjoyment? Read on... .
For decades, the rules of golf have fallen under the aegis of the USGA and the R&A. A few months ago, those two organizations, in unison, proposed a ban on anchoring a putter to one's body. Comment was invited over a 90-day period following the proposed rules change, and most professional tours endorsed the rule change. However, golf's largest professional tour, the PGA Tour, disagreed with the proposal. It seems the USGA and R&A had their minds made up, though, and Rule 14-1b was added to the rules of golf, effective Jan. 1, 2016.
You can read the USGA's explanation of its decision on a number of websites. To me, it's a bunch of hooey and a knee-jerk reaction to the recent trend of major champions who used an anchored putting stroke.
Since 2011, four of the 10 major championship winners have used some sort of anchored putting stroke. None of those – Keegan Bradley, Ernie Els, Adam Scott, and Webb Simpson – have ranked among the top 20 in putting statistics in any of those years.
In fact, over the past three seasons, I found only one PGA Tour player using an anchored putter (Carl Pettersson) who finished among the top 20 in overall putting.
If an anchored putting style was really that much of an advantage, wouldn't more professionals be using it? Better yet, shouldn't the anchored putting stroke reflect better putting statistics?
Like many golfers, I was always searching for improvement in my putting. After 30 years of consistently frustrating results, I decided to try a long putter two years ago. At 67 inches tall, I estimated the 43-inch Nike putter that I was purchasing would serve its purpose. In reality, a 43-inch putter is more of a belly putter for someone over six-feet tall, but my height deficiency paid off in this instance.
I worked with the Nike putter for a few practice sessions before trying it in a league match. Wouldn't you know it, I made the first putt I tried, and I was sold on the Nike putter – for about two months.
The struggles I had with a conventional putter eventually crept into my long-putting game. I reasoned that I wasn't using a "real" long putter, and decided to buy one that was a little longer. While my relationship with the Nike flatstick lasted only two months, my tenure with my Odyssey began in the last quarter of the 2011 golf season, and continued through most of last year.
Eventually, I ditched the long putter, and went back to a blade-style putter. I was back at square one, and I concluded that putting is not so much your implement of choice, but your confidence over the ball.
Sherburne resident Steve Upton has used a long putter for close to 15 years. A low handicap golfer most of his life, Upton's struggles with putting reached the point where he was ready to try anything. "Back when Fred (Zahner) was the head pro at Canasawacta Country Club, he pulled out a long putter for me," Upton said. "I was at wit's end, so I took the putter. Wouldn't you know it, the first putt I had, I made it. I was sold on it from that point."
Upton doesn't agree with the rules change, but said he will abide by it and adapt his game in 2016. Still, he doesn't understand why he – and other players who anchor their putting stroke – are being told how to use their clubs.
"My feeling has been that as long as you're allowed to have 14 clubs in your bag, you should be able to use those in any form you deem fit," he said. "For a guy like me, the long putter has made the game a heck of a lot easier when it comes to shorter putts, and it's made the game more enjoyable."
Clifton Tamsett switched to a long putter five years ago. Like any golf stroke, he had to practice with it before he saw positive results. "The anchored putter can really help you if you have the yips," Tamsett said. "The yips come when your body jumps or tenses when the putter approaches the ball. You aren't able to follow through the ball, and you push or pull it. Ben Hogan's career in professional golf ended because his yips got so bad. The yips are something that can happen when you get older, and the long putter takes that extra motion out of the picture, while also allowing you to take a much better putting stroke."
Now in a comfort zone with his long putter, Tamsett smiled when asked what he plans to do in 2016. "I'm going to continue to use my long putter until someone forcibly takes it away from me," he said. "And they'll have trouble doing that."
One thing I should make clear, the ban does not preclude one from using a long putter. That said, unless Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is hanging around your practice green, that 50-inch long putter will be worth as much as a three-dollar bill.

Follow Patrick Newell on Twitter @evesunpat