The R&A and the USGA (the game’s governing bodies) today announced a proposed rules change that prohibits anchoring the club in making a stroke. In a global news conference televised by the Golf Channel, the R&A’s Peter Dawson and the USGA’s Mike Davis explained that the rules-makers were seeing an increase in “the advocacy” of the anchored stroke at the elite amateur and junior levels, and that “in the best interests of the game moving forward,” it was time to further define the stroke, and get golf “back to holding the club with two hands and swinging freely.”
The use of an anchored stroke on the PGA Tour has seen steady increases since 2006, according to the rules-makers, with an almost 10 percent jump from 2010 to 2012. Three of the last five golf majors were won using longer putters and an anchored stroke, but the rules-makers were explicit in omitting the prohibition against the use of long or belly putters from the proposed anchoring rules change. In other words, long and belly-length putters are still ok — as long as the club is not anchored in making a stroke.
The USGA has created a handy “infographic” illustrating permitted and prohibited methods: click here. Below is the proposed rules language which would take effect on Jan. 1, 2016:
14-1b Anchoring the Club
In making a stroke, the player must not anchor the club, either “directly” or by use of an “anchor point.”
Note 1: The club is anchored “directly” when the player intentionally holds the club or a gripping hand in contact with any part of his body, except that the player may hold the club or a gripping hand against a hand or forearm.
Note 2: An “anchor point” exists when the player intentionally holds a forearm in contact with any part of his body to establish a gripping hand as a stable point around which the other hand may swing the club.
The proposed rules change comes at a time when the business of golf has been buffeted by cultural changes, economic challenges and flagging participation. Opponents to 14-1b say the ban is ill-timed and question its impact on the growth of the game. Timing of the proposal aside, to conclude that prohibiting the anchor method of making a stroke, a ban that is effectively three years in the future, will have a negative impact on golf participation is to be ignorant of the factors that drive golf participation.
Here in Minnesota, the two biggest factors driving golf participation are weather and access. Thanks largely to an early spring and favorable golf weather, rounds in 2012 were up 7.7 percent. Minnesota has long enjoyed one of the highest golfer participation rates in the country, due in large measure to access: about 90 percent of our golf courses are open to the public.
I also happen to believe in a more anecdotal explanation for our inordinately out-sized love of the game here: Minnesotan’s appreciate decent weather, we take advantage of getting outdoors at every opportunity, and playing golf is just one of the many ways we satisfy the urge to get outside and play.
14-1b will change the way a small number of golfers swing the putter. For these golfers who’ve adopted the anchored stroke, whether as a first or last resort, they will have to conform to the rules and learn how to stroke the ball “with two hands… swinging freely.”
In any case, the rules-makers have upheld convention by a fine-tuning of the definition of the golf stroke — anchoring is on its way out. And in the big picture that’s a good thing for the best interests of the game going forward.