The usga can't ban the long putter
They need them to help dig their heads out of the sand
They aren't, apparently, going to ban long putters.
They are going to ban anchoring--whatever that means.
There's no possibility that a rule against anchoring will eliminate broomstick putters. More than a few users have testified that it's possible to putt very well with one without the club or the upper hand being anchored.
It will eliminate the use of the belly putter in the manner that Keegan Bradley and others use them. But Matt Kucher uses one without anchoring, and others might well adopt that technique if the rules change.
The whole thing is stupid. Folks used to be offended by the appearance of the broomstick, now they are offended by the nature of the belly putter stroke.
I am good putter and have used both belly and long putters enough to have a pretty good feel for how effective they are. The long putter is a specialized tool and take more than a little work for most people to use effectively. I never did get to where I could putt a lick with one.
Similarly, I tried belly putters several times and putted awful with them.
Then I realized that no club in the bag requires more careful fitting and more careful stance and setup than the belly. And that, IMHO, is why I think you see so few of them in amateur ranks.
Mine are only about 39" long, and I can't use one that' more than a half-inch longer. I also have to flatten the lie about 8* in order to be able to aim it. Finally, the anchor point and ball position have to almost perfectly in sync. I like having the ball off my left foot, and that requires that i anchor the butt on my left hip.
How many flat-lie, 39" belly putters have you ever seen in a pro shop? Vijay and Stewart Cink used belly putter that were almost 10 inches longer than mine.
In the end, I putted great for a while with the belly, ended up making about five of them out of putters I owned that were too heavy for me, and after about a month I went back to my short putter.
Just for the hell of it, and partly in defiance of the fools in the ruling bodies who think THIS is important today, I pan to use one of them tomorrow.
K