Technology solution

[ed_getka]

I was reading an article by Sean Fister (long drive competitor) where he said, "The quest for distance in golf is a drug, and tour players are the biggest addicts out there." The drug addict analogy brought the answer. The USGA needs to do an INTERVENTION (for the good of the game). Tour players, regular golfers, and club companies need to be put in technological rehab.

[ed_getka]

"Others resort to such aberrations as the belly putter and the long putter, with the latter thing anchored to the player's chin. My sympathy for the suffering of those who resort to such devices does not extend to support for the LAPSES OF GOVERNANCE (my emphasis) that allowed them into the game."
    Sandy Tatum, former USGA president

[ed_getka]

Regarding the long putter.

"For a putter to work better than another one, it has to be better at helpin the user make a better stroke. One way is to develop a design that eliminates the sources of mechanical error. In engineering speak, each independent movement is a "degree of freedom". So does the long putter reduce the chances of making a bad stroke? Perhaps EXCESSIVELY (my emphasis), especially once you examine the major errors capable of creeping into your stroke:
 1. Raising the putter up and down, casued mainly by bending the elbows too much.
 2. Fanning the blade open or closed.
 3. Forcing the putterhead to stay lower to the ground going back , thus knocking it off the proper arc, usually the result of uneven shoulder action.
 4. Changing the shaft angle, as in a forward press.
 5. Moving the putter in and out in the toe/heel direction toward or away from the feet.
 6. Moving the putter back and forward along the intended target and stroke line.
     IF YOU CAN ELIMINATE THE ROLE OF CERTAIN BODY PARTS, THEN YOU ELIMINATE THE ASSOCIATED ERRORS. That's really what a long putter does.
    So the long putter eliminates 4 of 6 degrees of freedom: #1-4 listed above. Of course, longer putts require more feel, so eliminating degrees of freedom might make it harder to feel distance.

Frank Thomas 3/06

[Sean Leary]

Regarding the long putter.

I bought one once and used it for a bit.  What I found was that I made an equally shitty stroke with the long putter as I did with the short putter.   For me the anchoring didn't work.

So I sold it.

[Mickey Boland]

Me too.  My backswing with that putter looked like a figure-8.  But, I purposely bought a cheap one, so it resides, with the rest of my experiments, in the garage.

[ed_getka]

I'm happy to hear that those abominations don't help everyone.

[A_Clay_Man]

Ed, Not a bad analogy save for the definition of addiction. Continued action in the face of adverse circumstance. Since the tour boys have seen an exponential increase in total prize money (over the same ten year period as the ball in question has increased). How are they to be convinced of the adverse circumstance?

And,

Since you acknowledge that added distance is the goal of any wannabe player, why is now the right time to reign-in that desire? Why not 100 years ago? And, Why are you so positive that killing that flame, won't extinguish the future of golf?