What is the next step beyond anchoring?

[Ronald Montesano]

I'm looking down the road. Does tacit approval of anchoring open up Pandora's box for a next step in the decline of golf as we've known it? Is that why the As (USGA and R&A) are considering legislation against it?

[John Kavanaugh]

Electronic ball locators are very close and will once again be promoted as a way to speed up play.  Talk about eliminating the "joy of discovery".

[jeffwarne]

I've been working on my Happy Gilmore
Not sure if my defense can hold up against the $250 million war chest though

[Brent Hutto]

I think the danger is pretty clear...

Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath-of-God type stuff!
Venkman: Exactly.
Stanz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the sky! Rivers and seas boiling!
Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes!
Winston Zeddmore: The dead rising from the grave!
Venkman: Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats, living together! Mass hysteria!

[David_Tepper]

Side saddle putting! The club is not anchored to the chest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGv-9d8XePs

[John Kavanaugh]

Has anyone else noticed how many great players choke up on their full shots?  Kuchar looks kinda tall and even he was choking up on his driver and irons.  What's up with that?

[JSlonis]

Has anyone else noticed how many great players choke up on their full shots?  Kuchar looks kinda tall and even he was choking up on his driver and irons.  What's up with that?

Don't worry, if it was up to this website, choking up on a club doesn't look traditional and will soon be banned, along with anything but the Vardon Grip.  The crosshanded, claw, reverse overlap, 10 finger all look bad and should be eradicated from the game.  I've also heard rumors that the USGA was asleep at the wheel when Gene Sarazen invented the sand wedge in 1935 and they are combing the archives to take a hard look at banning them as well.  Bunker shots have just become too easy over the past 77 years. 

[TEPaul]

Jamie:

Don't you worry----the two associations that make and administer the Rules of Golf are not about to leave anything they do in that vein up to this site or most of the people on it. Both of those associations are certainly aware of this website but mostly on the subject of golf architecture. When it comes to other areas of golf from my experience both associations generally look at this website as a collection of inveterate complainers.

[Dan Kelly]

... both associations generally look at this website as a collection of inveterate complainers.

And how does that distinguish us from the rest of humanity?

(Good to have you back, sir.)

[Mark Pritchett]

Serious question-

How has the groove roll back worked out? 

[John Kavanaugh]

Serious question-

How has the groove roll back worked out? 

I love it.  Now my wedges stop where they hit instead of spin back.  Makes accurate distance readings more valuable.  Every large organization that implements new rules ends up hurting the downtrodden.  Every club roll back will do the same.

[Doug Siebert]

Electronic ball locators are very close and will once again be promoted as a way to speed up play.  Talk about eliminating the "joy of discovery".

I can't think of any advance that would be better for the game of golf than this.  Think of how much it would speed up play if everyone could go directly to their ball.  No more watching people wander around in trees or high grass where they have little chance of finding their ball.  Or watching them wander around in the rough where they go right past their ball five times before they finally notice it.  Or don't see their approach shot land so they start hunting around in the rough just short of the green when it actually airmailed, or vice versa.

I suppose I could see an argument that it hurts the integrity of the game as it reduces the penalty for wild shots if you never lose your ball (though if you hit it in a bad enough place, you will still have to take stroke and distance)  But in this case I think the benefits to the pace of play would be so massive that it would be worth it.

The equipment makers would love it too, because while they may sell fewer balls if people don't lose them, having your locator say your ball is in the middle of the lake means pulling out a new ball.  One that sure as hell would cost a lot more than the $4 a good ball costs today!

[Rich Goodale]

The obvious step beyond anchoring is implantation.  Rather than relying upon anchoring a "belly" putter to some moveable piece of avoirdupois near one's solar plexus, why not implant a "docking station" (A) to the sternum, put a "male" complement (B) to that docking station on the end of every long putter, and when you get to the green attach B to A and Bob's your uncle!  When finished, reverse the procedure (making sure, of course, to disinfect both A and B with rubbing (or even drinking) alcohol).

Rich

PS--(For reference, read (or re-read) Chapter 8 of "Catch-22" wherein Lt. (later to be LG) Scheisskopf explains his dream of surgically attaching soldiers' upper and lower arms by brass implants and thin wires to perfect their close order marching ability.)

jpp

[Adam Clayman]

No teeth!

Seriously, how the hell is anyone going to swing a golf club if the club isn't anchored to your hands. Last time I checked, the hands are still a part of the body.

This red herring is bullshit. And if the USGA acts on it, it's nothing more than an underpaid legislator.

[Dan Herrmann]

Next up - a glove that only allows your wrist to hinge in the proper way.

[Will Lozier]

Has anyone else noticed how many great players choke up on their full shots?  Kuchar looks kinda tall and even he was choking up on his driver and irons.  What's up with that?

Ban it.  It obviously provides him with an advantage, and I think the butt end of the club sticking out of the back of his left hand looks ugly on TV.

I hope you are joking...you must be.  Both about banning it and the fact that "it looks ugly".

[Bill_McBride]

The obvious step beyond anchoring is implantation.  Rather than relying upon anchoring a "belly" putter to some moveable piece of avoirdupois near one's solar plexus, why not implant a "docking station" (A) to the sternum, put a "male" complement (B) to that docking station on the end of every long putter, and when you get to the green attach B to A and Bob's your uncle!  When finished, reverse the procedure (making sure, of course, to disinfect both A and B with rubbing (or even drinking) alcohol).

Rich

PS--(For reference, read (or re-read) Chapter 8 of "Catch-22" wherein Lt. (later to be LG) Scheisskopf explains his dream of surgically attaching soldiers' upper and lower arms by brass implants and thin wires to perfect their close order marching ability.)

jpp

I always admired old LT Shithead.

[Ronald Montesano]

Just checked back in...good to see this thread has legs.

Some nifty ideas out there, along with a few ingenues who think we are serious...always good to fool some of the people some of the time.

I'm not thinking solely of product evolution, but of "effect on swing" evolution. The anchoring issue could be pulled off with a normal-length shaft (size isn't critical). Since we all hold the club, perhaps this current one is really a double anchor issue.

That recent thread on the saucer pass has me thinking...no back swing, looks non-traditional, ban it!

What else is on the horizon?