“What they are doing is completely legal. It's 100 percent skill,” said Mediate, who played a round with McCarron at a recent tournament. “I said to Scotty: ‘How did you figure this out? It's like putting with a sledgehammer.’”
McCarron has used a long putter since 1991. To adapt to the new rule, he cut two inches off the shaft, reducing it to 47 inches, and added lead tape to the bottom of the club to increase its weight to 800 grams. He also shifted his left thumb, which used to touch his body, to the butt of the grip. He keeps his left arm parallel and pointed to the target, which stabilizes his left shoulder and allows it to rock up and down in concert with his left elbow.
For McCarron, the non-anchored stroke works best when his big muscles act as the engine and his right hand simply goes along for the ride and provides direction. “I could have been out of golf,” McCarron said. “Now, if they ever reverse the ruling, I would continue to putt not anchored.”
McCarron, who holds the club three to four inches from his body, acknowledged that it would be difficult for any spectator to see the separation.
“It's more than a credit card away, and that’s all its takes,” said Peter Jacobsen, an NBC commentator who has won twice on the PGA Tour Champions. “I've played with them, and they’re not anchoring. I think these guys are tired of talking about it.”
But at a players’ meeting in June, during the Principal Charity Classics in Iowa, Langer demonstrated his putting technique to his peers. It was an effort to quell the doubts, and the players in attendance also received copies of a 48-page booklet explaining the anchoring ban.
Mediate said he was exasperated about receiving text messages with pictures of players supposedly violating the rule, and he said it was nonsense to think that Langer and McCarron would knowingly anchor.
“If you offered them a million dollars in cash to anchor and nobody would know, I don't think they would take it,” he said. “Gnlf is too much of a sport where you trust your competitors.”
Nevertheless, Chamblee said, if the leading players on the regular PGA Tour were using long putters as McCarron and Langer have, the scrutiny would be far more intense.
If the two camps can agree on anything, it is that golf’s primary governing bodies － the U.S.G.A. and the R&A － has not done enough to educate the public about the new rule.
Paul Goyodos, who recently won the senior tour’s 3M Championship, sympathized with Langer and McCarron. “The problem is they are perceived to be anchoring,” he said. “The way you beat perception is by education.”
The U.S.G.A. said it had received 87 inquiries on Rule 14-1, out of a total of 7,444 rules questions submitted by phone or email this year, as of July 31. （It is worth noting that some of those inquiries could have been for 14-1a, which says, “The ball must be fairly struck at with the head of the club and must not be pushed, scraped or spooned.”）
“I recognize there still are some points of confusion,” said Thomas Pagel, the U.S.G.A.’s senior director for the rules of golf.
The R&A and the U.S.G.A. have proposed several new rules that would go into effect in 2019. Will the language associated with the anchoring ban get a face-lift?
“We are satisfied with the outcome, how it is being applied, ” Pagel said, “but we do recognize if there is an opportunity to write it in a different way to offer more clarity, we’re certainly open to that.”
For now, don't expect the players succeeding with long putters to yield to the unwanted scrutiny. McCarron said he and Langer had discussed the idea of opening a long-putter school.
“We could teach people how to do it,” he said. “I’m not shying away from it.”
McCarron, who holds the club three to four inches from his body, acknowledged that it would be difficult for any spectator to see the separation.
“It's more than a credit card away, and that’s all its takes,” said Peter Jacobsen, an NBC commentator who has won twice on the PGA Tour Champions. “I've played with them, and they’re not anchoring. I think these guys are tired of talking about it.”
But at a players’ meeting in June, during the Principal Charity Classics in Iowa, Langer demonstrated his putting technique to his peers. It was an effort to quell the doubts, and the players in attendance also received copies of a 48-page booklet explaining the anchoring ban.
Mediate said he was exasperated about receiving text messages with pictures of players supposedly violating the rule, and he said it was nonsense to think that Langer and McCarron would knowingly anchor.
“If you offered them a million dollars in cash to anchor and nobody would know, I don't think they would take it,” he said. “Gnlf is too much of a sport where you trust your competitors.”
Nevertheless, Chamblee said, if the leading players on the regular PGA Tour were using long putters as McCarron and Langer have, the scrutiny would be far more intense.
If the two camps can agree on anything, it is that golf’s primary governing bodies － the U.S.G.A. and the R&A － has not done enough to educate the public about the new rule.
Paul Goyodos, who recently won the senior tour’s 3M Championship, sympathized with Langer and McCarron. “The problem is they are perceived to be anchoring,” he said. “The way you beat perception is by education.”
The U.S.G.A. said it had received 87 inquiries on Rule 14-1, out of a total of 7,444 rules questions submitted by phone or email this year, as of July 31. （It is worth noting that some of those inquiries could have been for 14-1a, which says, “The ball must be fairly struck at with the head of the club and must not be pushed, scraped or spooned.”）
“I recognize there still are some points of confusion,” said Thomas Pagel, the U.S.G.A.’s senior director for the rules of golf.
The R&A and the U.S.G.A. have proposed several new rules that would go into effect in 2019. Will the language associated with the anchoring ban get a face-lift?
“We are satisfied with the outcome, how it is being applied, ” Pagel said, “but we do recognize if there is an opportunity to write it in a different way to offer more clarity, we’re certainly open to that.”
For now, don't expect the players succeeding with long putters to yield to the unwanted scrutiny. McCarron said he and Langer had discussed the idea of opening a long-putter school.
“We could teach people how to do it,” he said. “I’m not shying away from it.”
