Anchored Putters
/The 2013 Masters' champion used a long putter and the low amateur used a belly putter. Does this validate the USGA and R&A's claim that anchored putters should be illegal?
I believe it does, given the option of anchoring the putter I choose to use it. With fewer levers it is just plain easier to make a consistent stroke and does not constitute a standard swing of the club. The long putter looks to be the simplest stroke, with just one lever being the swinging of a single arm, a belly putter has two levers, with two arms controlling the club, but a standard putter throws in the variable of no fixed point and that must be kept consistent with control over the stroke rather than a fixed point.
This anchored stroke is a crutch and doesn't follow the same swinging of the club which is required with the rest of the clubs in the bag. Now with each, of the four, majors having been won with a long putter in the past year and a half the governing bodies have even more reason to believe they are an advantage which should be banned. I agree, but until they are banned I will keep using one, we play by the rules which are in place. As the tax rate was raised for 2013 that doesn't mean you need to pay that rate on your 2012 taxes. Once the long putters are banned the game will be better for it.