Technology in golf is one of the hottest topics of debate in all of sport.
That’s not just among golf fans. Battle lines have been drawn among professionals over whether to roll back technology to preserve the game’s history or to continue innovating and deliver the best possible results.
Technology has advanced so far that the Home of Golf, St Andrews, is undergoing renovations to keep up, despite its 600-year history. Meanwhile, Bryson DeChambeau is inventing a new golf ball that can keep up with his hard-hitting swing.
Two of the all-time greats of the game, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, locked horns over this very topic. Woods and Mickelson had a contentious relationship during the height of their rivalry, and the two titans came down on opposite sides of a debate that continues to rage.
Phil Mickelson disagreed with Tiger Woods on potential club ban
The long putter is an effective tool for getting the ball in the hole, but it creates a divide between traditionalists and innovators in golf.
How you feel about the long putter is likely to represent your feelings about technology in golf more generally, and Woods and Mickelson made it very clear which side of the argument they fall on.
Woods wanted the long putter, which anchors against a player’s chest or belly, to be outlawed in 2012, and presented a rule that he thought would resolve the issue. He said, “I believe it’s the art of controlling the body and club and swinging the pendulum motion.
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“I believe that’s how it should be played. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to that. My idea was to have it so that the putter would be equal to or less than the shortest club in your bag. And I think with that, we’d be able to get away from any type of belly anchoring.”
Long putters were becoming increasingly popular on the PGA Tour, and Keegan Bradley won the PGA Championship with one in 2011. That’s why Mickelson, among others, was abjectly against Woods’ suggestion despite not using one himself.
The six-time major winner said, “It’s not an issue that I’m involved with. I understand both sides. It’s just that I don’t think you can take away what you’ve allowed players to use, practise and play with for 30 years. I think it is grossly unfair.”
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Adam Scott, who won The Masters later that season by sinking a 12-foot putt in a playoff with a long putter, also spoke out against Woods, adding, “I am not necessarily sure his views on what a putter should be are correct at all.
“His view that the putter should be the shortest club in the bag has never been a rule of golf. I do not see why it should be now.”
And four-time major winner Ernie Els, who transitioned to a long putter in the latter stages of his professional career, had a hilarious response. He said, “As long as it’s legal, I’ll keep cheating like the rest of them.”
Are long putters better for amateur golfers?
In 2017, the University of Limerick conducted a study to examine how amateur golfers performed with a traditional-length putter compared to a long one. They tested the difference in putting from six and 12 feet between 72 golfers.
From six feet, 80.3% of putts were holed with a standard-length putter. That number dropped to 78.6% with a belly-length putter and 75.3% with a long-handle putter.
| Putter length | Putts made from six feet | Putts made from 12 feet |
| Standard-length | 80.3% | 51.7% |
| Belly-length | 78.6% | 50.8% |
| Long-handled | 75.3% | 46.9% |
From 12 feet, 51.7% of putts were made with a standard-length putter, meanwhile 50.8% of putts were made with a belly-length putter, and 46.9% with a long-handle putter.
Therefore, for amateur golfers of various handicaps, the standard-length putter proved a better club for holing putts. So if you’re thinking about making the change, perhaps you should think twice.
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