Leave it to Phil Mickelson, who has tinkered with the belly putter and just about every other style of putting over the years, to offer one of the most pointed comments yet about a potential ban on anchoring.
“It’s not an issue that I’m involved with, (but) I understand both sides,” he said Wednesday at The Barclays Singapore Open, according to the AFP. “It’s just that I don’t think you can take away what you’ve allowed players to use, practice and play with for 30 years. I think it is grossly unfair.”
OK, so if you’re keeping score at home ... over the past two weeks, Webb Simpson has said he didn’t see a reason for the ban; Keegan Bradley said he wouldn’t fork over his belly putter without a fight; and Adam Scott said there are bigger issues in the game than anchoring and challenged Tiger Woods’ assertion that the putter should be no longer than the shortest club in the bag.
Mickelson, however, is an interesting case. He briefly used the belly putter during the 2011 FedEx Cup playoffs. At the time, he said, “So many guys have had success with it that I thought I’d give it a try.” He returned to the conventional-length putter, and then in August, he began putting with the claw grip to improve his touch on the greens.