Privy to the discussions by the PGA Tour Policy Board, PGA president Ted Bishop said Monday that he was “totally in concert” with the circuit’s stance on the anchor ban.
And like the PGA Tour, many members of Bishop’s constituency have changed their collective mind on anchoring.
The oft-discussed survey taken a few months ago by the PGA showed that of the approximately 4,200 members who submitted the survey, 63 percent said they were against the ban.
“But over the past few months, there has been a groundswell within the ranks to support the PGA’s position,” Bishop said on Golf Channel’s “Morning Drive.”
Bishop added that since Nov. 28, when the governing bodies proposed the rule to ban the anchored stroke, he has received three correspondences from PGA members who supported the ban. By contrast, he receives 10-12 a week from those who were against it.
“If the survey was taken today,” Bishop said, “I think you’d see 80 to 85 percent of the membership who would opposite the ban.”
The USGA said Sunday that a final decision on anchoring would come sometime in the spring. The 90-day comment period ends Thursday, and the rule, if enacted, would not take effect until 2016, when the next edition of the Rules of Golf is published.