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Why we botched the anchored putter ban, and what we can do about it

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Now let me start by saying this: I use a traditional putter and so, to a degree, I don’t really have a dog in the anchored-putter fight.

On top of that, I love and respect the USGA and the R&A for all they do to preserve and protect the integrity of the game, as well as to grow it. We need governing bodies in golf, and we need the governing bodies to continue to work together as they do or the rules by which it is played all over the world will become fractured and subject to potentially dubious influence. The rules, as they stand, are confusing and voluminous enough without having a different set by which to play, depending upon where in the world you are.

That being said, the ruling bodies collectively botched this one. With two years to come up with a suitable interpretation for their intention, and what they believed would serve to protect the spirit of the game, it would seem in this case they suffered from nothing more than that age-old golfer’s infliction: paralysis from analysis. So before I get to my solution, let me first start with the reasons why I believe what the ruling bodies came up with for the anchored putter ban was wrong, why it has the potential to hurt the game, and why it comes at the worst possible time.

It’s not an unfair advantage

Anchored putters have been around for a long, long time, and while belly-putters are the newer kid on the block, Phil Rogers first used one in competition in the 1960s. I could give you all the brain science to back it up, but the fact is, if anchored putters were really such a huge advantage they would have been adopted en masse a long time ago by all the players on the various tours. They play golf for a living; it’s how they pay their mortgages and trust me, their often king-size egos aren’t so big that the majority of them wouldn’t adopt a new piece of allowable equipment if it really gave them an advantage. You don’t see hordes of touring professionals clinging to their persimmons and steel-shafted drivers out of tradition. When it became clear that metal, graphite, and titanium were obviously better options, they dropped that old stuff like a bad habit.

Disputes

While the USGA and R&A govern golf, they’re not involved in the day-to-day operations, and their interpretation of this new rule has set us who do up for endless disputes — like the controversy over what Bernhard Langer did while winning his first tournament after the anchor ban. Unlike Adam Scott, many who use anchored putters won’t abandon them altogether, and trying to determine whether or not a player’s forearm is actually touching his body or not, especially in cold weather where players are wearing bulky jackets and many layers, is pretty much impossible and unenforceable.

Since Jan. 1, I’ve had to get in the middle of more disputes between members than I have in 25 years, and every one has been about whether or not a certain player was anchoring.

A major fix to a minor problem

When golf’s governing bodies made the decision to ban anchored putting, a big part of the discussion had to do with their concern over the rise in popularity of belly putters and their increased use among tour players and younger players. The problem is that segment of golf’s participants comprises less than 1 percent of those who play the game.

Most players who used anchored putters were just the regular Joes trying desperately to find something that would help them get through a putting slump or a case of the yips. If golf’s governing bodies really wanted to stem the supposed tide of adoption without hurting the regular guy or gal, they could have just worked with the PGA Tour to adopt a policy restricting their use in major competition.

Just about every young amateur that has any game at all dreams of playing in the big show, and kids emulate their idols. You should have seen the near perfect cross-handed impression of Jordan Spieth I witnessed from a 10-year-old at an event recently, but I digress.

You’re not going to see kids adopting things that won’t be allowable once they do qualify to play in a big event some day, and if the Tour players weren’t using them, it wouldn’t be long before anchored putters would be seen by the next generation as an old-man’s club that no decent player would be caught dead with.

Discrimination and abuse

Success after the broomstick? Adam Scott is proving it's possible, but can average golfers find the same success?

Success after the broomstick? Adam Scott is proving it’s possible, but can average golfers find the same success?

If you’ve read the text of the new rule or have seen the posters the USGA spent considerable expense putting out, one thing becomes immediately apparent. Despite all they hysteria over belly-putting, the new rule likely impacts golfers who used long putters, or the broomstick-style of putting the most.

Anchoring your forearms against your body is OK if you’re putting traditionally, but it’s not if your putter is longer and/or you’re using a split-hand grip with the top hand inverted? I guess the USGA figured out pretty quickly that certain body types (read big bellies) wouldn’t be able to putt even in a traditional manner if they just said your forearms can’t touch your body, so they came up with an interpretation that would leave those guys alone while still attempting to eliminate any similar stabilizing ability for those with a longer wand.

The way the rule is written, it’s OK for me to anchor my forearms against my sides (read: belly) as long as I don’t invert the top one and or split the hands. But if I essentially do the same thing with my top hand hanging down, as long as the hands at least touch each other (read: aren’t split) I’m good? According to the rules I am, but if you’re confused by now without the aid of all the fancy infographics that the USGA has provided us then you get my point.

Timing

Golf’s highly publicized drop in participation over the past half-dozen years is nothing to sneeze at. And at a time when we need to be doing most everything we can to not only attract new players, but retain the players we have, we don’t need to be doing anything that turns off many avid players to playing or playing more. And I’m sure the level of discouragement I’ve seen among a handful of players at my own club is going on simultaneously around the country and the world.

When the Mayo Clinic studied the yips a few years back, they did one survey whose results claimed that upward of 25 percent of the people who gave up golf did so because of the yips. An estimated 10-15 percent of players used some form of a long or anchored putter to help them play this great game before the ban. Now I don’t think all of those golfers are going to just up and quit. Many will grumble, adjust, and move on to some other putting method that allows them to putt just poorly enough to stay in the game at some level, but is that really what we want? Do we want to make the game less enjoyable for people who already love it, and at the same time run the risk of taking the fun out of it for a small percentage so much so that they consider giving it up?

A Fix

So now that I’ve told you essentially why I believe this crusade against the unconventional among us is more than just a bit wrong-headed, let me tell you what we could and should have done instead, and how we can walk it back a bit.

In my heart of hearts, I agree with the sentiment behind what the USGA and R&A were trying to do. I’m a traditionalist and want to see the game’s great traditions preserved and respected. But long and belly putters have been around for a long time now, so I think at this point they almost qualify. If we are really hard set on banning anchoring, not the length of our putters, I get that. It would have been much simpler, fairer, easier to enforce, and would have created far less confusion, however, if Rule 14-1b simply said:

No part of the club may touch any part of the body other than the hands, and the hands are considered to be part of the club.

That’s it.

With that change, all this anchoring stuff would have been a moot point. It would have left Langer and most of his broomstick brethren alone, but would have essentially eliminated most forms of anchoring (like the scary belly-putter phenomenon) in a way that would have been far easier to enforce and interpret.

How can we walk it back? That one’s easy, and while the USGA and R&A may have a bit of egg on their face in the short term, a statement about the difficulty of enforcement of the rule under how it’s currently written would satisfy most players and allow them to save face while creating an enormous amount of goodwill among a segment of players that they have at this point alienated.

Everyone makes mistakes, but ultimately, the people we most respect own up, learn, and grow from those mistakes. And what we should learn from this one is that, despite the best of intentions, this wasn’t the best move we could have made and it certainly didn’t come at the best time.

I’d love to hear what you think.

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Mike Dowd is the author of the new novel COMING HOME and the Lessons from the Golf Guru: Wit, Wisdom, Mind-Tricks & Mysticism for Golf and Life series. He has been Head PGA Professional at Oakdale Golf & CC in Oakdale, California since 2001, and is serving his third term on the NCPGA Board of Directors and Chairs the Growth of the Game Committee. Mike has introduced thousands of people to the game and has coached players that have played golf collegiately at the University of Hawaii, San Francisco, U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Davis, University of the Pacific, C.S.U. Sacramento, C.S.U. Stanislaus, C.S.U. Chico, and Missouri Valley State, as men and women on the professional tours. Mike currently lives in Turlock, California with his wife and their two aspiring LPGA stars, where he serves on the Turlock Community Theatre Board, is the past Chairman of the Parks & Recreation Commission and is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Turlock. In his spare time (what's that?) he enjoys playing golf with his girls, writing, music, fishing and following the foibles of the Sacramento Kings, the San Francisco 49ers, the San Francisco Giants, and, of course, the PGA Tour. You can find Mike at mikedowdgolf.com.

80 Comments

80 Comments

  1. Dennis

    Jun 8, 2022 at 11:24 am

    simple fix is to limit the length of the putter to about 38 inches.

  2. Richard J Coon

    Aug 31, 2018 at 4:06 pm

    When in comes to integrity, perception is reality. I would urge a length restriction on the putter.

  3. dtruman

    Feb 8, 2018 at 7:42 pm

    There have been some video clips showing that Langer was anchoring and there have been some also showing him not anchoring. I suggest they warn him that they will be monitoring him very closely for five tournaments. Then compare it to five tournaments he is not monitored. If there is a significant difference, then further investigating will be needed.

  4. peter collins

    Dec 8, 2017 at 2:46 pm

    I don’t want to spend my time when playing, to see if my partner is anchoring his putter.
    The moment he pulls that thing out of his bag, my game is over.

  5. ALF

    Oct 30, 2017 at 2:06 am

    I will not watch Champions Golf until these cheaters are forced to change their ways. Thanks. I needed to vent. The “ruling bodies “ have ceased to rule.

  6. Felchone

    Oct 29, 2017 at 4:22 pm

    Golf’s hard and if long putters or anchoring make it more enjoyable for some than whats the issue? Offset drivers, super gi irons, perimeter weighting, adjustable jumbo drivers, hybrids, speedfoam, jailbreak, juiced balls, graphite shafts, super grooves, blah, blah, blah, blah. Every one of these things exists to make the game easier for the user, and we all have at least some of them in our bags. Play the game against yourself and the course the way you’re supposed to, and lets not be blind to our own hypocrisy.

  7. Steve

    Oct 27, 2017 at 1:14 pm

    One of the main reasons we are still revisiting this issue is because of B Langer — whose reputation and likeability are sacred. Scotty McC should be donating a portion of his winnings to Langer, cuz if McCarron were the lone ranger on this, he would likely have been DQ’d and fighting this in court. With Langer, he has a shield and immunity for the foreseeable future.

  8. Felipe Aspillaga

    Oct 27, 2017 at 8:48 am

    If you think little Tommy Morrison (and others with super-human abilities) is an incredible inspiration and is great for the game of golf, although your rule suggestion is simple, it would render his swing “illegal”…and a travesty.

  9. Jacked_Loft

    Oct 27, 2017 at 5:05 am

    The USGA and the R&A are simply archaic in thier thoght processes. Imagine where the high jump would be today if the “Fosbery Flop” had been deemed non-conforming.

    • 097

      Oct 27, 2017 at 10:49 am

      The Olympics is archaic. Imagine if we didn’t have the Olympics. We would be in far more peaceful world without ugly competition, and drug, HGH and Roid-free.

  10. Old Gaffer

    Oct 27, 2017 at 1:38 am

    Everybody is an expert on politics, religion, sports, sex … and long putters 😉

  11. Tour Grinder

    Oct 26, 2017 at 4:52 pm

    Tom Watson has spoken numerous times on this very subject…very intelligently and very convincingly. Yet, because he’s over 60 and pushing 70, fewer and fewer people want to listen to him. Watson’s putting went south years ago due to y*ps, especially short putting, but he never went to any longer putters or anchored putting because he didn’t believe it was right or proper. He’s not a stick in the mud or someone who tests a hypothesis by using his wife’s clubs; he’s just a Hall of Famer who knows what he’s talking about. Idea for next article: get Watson interviewed and with quotes. All the people who seem to believe it doesn’t matter, or doesn’t establish an unfair advantage would fade into the woodwork.

    • JJVas

      Oct 27, 2017 at 1:08 pm

      Nah, we’ll just pass on his reactionary views quicker than the entire Ryder Cup crew did. How did that end up working out? If he wasn’t so archaic in his thinking, maybe he would have won a major after my 8th birthday.

      • Tommy

        Nov 25, 2017 at 8:38 pm

        Really!?….you’re going to criticize Tom Watson’s competitive record? Good luck with that.

    • 2putttom

      Oct 28, 2017 at 7:21 pm

      there are arguments for and against the use of the “long putters” on tour. If it has a distinct advantage for a player in competition the more of the pro’s would have used them.

      • Tour Grinder

        Oct 29, 2017 at 10:44 am

        This is why they should mandate college classes in philosophic logic. Nobody wants to think or reason logically anymore. The longer putters and anchored putters are NOT a DISTINCT advantage for EVERY golfer. Nobody ever said or claimed that. They are only a DISTINCT advantage for those golfers who can no longer putt with reasonable nerves, without flinching and yipping. In other words, these are nothing but crutches for those who can no longer function successfully with anything else. Yes, if these implements had been a distinct advantage for EVERY golfer, then yes, every golfer would be using them. Nobody’s ever said that. If Brad Faxon could putt better with a long or anchored putter, he would have done so years ago. But his methods and techniques and putter length are ideal for him, personally. However, anchored putters were indeed an advantage for the golfers who NEEDED them and appreciated them being a DISTINCT advantage. I can no longer hit a bullet-straight drive 300+ yards down the middle of the fairway anymore. Should I be allowed some kind of new or “non-archaic” club or implement to allow me to hit a drive automatically straight down the middle 300 yards? If I invented one, would that automatically make me a “with it” golfer of today?

  12. M. Vegas

    Oct 26, 2017 at 3:44 pm

    I don’t think a player should be allowed to tap the ball in with the back of his/her putter….
    That’s not the intended use, 2 stroke penalty

    • Anthony

      Nov 2, 2017 at 7:31 pm

      Well that’s a silly comment, what about the good old Bullseye double sided putter? that’s ancient and still allowed? As long as you make a stroke at the ball, putt it in with ya bloody hybrid or wedge….

  13. RG

    Oct 26, 2017 at 3:20 pm

    If long putters or anchoring was an advantage,or made one a better putter I would do it. I do not. That argument is ridiculous. It’s just like box grooves, they do not make you a better player. Has ANYTHING happened to scoring since these two things have been banned? NO! The USGA and R7A simply need justification for their existence so every few years they make up some new rule or eliminate some old rule. None of it matters.
    I recently did an experiment. I played a whole round of golf using my fiancee’s clubs. Pink shafted generic set. Used only the worst balls I could find out of my shag bag. shot 78 from 6800 at Harmony. It doesnt matter guys. I didnt like the feel. I hated the look, but I hit it straight, I got uo and down and I made putts, WITH HER PUTTER! If you have a swing you can whitle a tree branch and hit a ball. If you can putt, you can putt. If you cant anchoring or square grooves aint gonna help ya.

  14. Jim

    Oct 26, 2017 at 9:28 am

    Your solution sounds good, but where does it leave Pro golfers like Matt Kucher and Wes Simpson?? They anchor to the left forearm.

  15. alanp

    Oct 26, 2017 at 7:23 am

    did the author just wake up from a time capsule?

  16. Jeffrey

    Oct 26, 2017 at 3:49 am

    Get the ball in the hole anyway you want with what ever you want. Sounds like fun to me.

    • Rulez

      Oct 26, 2017 at 1:06 pm

      Aaaaaah and there’s the rub. They should ban the use of any club except the putter on the greens in the modern game, but allow for spike marks to be fixed. That’s more important. No more belly wedges, no more hybrids on the greens, etc.

  17. Steve

    Oct 26, 2017 at 1:17 am

    If your not going to outlaw a long putter then why in world would you outlaw how some one uses it?? Did they outlaw players for the way they swing a golf club because Jim Furyk sure makes a lot of money with the way he found to use golf clubs…John Daly has become a folk legend over swinging his clubs and isn’t that a miss use of a club and a huge advantage for him (in the past). How about a right handed guy playing left handed? Is there a rule a player cannot be in motion while making a stroke, can a player place the ball two feet behind his back foot and hit it from there….how about the player that holds his wedge (anchored) by his two hands and just turns his body back and forward chipping the ball?? Ban the club or do not ban how it is used…

  18. The dude

    Oct 25, 2017 at 9:26 pm

    Biomech……(mic drop)

  19. Cir

    Oct 25, 2017 at 7:50 pm

    I think we should also get rid of alignment aids like different colors and lines, as well as mallet putters that are bigger than 10cm x 10cm. I mean who wants to putt with contraptions that have red, black, white or circles for alignment aid, anyways? lol

  20. Mike Mielenz

    Oct 25, 2017 at 7:31 pm

    Peter Dawson, the head of the R&A, made a little-noticed comment several years ago that was reported by The Golf Channel. Peter had just witnessed a player at a tournament putt with a long putter and said to an associate, “That doesn’t look right. I’m going to do something about that.” He then basically held the USGA hostage under threat of bifurcating the rules, by saying that the R&A was going to rule against long putters and if the USGA didn’t agree to go along, the R&A were going to go their own way. Under threat of having the rules different at the USA and Mexico than elsewhere in the world, with the resulting confusion among worldwide tournament players, Mike Davis took the high road and got the USGA to agree to go along with the ban, assuming a reasonable rule could be found. What followed was a lengthy period where both ruling bodies finally settled on doing away with anchoring as a solution to the long putter problem, in the absence of another way to get rid of the long putters. After all, a 40″ putter might be traditional length for someone 6″ 6″, while it could be a chest-length putter for someone 5′ 0″, so specifying length would not be logical. All this was done to placate Peter Dawson, who then retired. I then suggested to Mike Davis that with Peter gone the rule might be rescinded, but he declined to re-open the issue with so much water having gone over the dam. So thanks to Peter Dawson for opening this can of worms in the first place, and meanwhile the long putters he determined to do away with are still around.

    • Rulez

      Oct 26, 2017 at 3:34 am

      Small balls? That’s also how it was with the R&A. Until somebody realized that it’s easier to make money making the same balls and selling it all over the world.
      After all, equipment is a large part of how the industry moves itself along.

  21. Mike

    Oct 25, 2017 at 6:49 pm

    It’s all too simple to fix: Max length of any club should be 40″

  22. nobody2u

    Oct 25, 2017 at 4:13 pm

    I got tired of reading and just wanted to probably repeat the real old guy’s that started playing in the 50’s. Langer should have never been able to use the long putter, he should never been able to play as slow as he does. In my opinion he single hand-idly ruined the true game. I’m glad that something is being done about about it even after he has won everything that could be won. So what if he stops winning, he should have a pile of cash higher than a show dog can jump over by now anyway. He started doing it and it caused a bunch of guys to start winning that turned it into rubbing it in the other guy’s faces. Wipe that s##t eating grin off the illegal club users and get it back to real golf. PS, I’m not going to read any more articles after I finish this, the crybaby’s that are using the long putters should form another group and play their own league some place else, like a croquet course in their back yards.

    • JJVas

      Oct 25, 2017 at 4:37 pm

      How are those hickory shafted blades treating you? Just don’t cry about it too much, because those tears slow down the greens, and my long putter works better when they’re at 10+.

    • Tom1

      Oct 25, 2017 at 9:45 pm

      nobody you don’t watch the champions tour do a?

  23. Steve Frishmuth

    Oct 25, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    Why not just limit the length of the putter to certain # of inches. …..say 40″….and handle can’t touch your torso

    • Rulez

      Oct 26, 2017 at 3:37 am

      Can’t do that, if you have other clubs longer than that, say, your woods? Because in the end, the game is just about getting the ball in the hole, no matter what equipment you use in the bag as long as it’s one of the 14, so you can putt with a driver at 48 inches, if you want.

  24. gregh

    Oct 25, 2017 at 3:08 pm

    It is just another case of the USGA coming up with a solution to a problem that didn’t exist

  25. JJVas

    Oct 25, 2017 at 3:06 pm

    A bad back forced this former scratch to use a long putter for the past 23 years. Putting it off my chest by 0.5″ changed nothing. Zero adjustment. If you think Langer is cheating, you’re either misinformed or jealous. He doesn’t need to… there is really no significant difference. The USGA just needs to take a Mulligan here and admit they screwed up. It happens. I know they’re not comfortable watching 10-year olds use belly putters. At least be honest with it and own it. All this rule has done is make me a slower player who has to listen to idiocy now and then from uneducated guys playing golf who don’t understand the rule. Thanks USGA!

  26. BallBuster

    Oct 25, 2017 at 2:47 pm

    Why is the argument that it gives an unfair advantage so twisted and skewed? No one ever said it flat out gives EVERYONE an unfair advantage across the board who adopts using it. No. Never. It can (and has been shown statistically) however to give an aid SOME of those who struggle with a more traditional style. Using it does not even guarantee it will help either. It “might”. The unfair comes in competition when someone who putts traditional gets beat on say a final putt (for example) by someone who anchors. If you’re by yourself or among friends who don’t care, it shouldn’t matter what one uses. But some feel in competition it should be a bit more leveled out. Stewart Cink in the early 90’s went from being well past the top 100 in putting down to #2 in just 1 year! He directly 100% credited it to the long anchored putting. It was right in an article in Golf Digest. He is the prime example why those who lost money to him were miffed and said it was unfair. Ditto Azinger and recently Scott had much better putting statistics with the anchor method. At least phrase the context of the argument correctly to decide what’s fair.

  27. the bishop

    Oct 25, 2017 at 2:04 pm

    “We”? You gotta mouse in your pocket? I was against the ban and I’m not, never have been, and never will be a long putter user.

    • Da Izzlest

      Oct 25, 2017 at 2:12 pm

      Right? The article’s title led me to believe the author was a USGA guy involved in the ban.
      GolfWRX is getting very click bait-y.

  28. Al

    Oct 25, 2017 at 2:03 pm

    So Kutcher arms would be in violation of your suggestion? As well I agree with Chopper above. Hands touch the club but nowhere in your rule does it state the hands can’t touch the body. Interesting.

  29. J Zilla

    Oct 25, 2017 at 1:55 pm

    It’s kinda ridiculous the USGA decided to get in the business of regulating swing aesthetics. Regulating the equipment is fine ie length of the putter, size of putter head etc but a player should be allowed to swing a legal club any damn way they want. If it looks bad so what? The USGA should go to the local muni and check out what some real ugly swings look like.

  30. anthony aguilar

    Oct 25, 2017 at 1:42 pm

    Anchoring the putter into the chest or anchoring anywhere to a body part is a definite advantage !!!the putter stays stable at the top of grip and it’s easier to repeat itself the USGA is correct on Banning!!

    • Jason

      Oct 25, 2017 at 2:31 pm

      Have you ever tried it?

      I have struggled with putting for a good part of the last decade+. I tried a belly (and broom stick) putter.

      Yes it does make the putter more stable, but my experience was I lost feeling on the putts. So my lag putting went to hell. I realized “so what if this makes a 3′ putt easier, if I’m lagging it to 6′ instead of 4′ I’m still loosing strokes with the anchored putter.” I personally didn’t think it was worth it and I switched back to a more conventional putter before the ruling even came out.

      I’ve talked to numerous people who have putted with an anchored style and they agree it costs you on feel. So in reality it’s just a balancing act between feel & stability. But so is every other equipment decision you make, do you get the 460cc driver to be more accurate when the 430cc one will give you an extra 5 yards?

    • J Zilla

      Oct 25, 2017 at 4:47 pm

      If everyone is allowed to do it then it’s not an advantage. Banning it but leaving enough wiggle room in the rules could potentially create room for someone to game the rules and get an advantage, however.

      IMHO the only way to create a fair rule would be to allow all players to swing anyway they want but make rules that limit the equipment like say a max height for clubs.

  31. Mike

    Oct 25, 2017 at 1:39 pm

    To solve it once and for all, Just Ban Broom stick and unconventional putters, all putter grips must conform to standard length to allow hands to be together when making the stroke, so the padded out grip is ok so long as the thumbs touch, if you struggle with a conventional style putter, then do more practice on feel and motion, and try to read the greens better, take a course planner out with you, and stop bloody guessing the breaks, there’s an old adage, if you want to get better at something then practise more on the weaker part of your game, be it Putting, chipping, whatever, you must be dedicated to improving your game, it takes a tidy few hours a week but just do it under supervision if possible.

  32. farmer

    Oct 25, 2017 at 1:32 pm

    If Langer wasn’t winning, this would not be an issue. Why does he win? He is a superior ball striker and gives himself a lot of birdie opportunities. His putting style is certainly a part of the formula, but not the whole equation.

  33. Christopher

    Oct 25, 2017 at 1:13 pm

    The thing is, no one player gained an unfair advantage with anchoring, the technology was available to every player at every level, if you wanted to try it you could. It’s not like Taylor Made or Ping had the rights to the clubs or technique and would only allow their staff players to participate.

    4 out of 6 majors were won by anchoring and I think the governing bodies thought it looked bad for the game, it didn’t.

  34. Bob Jones

    Oct 25, 2017 at 1:08 pm

    I am convinced that the only reason the R&A and USGA banned anchored putting was because they were upset by players winning major championships putting that way. Period.
    It’s the same reason they rushed in the rule banning croquet-style putting because Bobby Jones got all huffy when he saw Sam Snead putting that way and said, “That’s not golf!” — no good reason at all.
    The USGA is trying to grow the game yet they take away from thousands of recreational golfers with yips and bad backs a way they can play the game and enjoy it.
    As for “traditional” strokes, people who say swinging a club freely is the “spirit of the game”, please tell when this “spirit” originated. Was there a meeting in 1783 I don’t know about? I thought the spirit of the game was to play the ball from where it lies. But having to swing a club freely? Where does that come from?
    The anchor ban was the dumbest thing the USGA could have done, and is the reason why I stopped renewing my membership. If you play with me, you can anchor your putter all day, and even your driver if you want to. The USGA can go (ahem) itself.

    • JoeyG

      Oct 25, 2017 at 3:07 pm

      If the anchored long putter is okay with you, why can’t the Snead croquet style putting be okay as well?
      The long putter is a greater abomination to the game of golf than croquet putting.
      What is so wrong with croquet putting anyway?

      • J Zilla

        Oct 25, 2017 at 6:23 pm

        Nothing. The powers that be just don’t like how it looks. Essentially saying, “this is how a golf swing (or putter stroke in this instance) are supposed to look and that’s that!”

      • Bob Jones

        Oct 25, 2017 at 8:26 pm

        Absolutely nothing. Isn’t that clear from my remarks?

  35. Jerry

    Oct 25, 2017 at 1:05 pm

    As Langer says as the video begins, “I do everything the same, really…” I don’t know how any golfer can rehearse the anchor a couple of times, line up and remember to take the club off the chest. He’s also playing for a lot of money … take away any question of anchoring. If you can’t see air between club and chest, assume it’s anchoring.

    • 2putttom

      Oct 25, 2017 at 10:01 pm

      aww yes, kinda like the bed sheets are wrinkled I know your having an affair assumption

  36. Greg V

    Oct 25, 2017 at 12:46 pm

    The USGA should be governing equipment, but not how to use it. So long as a player doesn’t scrape or push the ball, any stroke should be permissible. However, no club should be longer than the driver, which has a maximum length of 48″ at present (I think). The USGA made a huge mistake when they allowed the broomstick back in the beginning.

    By the way, I brought my belly putter out to my Thursday night league this year and asked around if anyone had a problem with my putting it into play. To a man (and woman), no one said they had a problem with it. I made 4 putts over 10′ that night, which is a rarity for me. And still, no one said I should not use it the next Thursday. However, my handicap did drop precipitously.

    • Dave

      Oct 25, 2017 at 9:04 pm

      If you were using an illegal stroke by USGA rules how is the score legal for USGA handicapping purposes?

      • Greg V

        Oct 26, 2017 at 12:05 pm

        Aha! The league commissioner establishes handicaps – at his discretion. Some people gripe about them, some don’t, and we manage to have a lot of fun anyway.

        Sort of like the old British system where the captain of the club established the handicaps after playing with a member. Hard to sandbag in that system.

    • DrRob1963

      Oct 26, 2017 at 4:20 am

      “The USGA made a huge mistake when they allowed the broomstick back in the beginning” is absolutely correct. Broomsticks and anchoring have become part of the game. Trying to ban them now is like trying to get the egg back out of the omelette!
      These things need to be addressed when they start, not after they become common around the world, in tournament, social & club play.

  37. Greg V

    Oct 25, 2017 at 12:37 pm

    I think that the USGA should govern equipment, but should not govern how to use it – beyond the dictum of having to hit the ball instead of scraping or pushing it. The USGA should never have allowed a club to be longer than the length the driver, which I think is 48″ at present.

    By the way, whatever happened to the rule that the clubhead should be plain and simple in shape?

  38. Andrew

    Oct 25, 2017 at 12:24 pm

    Yips and nerves are put of the game. Thumbs must be on the the side of the grip toward the ground.

    • Dave

      Oct 25, 2017 at 9:06 pm

      Side of the grip…Which side? Mine are on top of the grip.

  39. John Grossi

    Oct 25, 2017 at 12:19 pm

    The current rule is not enforceable. I say go back to the way the rule was written a few years ago. As the author stated, if it was a superior way to putt then every golfer, especially the pros, would be using it.

  40. Rona

    Oct 25, 2017 at 12:10 pm

    In the sport of badminton the serve must be executed with the racquet head below the position of the wrist holding the racquet.
    If you add this restriction of to both hands for golf putting along with the putter free of the body which includes the arms your problem would be solved.
    Now we have the problem of golfers suffering from the ‘yips’ and sore backs when bending over. For pro golfers this involves their livelihood and a medical exemption could be arranged for the long putter. Medical research indicates that the yips vanish when one of the hands is held at the height of the heart. Belly putting is outright cheating. As for sore backs, that is a structural problem that requires convalescence.

  41. Richard

    Oct 25, 2017 at 11:58 am

    Selective enforcement of the rules has come along to be the root cause of this mess.
    The various revenue streams in the Golf as global spectator entertainment will now drive what eventually emerges.
    My personal opinion: the putter should be swung like all the other clubs in the bag, I think there might be a rule that triggers that opinion in my head.
    If this had been enforced at the very outset, we would not be in the mess we find today.
    Too bad so sad if some guys can’t putt. Maybe we can have trophies for the best ball strikers with every club except putter.

  42. John

    Oct 25, 2017 at 11:58 am

    the next thing the usga will do is, that tour players are only allowed to use 430cc driver heads, have to play blades and a 3 layer ball.
    i mean come on. some of those rules/restrictions are just nonsense.

    • Shallowface

      Oct 25, 2017 at 12:23 pm

      The USGA has no authority over the PGA Tour, or anything or anyone else for that matter other than the tournaments it runs. It is largely ignored at every level of play every single day. Winter rules, more than 14 clubs, leaf rules, ignoring the stroke and distance rule for a lost ball, and now the absurdity of not being allowed to post rounds played as a single for handicap purposes (one which I have ignored any number of times this year and will continue to do so), just to site a very few examples.

      If the PGA Tour decided to allow ANYTHING it wanted rules wise in the interest of enhancing its product (anchored putters, non conforming equipment, naked female caddies, you name it), it is entirely within its rights to do so. It could even do so without declaring it publicly, as they would likely never want to be seen as being in official conflict with the USGA.

      You can write a local rule for anything. I once played a course in Orlando that actually allowed a mulligan off the first tee as one of its local rules. You had to play it if you took it, but it was allowed under a local rule.

      But make no mistake. The USGA has no real authority. Only the authority which it is granted at any level. It’s one of the dirty little not so secrets of our wonderful game.

      • Larry

        Oct 25, 2017 at 2:21 pm

        That is how recreational golf should be played and I suspect is played by the vast majority of the golfers in the world. It should be encouraged. That will grow the game. If it is discouraged, the game will continue to fade away.

  43. I chop too

    Oct 25, 2017 at 11:45 am

    Anchoring is immaterial for the majority of players. You start the argument by saying that anchoring has been around for 50 years and has not been widely adopted, so provides no clear advantage. You then support no anchoring allowed based upon tradition. You are not in a rut, you are in a ditch! Very few elements of equipment have been stopped because of tradition; e.g. Balls, metal woods, steel shafts, graphite shafts, etc. Things need to evolve and anti anchoring was a knee jerk response to anchored putters winning 3 tourneys in 1 year.

  44. Kooch

    Oct 25, 2017 at 11:12 am

    This solves one problem and creates another, namely Matt Kuchar’s putting style where you press the shaft along your forearm and the hand contacts the forearm as well. This is expressly allowed under the current rule, but could be seen as banned under your prospective rule. The whole thing is dumb and should just go back to square one.

  45. Kenny

    Oct 25, 2017 at 11:06 am

    So that change allows the Langer’s of the world to go back to anchoring, but now makes the Kucher style of putting illegal, right? It seems like it just opens a new can of worms. I agree it would be easier to enforce. I think the rules should just go away. I also putt with a conventional putter.

  46. Jason

    Oct 25, 2017 at 11:04 am

    NO PART OF THE CLUB MAY TOUCH ANY PART OF THE BODY OTHER THAN THE HANDS, AND THE HANDS ARE CONSIDERED TO BE PART OF THE CLUB.

    So based on this change the Matt Kuchar putting style would be illegal? Given that the putter touches his forearm and per that statement the forearm is part of the body (not the club).

    Maybe your intent would be to ban Kuchar’s putting style, but if not…

    Do you see where it isn’t just “a simple fix”?

    • Scott

      Oct 25, 2017 at 12:03 pm

      Would adding “other than the hands or arms, with the hands (only) being considered part of the club.” The USGA and R&A tried to fix a problem that did not exist. I use a traditional style of putter, but I could not care less what someone else uses.

  47. gunmetal

    Oct 25, 2017 at 10:59 am

    As a guy who used to use a belly putter, but has since massively improved my putting (thanks Seemore and Garsen) with a traditional style of putting, this article makes all the sense in the world to me – as does your solution. Which is why, sadly, the USGA and R&A will never walk back the anchor ban.

    I feel for Langher and all of the crap he hears behind his back or on Social Media (nobody will say anything to his face).

    • 2putttom

      Oct 25, 2017 at 10:09 pm

      not after @ 272 yards 3 wood that put his ball six feet from the pin to eagle the 18th and win by one stroke.

  48. Chopper

    Oct 25, 2017 at 10:52 am

    “No part of the club may touch any part of the body other than the hands, and the hands are considered to be part of the club.” How exactly would that have left Langer alone? Hands are part of the club and he anchored his hand into his chest. Your simple fix doesn’t work at all. In fact, everyone is now in breach of the rule unless your hands are not touching your wrists, in which case you are good.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open betting preview

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As the Florida swing comes to an end, the PGA Tour makes its way to Houston to play the Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course.

This will be the fourth year that Memorial Park Golf Course will serve as the tournament host. The event did not take place in 2023, but the course hosted the event in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Memorial Park is a par-70 layout measuring 7,432 yards and features Bermudagrass greens. Historically, the main defense for the course has been thick rough along the fairways and tightly mown runoff areas around the greens. Memorial Park has a unique setup that features three Par 5’s and five Par 3’s.

The field will consist of 132 players, with the top 65 and ties making the cut. There are some big names making the trip to Houston, including Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala.

Past Winners at Memorial Park

  • 2022: Tony Finau (-16)
  • 2021: Jason Kokrak (-10)
  • 2020: Carlos Ortiz (-13)

In this article and going forward, I’ll be using the Rabbit Hole by Betsperts Golf data engine to develop my custom model. If you want to build your own model or check out all of the detailed stats, you can sign up using promo code: MATTVIN for 25% off any subscription package (yearly is best value). 

Key Stats For Memorial Park

Let’s take a look at several metrics for Memorial Park to determine which golfers boast top marks in each category over their last 24 rounds:

Strokes Gained: Approach

Memorial Park is a pretty tough golf course. Golfers are penalized for missing greens and face some difficult up and downs to save par. Approach will be key.

Total Strokes Gained: Approach per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Tom Hoge (+1.30)
  2. Scottie Scheffler (+1.26)
  3. Keith Mitchell (+0.97) 
  4. Tony Finau (+0.92)
  5. Jake Knapp (+0.84)

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee

Memorial Park is a long golf course with rough that can be penal. Therefore, a combination of distance and accuracy is the best metric.

Total Strokes Gained: Off the Tee per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Scottie Scheffler (+0.94)
  2. Kevin Dougherty (+0.93)
  3. Cameron Champ (+0.86)
  4. Rafael Campos (+0.84)
  5. Si Woo Kim (+0.70)

Strokes Gained Putting: Bermudagrass + Fast

The Bermudagrass greens played fairly fast the past few years in Houston. Jason Kokrak gained 8.7 strokes putting on his way to victory in 2021 and Tony Finau gained in 7.8 in 2022.

Total Strokes Gained Putting (Bermudagrass) per round past 24 rounds (min. 8 rounds):

  1. Adam Svensson (+1.27)
  2. Harry Hall (+1.01)
  3. Martin Trainer (+0.94)
  4. Taylor Montgomery (+0.88)
  5. S.H. Kim (+0.86)

Strokes Gained: Around the Green

With firm and undulating putting surfaces, holding the green on approach shots may prove to be a challenge. Memorial Park has many tightly mowed runoff areas, so golfers will have challenging up-and-down’s around the greens. Carlos Ortiz gained 5.7 strokes around the green on the way to victory in 2020.

Total Strokes Gained: Around the Green per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Mackenzie Hughes (+0.76)
  2. S.H. Kim (+0.68)
  3. Scottie Scheffler (+0.64)
  4. Jorge Campillo (+0.62)
  5. Jason Day (+0.60)

Strokes Gained: Long and Difficult

Memorial Park is a long and difficult golf course. This statistic will incorporate players who’ve had success on these types of tracks in the past. 

Total Strokes Gained: Long and Difficult in past 24 rounds:

  1. Scottie Scheffler (+2.45)
  2. Ben Griffin (+1.75)
  3. Will Zalatoris (+1.73)
  4. Ben Taylor (+1.53)
  5. Tony Finau (+1.42)

Course History

Here are the players who have performed the most consistently at Memorial Park. 

Strokes Gained Total at Memorial Park past 12 rounds:

  1. Tyson Alexander (+3.65)
  2. Ben Taylor (+3.40)
  3. Tony Finau (+2.37)
  4. Joel Dahmen (+2.25)
  5. Patton Kizzire (+2.16)

Statistical Model

Below, I’ve reported overall model rankings using a combination of the five key statistical categories previously discussed.

These rankings are comprised of SG: App (24%) SG: OTT (24%); SG: Putting Bermudagrass/Fast (13%); SG: Long and Difficult (13%); SG: ARG (13%) and Course History (13%)

  1. Scottie Scheffler
  2. Wyndham Clark
  3. Tony Finau
  4. Joel Dahmen
  5. Stephan Jaeger 
  6. Aaron Rai
  7. Sahith Theegala
  8. Keith Mitchell 
  9. Jhonnatan Vegas
  10. Jason Day
  11. Kurt Kitayama
  12. Alex Noren
  13. Will Zalatoris
  14. Si Woo Kim
  15. Adam Long

2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open Picks

Will Zalatoris +2000 (Caesars)

Scottie Scheffler will undoubtedly be difficult to beat this week, so I’m starting my card with someone who I believe has the talent to beat him if he doesn’t have his best stuff.

Will Zalatoris missed the cut at the PLAYERS, but still managed to gain strokes on approach while doing so. In an unpredictable event with extreme variance, I don’t believe it would be wise to discount Zalatoris based on that performance. Prior to The PLAYERS, the 27-year-old finished T13, T2 and T4 in his previous three starts.

Zalatoris plays his best golf on long and difficult golf courses. In his past 24 rounds, he ranks 3rd in the category, but the eye test also tells a similar story. He’s contended at major championships and elevated events in the best of fields with tough scoring conditions.  The Texas resident should be a perfect fit at Memorial Park Golf Club.

Alex Noren +4500 (FanDuel)

Alex Noren has been quietly playing some of his best golf of the last half decade this season. The 41-year-old is coming off back-to-back top-20 finishes in Florida including a T9 at The PLAYERS in his most recent start.

In his past 24 rounds, Noren ranks 21st in the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 30th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green, 25th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses and 21st in Strokes Gained: Putting on fast Bermudagrass greens.

In addition to his strong recent play, the Swede also has played well at Memorial Park. In 2022, Noren finished T4 at the event, gaining 2.2 strokes off the tee and 7.0 strokes on approach for the week. In his two starts at the course, he’s gained an average of .6 strokes per round on the field, indicating he is comfortable on these greens.

Noren has been due for a win for what feels like an eternity, but Memorial Park may be the course that suits him well enough for him to finally get his elusive first PGA Tour victory.

Mackenzie Hughes +8000 (FanDuel)

Mackenzie Hughes found himself deep into contention at last week’s Valspar Championship before faltering late and finishing in a tie for 3rd place. While he would have loved to win the event, it’s hard to see the performance as anything other than an overwhelming positive sign for the Canadian.

Hughes has played great golf at Memorial Park in the past. He finished T7 in 2020, T29 in 2021 and T16 in 2022. The course fit seems to be quite strong for Hughes. He’s added distance off the tee in the past year or and ranks 8th in the field for apex height, which will be a key factor when hitting into Memorial Park’s elevated greens with steep run-off areas.

In his past 24 rounds, Hughes is the best player in the field in Strokes Gained: Around the Greens. The ability to scramble at this course will be extremely important. I believe Hughes can build off of his strong finish last week and contend once again to cement himself as a President’s Cup consideration.

Akshay Bhatia +8000 (FanDuel)

Akshay Bhatia played well last week at the Valspar and seemed to be in total control of his golf ball. He finished in a tie for 17th and shot an impressive -3 on a difficult Sunday. After struggling Thursday, Akshay shot 68-70-68 in his next three rounds.

Thus far, Bhatia has played better at easier courses, but his success at Copperhead may be due to his game maturing. The 22-year-old has enormous potential and the raw talent to be one of the best players in the world when he figures it all out.

Bhatia is a high upside play with superstar qualities and may just take the leap forward to the next stage of his career in the coming months.

Cameron Champ +12000 (FanDuel)

Cameron Champ is a player I often target in the outright betting market due to his “boom-or-bust” nature. It’s hard to think of a player in recent history with three PGA Tour wins who’s been as inconsistent as Champ has over the course of his career.

Despite the erratic play, Cam Champ simply knows how to win. He’s won in 2018, 2019 and 2021, so I feel he’s due for a win at some point this season. The former Texas A&M product should be comfortable in Texas and last week he showed us that his game is in a pretty decent spot.

Over his past 24 rounds, Champ ranks 3rd in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 30th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses. Given his ability to spike at any given time, Memorial Park is a good golf course to target Champ on at triple digit odds.

Robert MacIntyre +12000 (FanDuel)

The challenge this week is finding players who can possibly beat Scottie Scheffler while also not dumping an enormous amount of money into an event that has a player at the top that looks extremely dangerous. Enter McIntyre, who’s another boom-or-bust type player who has the ceiling to compete with anyone when his game is clicking on all cylinders.

In his past 24 rounds, MacIntyre ranks 16th in the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 17th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green and 10th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses.

MacIntyre’s PGA Tour season has gotten off to a slow start, but he finished T6 in Mexico, which is a course where players will hit driver on the majority of their tee shots, which is what we will see at Memorial Park. Texas can also get quite windy, which should suit MacIntyre. Last July, the Scot went toe to toe with Rory McIlroy at the Scottish Open before a narrow defeat. It would take a similar heroic effort to compete with Scheffler this year in Houston.

Ryan Moore +15000 (FanDuel)

Ryan Moore’s iron play has been absolutely unconscious over his past few starts. At The PLAYERS Championship in a loaded field, he gained 6.1 strokes on approach and last week at Copperhead, he gained 9.0 strokes on approach.

It’s been a rough handful of years on Tour for the 41-year-old, but he is still a five-time winner on the PGA Tour who’s young enough for a career resurgence. Moore has chronic deterioration in a costovertebral joint that connects the rib to the spine, but has been getting more consistent of late, which is hopefully a sign that he is getting healthy.

Veterans have been contending in 2024 and I believe taking a flier on a proven Tour play who’s shown signs of life is a wise move at Memorial Park.

 

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Opinion & Analysis

Ryan: Why the race to get better at golf might be doing more harm than good

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B.F. Skinner was one of the most important psychologists of the 20th century, developing the foundation of the development of reinforcement, and in doing so, creating the concept of behaviorism. In simple terms, this means that we are conditioned by our habits. In practical terms, it explains the divide between the few and far between elite instructors and college coaches.

To understand the application, let’s quickly review one of B.F. Skinner’s most important experiments; superstitions in the formation of behavior by pigeons. In this experiment, food was dispensed to pigeons at random intervals. Soon, according to Skinner, the pigeons began to associate whatever action they were doing at the time of the food being dispensed. According to Skinner, this conditioned that response and soon, they simply haphazardly repeated the action, failing to distinguish between cause and correlation (and in the meantime, looking really funny!).

Now, this is simply the best way to describe the actions of most every women’s college golf coach and too many instructors in America. They see something work, get positive feedback and then become conditioned to give the feedback, more and more, regardless of if it works (this is also why tips from your buddies never work!).

Go to a college event, particularly a women’s one, and you will see coaches running all over the place. Like the pigeons in the experiment, they have been conditioned into a codependent relationship with their players in which they believe their words and actions, can transform a round of golf. It is simply hilarious while being equally perturbing

In junior golf, it’s everywhere. Junior golf academies make a living selling parents that a hysterical coach and over-coaching are essential ingredients in your child’s success.

Let’s be clear, no one of any intellect has any real interest in golf — because it’s not that interesting. The people left, including most coaches and instructors, carve out a small fiefdom, usually on the corner of the range, where they use the illusion of competency to pray on people. In simple terms, they baffle people with the bullshit of pseudo-science that they can make you better, after just one more lesson.

The reality is that life is an impromptu game. The world of golf, business, and school have a message that the goal is being right. This, of course, is bad advice, being right in your own mind is easy, trying to push your ideas on others is hard. As a result, it is not surprising that the divorce rate among golf professionals and their instructors is 100 percent. The transfer rate among college players continues to soar, and too many courses have a guy peddling nefarious science to good people. In fact, we do at my course!

The question is, what impact does all this have on college-age and younger kids? At this point, we honestly don’t know. However, I am going to go out on a limb and say it isn’t good.

Soren Kierkegaard once quipped “I saw it for what it is, and I laughed.” The actions of most coaches and instructors in America are laughable. The problem is that I am not laughing because they are doing damage to kids, as well as driving good people away from this game.

The fact is that golfers don’t need more tips, secrets, or lessons. They need to be presented with a better understanding of the key elements of golf. With this understanding, they can then start to frame which information makes sense and what doesn’t. This will emancipate them and allow them to take charge of their own development.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Valspar Championship betting preview: Elite ballstrikers to thrive at Copperhead

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The PGA TOUR will stay in Florida this week for the 2024 Valspar Championship.

The Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort is a par 71 measuring 7,340 yards and features Bermudagrass greens overseeded with POA. Infamous for its difficulty, the track will be a tough test for golfers as trouble lurks all over the place. Holes 16, 17 and 18 — also known as the “Snake Pit” — make up one of the toughest three-hole stretches in golf and should lead to a captivating finish on Sunday.

The field is comprised of 156 golfers teeing it up. The field this week is solid and is a major improvement over last year’s field that felt the impact of players skipping due to a handful of “signature events” in a short span of time. 

Past Winners at Valspar Championship

  • 2023: Taylor Moore (-10)
  • 2022: Sam Burns (-17)
  • 2021: Sam Burns (-17)
  • 2019: Paul Casey (-8)
  • 2018: Paul Casey (-10)
  • 2017: Adam Hadwin (-14)
  • 2016: Charl Schwartzel (-7)
  • 2015: Jordan Spieth (-10)

In this article and going forward, I’ll be using the Rabbit Hole by Betsperts Golf data engine to develop my custom model. If you want to build your own model or check out all of the detailed stats, you can sign up using promo code: MATTVIN for 25% off any subscription package (yearly is best value). 

Key Stats For Copperhead

1. Strokes Gained: Approach

Strokes Gained: Approach grades out as the most important statistic once again this week. Copperhead really can’t be overpowered and is a second-shot golf course.

Total SG: Approach Over Past 24 Rounds (per round)

  1. Tony Finau (+.90)
  2. Nick Taylor (+.81)
  3. Justin Thomas (+.77)
  4. Greyson Sigg (+.69)
  5. Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+.67)

2. Good Drive %

The long hitters can be a bit limited here due to the tree-lined fairways and penal rough. Playing from the fairways will be important, but laying back too far will cause some difficult approaches with firm greens that may not hold shots from long irons.

Golfers who have a good balance of distance and accuracy have the best chance this week.

Good Drive % Over Past 24 Rounds

  1. Brice Garnett (+91.3%) 
  2. Zach Johnson (+91.1%)
  3. Sam Ryder (+90.5%)
  4. Ryan Moore (+90.4%)
  5. Aaron Rai (+89.7%)

3. Strokes Gained: Ball Striking

Adding ball-striking puts even more of a premium on tee-to-green prowess in the statistical model this week. Golfers who rank highly in ball-striking are in total control of the golf ball which is exceedingly important at Copperhead.

SG: Ball Striking Over Past 24 Rounds:

  1. Xander Schauffele (+1.32)
  2. Keith Mitchell (+1.29)
  3. Tony Finau (+1.24)
  4. Cameron Young (+1.17) 
  5. Doug Ghim (+.95)

4. Bogey Avoidance

With the conditions likely to be difficult, avoiding bogeys will be crucial this week. In a challenging event like the Valspar, oftentimes the golfer who is best at avoiding mistakes ends up on top.

Gritty golfers who can grind out difficult pars have a much better chance in an event like this than a low-scoring birdie-fest.

Bogey Avoidance Over Past 24 Rounds

  1. Brice Garnett (+9.0)
  2. Xander Schauffele (+9.3)
  3. Austin Cook (+9.7) 
  4. Chesson Hadley (+10.0)
  5. Greyson Sigg (+10.2)

5. Strokes Gained: Total in Difficult Conditions

Conditions will be tough this week at Copperhead. I am looking for golfers who can rise to the occasion if the course plays as difficult as it has in the past.

Strokes Gained: Total in Difficult Conditions Over Past 24 rounds

  1. Xander Schauffele (+1,71) 
  2. Min Woo Lee (+1.39)
  3. Cameron Young (+1.27)
  4. Jordan Spieth (+1.08)
  5. Justin Suh (+.94)

6. Course History

That statistic will tell us which players have played well at Copperhead in the past.

Course History Over Past 24 rounds

  1. Patrick Cantlay (+3.75) 
  2. Sam Burns (+2.49)
  3. Davis Riley (+2.33)
  4. Matt NeSmith (+2.22)
  5. Jordan Spieth (+2.04)

The Valspar Championship Model Rankings

Below, I’ve compiled overall model rankings using a combination of the five key statistical categories previously discussed — SG: Approach (27%), Good Drive % (15%), SG: BS (20%), Bogeys Avoided (13%), Course History (13%) Strokes Gained: Total in Difficult Conditions (12%).

  1. Xander Schauffele
  2. Doug Ghim
  3. Victor Perez
  4. Greyson Sigg
  5. Ryan Moore
  6. Tony Finau
  7. Justin Thomas
  8. Sam Ryder
  9. Sam Burns
  10. Lucas Glover

2024 Valspar Championship Picks

Justin Thomas +1400 (DraftKings)

Justin Thomas will be disappointed with his finish at last week’s PLAYERS Championship, as the past champion missed the cut despite being in some decent form heading into the event. Despite the missed cut, JT hit the ball really well. In his two rounds, the two-time major champion led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach per round.

Thomas has been up and down this season. He’s missed the cut in two “signature events” but also has finishes of T12 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, T12 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, T6 at the Pebble Beach AT&T Pro-Am and T3 at the American Express. In his past 24 rounds, he ranks 3rd in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and 6th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking in the field.

Thomas loves Copperhead. In his last three tries at the course, he’s finished T13, T3 and T10. Thomas would have loved to get a win at a big event early in the season, but avoidable mistakes and a balky putter have cost him dearly. I believe a trip to a course he loves in a field he should be able to capitalize on is the right recipe for JT to right the ship.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout +6000 (FanDuel)

Christiaan Bezuidenhout is playing spectacular golf in the 2024 season. He finished 2nd at the American Express, T20 at Pebble Beach and T24 at the Genesis Invitational before finishing T13 at last week’s PLAYERS Championship.

In his past 24 rounds, the South African ranks 3rd in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and 26th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking. Bezuidenhout managed to work his way around TPC Sawgrass last week with minimal damage. He only made five bogeys in the entire week, which is a great sign heading into a difficult Copperhead this week.

Bezuidenhout is winless in his PGA Tour career, but certainly has the talent to win on Tour. His recent iron play tells me that this week could be a breakthrough for the 35-year-old who has eyes on the President’s Cup.

Doug Ghim +8000 (FanDuel)

Doug Ghim has finished in the top-16 of his past five starts. Most recently, Ghim finished T16 at The PLAYERS Championship in a loaded field.

In his past 24 rounds, Ghim ranks 8th in Strokes Gained: Approach and 5th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking. In terms of his fit for Copperhead, the 27-year-old ranks 12th in Bogey Avoidance and 7th in Strokes Gained: Total in Difficult Conditions, making him a great fit for the course.

Ghim has yet to win on Tour, but at one point he was the top ranked Amateur golfer in the world and played in the 2017 Arnold Palmer Cup and 2017 Walker Cup. He then won the Ben Hogan award for the best male college golfer in 2018. He certainly has the talent, and there are signals aplenty that his talent in ready to take him to the winner’s circle on the PGA Tour.

Sepp Straka +8000 (BetRivers)

Sepp Straka is a player who’s shown he has the type of game that can translate to a difficult Florida golf course. The former Presidents Cup participant won the 2022 Honda Classic in tough conditions and should thrive with a similar test at Copperhead.

It’s been a slow 2024 for Straka, but his performance last week at the PLAYERS Championship surely provides some optimism. He gained 5.4 strokes on approach as well as 1.88 strokes off the tee. The tee-to-green game Straka showed on a course with plenty of danger demonstrates that he can stay in control of his golf ball this week.

It’s possible that the strong performance last week was an outlier, but I’m willing to bet on a proven winner in a weaker field at a great number.

Victor Perez +12000 (FanDuel)

Victor Perez is no stranger to success in professional golf. The Frenchman has three DP World Tour wins including a Rolex Series event. He won the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, as well as the 2023 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, which are some big events.

Perez earned his PGA Tour card this season and enters the week playing some fantastic golf. He finished in a tie for 16th in Florida at the Cognizant Classic and then tied for third in his most recent start at the Puerto Rico Open.

In his past 24 rounds in the field, Perez ranks 11th in Strokes Gained: Approach, 1oth in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking, 6th in Good Drive % and 15th in Bogey Avoidance.

Perez comes in as a perfect fit for Copperhead and offers serious value at triple-digit odds.

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