Researchers and Long Putters

I obtained a replica of a press release from Golf Datatech approximately a survey they did of "critical amateur golfers" regarding the proposed anchoring ban, and I notion a number of you is probably interested in the effects. I'm going to take direct costs from the click release several times to ensure I get the info right.

First, for those of you who have never heard of Golf Datatech, they describe themselves as "the golf industry’s leading independent research firm for consumer, trade and retail golf trends." Golf Digest, among others, considers them a major player in golf research so the results will probably be taken seriously by the powers-that-be.

The survey was achieved among "critical golfers" (their prices), which they define this manner:

The outcomes of the look at are primarily based on responses from 1,766 randomly selected golfers drawn from Golf Datatech?S one-of-a-kind Serious Golfer Database, who play a mean of sixty eight rounds in line with yr with an average handicap of 14.3.

While the numbers they uncovered are interesting, I found this paragraph from the press release to be the most interesting:

?This is such an explosive topic in golfing that we felt the enterprise wished a benchmark for evaluating the opinion of the sport?S most avid gamers,? Said John Krzynowek, Partner, Golf Datatech. ?On a practical level, the proposed ruling on anchoring putters has minimal effect on maximum novice golfers, as simplest 5% use a protracted putter, and the majority of great golfers don?T trust lengthy putters useful resource within the putting system. Overall, however, the debate over lengthy putters has a ways extra to do with some elite expert players and less to do with the game as performed by means of the average golfer.?

To be honest with you, this interested me because it seems to contradict the general feeling I get from the media debates over anchoring. By that I mean that the proposed rule's effect on amateur golfers has been stressed repeatedly (though this survey suggests that it actually has very little effect) and that the majority of serious golfers don't believe long putters help (although it's their use by pros that has come most under fire). Also, the 5% number contradicts some of the figures quoted on TV -- I believe the number I heard was 10%.

The different numbers covered inside the release are as follows:

• Respondents were divided almost in half about whether anchored putters make it easier to putt -- 45% say yes, 55% say no.
• 60% believed that anchoring should be banned, 40% disagreed.
• 62% did not believe that the anchoring ban would affect an amateur's enjoyment of the game. (I feel I should point out that this number is nearly identical to the 60% who agree with the ban. Is that somewhat telling in and of itself?)
• If the rule goes into effect in 2016, 31% will continue to use an anchored putter, 31% will not anchor, and 38% will switch to a conventional putter. (I guess that means the 31% who won't anchor will continue to use a long putter with a different technique.)

If this research is to be believed, I think we could have a problem. Clearly Golf Datatech uses scientifically sound research methods or their work wouldn't be taken seriously by the golf industry. But if Golf Datatech is considered a reliable source of info by the golf industry, don't these results bring the very nature of the anchoring debate into question? After all, according to this survey "the controversy over lengthy putters has some distance greater to do with some elite professional players and much less to do with the sport as played by using the common golfer.?

Although the Euro Tour has spoken out against it, it seems that the PGA Tour could care less. So what's the large deal?

As for the consequences themselves, regardless of how clinical they are, they nevertheless represent the critiques of "serious golfers," no longer the weekend amateurs that the questions appear to be involved approximately. Isn't it a bit presumptuous to think the severe golfers can speak with any certainty about the "amusement of the sport" via less critical golfers -- in particular when the proportion of those golfers using an anchored putter is so small? Bear in thoughts that the 31% who could keep to apply an anchored putter despite the fact that it changed into banned is just 31% of the five% of amateurs who use them now. That's more or less 1.Five% of all golfers.

I'm on record -- several times -- that I don't have a problem with other players using anchored putters. That's because I believe anchored putters make the game harder. There are aspects of putting that anchoring makes a little easier, and aspects that anchoring makes a little harder. Taken on the whole, I believe that anchoring makes it harder to putt well without a tremendous amount of practice. (Of course, with enough practice you can putt with an acoustic guitar or a brick tied to a yardstick... but do you really want to?) And after all that practice, a player using an anchored putter still isn't any better than a player who knows how to use a conventional one. I feel that anchored putters are more about desperation than facts.

To me, the main thrust of this survey is that the anchoring debate has greater to do with emotion than technology. But we already knew that, failed to we?