Count Greg Norman among those players who applaud the USGA/R&A proposal to ban players from anchoring putters against their bodies. It’s not a surprising considering the Great White Shark always as considered himself a traditionalist when it comes to equipment.
Greg Norman
“I’ve always been against it since day one,” Norman said at this week’s Franklin Templeton Shootout at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla. “I’ve always said over this period of 30 years or 25 years, whatever it is, that nerves and the tingling in your fingertips are part of the game of golf. And how you control those is an art in itself. Some people can and some people can’t.
“Golf can test you more mentally than it does physically. I always thought the ability to go to an anchored stroke was a cop out. I just don’t believe in anchoring. It’s not a stroke. But that having been said, I will also say this: I think our rules should be bifurcated.”
That is, Norman is among what appears to be a growing list of golf powerbrokers who believe there should one set of rules for professional golf and one set of rules for recreational players, the latter of which comprise most of the world’s golfing population.
“When we go back to 1996 when the specification of the golf ball was changed and the golf ball started going farther instantly with the specification change, we made a lot of golf courses obsolete for about 40 players, 50 players, right?” Norman said. “But we also could’ve saved a lot of money in changing the golf courses. We could’ve saved a lot of money in the way we build golf courses for tournament play by just putting the specifications on there for professionals. Makes no difference what the masses use, quite honestly.”
