Ernie Els won the 2012 Open Championship with a belly putter and is using one at this week’s Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. But the Big Easy says using a belly putter isn’t well, as easy at looks.“It’s helped me from short range a lot,” Els said. “But still, it’s not like it’s automatic. You’re not just going to stick it in your belly and make every putt you look at it. It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort to learn that way of putting.”
Els is among those PGA Tour players who don’t want to see long putters and belly putters banned beginning in 2016, as proposed by the U.S. Golf Association and R&A. The ruling bodies’ discussion period on the proposed ban ends this month.
“They are going to make their decision, whether the Tour goes along with it, whether they don’t, we’ll see,” Els said. “But hopefully they don’t ban it. I really don’t think that it’s that big of a deal. There’s no data that really confirms that they have to ban it.”
Ernie Els
