Some rumblings from a few PGA pros and vets has me wondering about everyone’s opinion on arm-lock putting. Should it be banned as a form of anchoring?
Personally, I say no. Honestly, I don’t really think any form of putting should be banned though. Arm-lock, long anchor, side-saddle, croquet-style should all be fair game in my book. As long as you are swinging the club by yourself, I really don’t see a legitimate reason to be against the rules besides the governing bodies deciding “because we said so.”
7 Likes
I totally agree with your take, if you swing the club yourself I’m for anything.
But in the spirit of the current rules, ban it. It’s anchoring in a different form
Horshel needs to worry about his own pace of play and a little less about players putting techniques.
1 Like
I don’t think it’s anchoring. It’s not creating a pivot point with the body, it’s simply reducing the rotation in the arms…
I do think the putter should be limited to the same length as everything else.
2 Likes
It seems a benefit would be to eliminate/inhibit wrist flexion/ extension to reduce wrist “flippiness”. Believe me, I know putter flippiness.
1 Like
Yeah, but so does an extra large grip… as does cross hand…
Unless something is generating significant advantage, I say leave it be.
Could care less about anchoring… don’t care that much about putting to be honest
I am tuning in on sunday to see the nasty bombs
2 Likes
https://golf.com/news/brad-faxon-sounds-off-against-arm-lock/ Faxon seems to think so. I used to putt with the broomstick for about 2 months when you could anchor it. I only found it to be an advantage about 7-8 ft on in for me. I was definitely more consistent. It was 100% harder to let the toe close, you could really start the ball on your line way more consistently, however…I found it difficult to lag putts, so I ended the experiment. I never tried the arm bar, but it looks like with some effort you can stop the toe from closing because you are taking the yip possibility out of the situation. I do think it is anchoring it to something other than your hands. Whatever the governing bodies say…At this point, I’m not that interested…I think it would end a few peoples careers though if they banned it.
what would happen to Bryson without the armlock… 
:// www.reddit.com/r/golf/comments/mslpy6/welcome_to_golf/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
1 Like
What bugs me ever so slightly is how arbitrary it all seems. If they wanted rule consistency, then pistol and flat grips would have to be banned as well. Going all the way back to Sam Snead the reasoning just seems to be “it looks weird, but someone is having success with it, so we’d better ban it.”
5 Likes
Just make everyone putt side saddle. No more confusion.
1 Like
I never understood why they allowed it when they banned anchoring. Personally, I don’t think they should have banned anchoring in the 1st place. But, if you ban one then I think you should ban the other.
I don’t think it needs to be banned. It doesn’t help you read break and it doesn’t help with speed. The belly putters and other anchored styles helped maintain your setup I think so I could see the argument against those, but I don’t think the armlock does that.
1 Like
I do Arm-lock. I didn’t go to it because I was yippy however. The butt end of the club moves throughout the stroke and therefore it isn’t anchoring and there’s no reason to ban it. Additionally, it was one of the putting methods the USGA advertised as an alternative to anchoring, so they’ve already ruled on it.
I will agree that it’s an advantage for some who are willing to put in the work to learn it. For me it simplifies the set-up in a way traditional putting never did. But it took me a few weeks to feel comfortable with it, and I know several very good players who have tried it and could never get the feel. Being able to arm-lock putt is definitely a skill.
I agree that no form of putting should be banned. It’s such a different skill, and players should be able to use whatever they can come up with to get the ball in the hole.
1 Like
I don’t have a problem with armlock putting. I didn’t really have a problem with anchored putting either, but I can understand the distinction made around anchoring a part of the club to a non-moving part of the body. To take a next step would be difficult and to me, unnecessary. Do we want to ban the claw or pencil grips, or left hand low, because they’re “different”? I don’t think so.
To me, Horschel comes across as jealous. He can certainly learn the armlock method if he thinks its that much better, but I don’t think the statistics tell us that it really is. Faxon is in the business of teaching traditional putting, I can understand his resistance to something that different.
4 Likes
The anchoring ban was a terrible rule and an armlock rule would just double down on that. As long as you strike the ball instead of push it, I just don’t see how it fundamentally changes the essence of golf which is "how many times do you have to hit the ball to go from point A into hole B.
I get rules to limit improvements to equipment to keep the integrity of the game. I’m old enough to remember when the R&A ball size was different than the USGA. I like the limits on driver size, etc. I can see debates on mallet putters which look considerably different than an old blade putter.
But the armlock/anchoring thing seems as silly as trying to ban flop shots or stingers. Just because someone can do them well albeit at one time looked unorthodox doesn’t make them bad.
2 Likes
OR… All putting should be banned. Putting is the worst 
8 Likes
You know, Ben Hogan would be on your side, and his opinion should carry more weight than Faxon and Horschel combined.
8 Likes
Hogan would absolutely dominate top golf!
5 Likes
Did Pete Cowen just join the conversation?
He believes putting should be worth 1/2 stroke…
3 Likes