The NYT steps into the fray with some fairly serious accusations. So, fellow golf-fanatics, FrazerRice.com wants to know: Crisis or hype?
“The announcement Tuesday that, beginning in 2016, anchoring a putter against the body would be banned ought to be the start of a thorough spring cleaning by the sport. If the United States Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient needed only 174 days of debate before officially outlawing a stroke that has been in play for at least five decades and is used by roughly 15 percent of PGA Tour members, it should have no problem acting swiftly to address more pressing issues. Among them: performance-enhancing equipment used by 100 percent of touring pros; caddies lining up their players on putts; the slow pace of play; the viewer call-ins that are threatening to turn tournament golf into a good walk spoiled by armchair rules officials; and an antidoping program that is not up to the Olympic model.”
[“Long Putters? How about Slow Play, Drugs and Phrankenwoods?” The New York TImes, 5/21/2013]