His best PGA Tour appearance so far, Matti Schmid, from Germany, addressed his ball in a crucial tap-in on Sunday in second place at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
The television cameras captured the club’s upper reaches in one word. The thumb was resting on top of the grip on a clenched left hand. His thumb’s knuckle creased around his blue-patterned shirt.
Was his chest also in contact with his knuckle, as the image suggested? Was it firmly pressed against his sternum if so? A fixed anchor point had he been discovered? He broke the law, right? Or was everything okay?
What is stated in the regulation?
A player must not “do it ‘directly’, by holding the club or by holding my hand against any part of the body,” according to Rule 10.1 of the Golf Rules.
Schmid acknowledged that the image was a “bad look” when I showed a screengrab of it to a leading referee who was unaware of the daylight between his left thumb and his shirt.
There is no violation of this rule if the player’s club, gripping hand, or forearm is only merely touching their body or clothing during the stroke, without being held against the body, he added.
What makes this controversial?
It actually seems to be getting more and more relevant.
With a second-place finish behind Ben Griffin, Schmid led the putting charts at Colonial. The two-time former European Amateur champion moved up to 55th in the FedEx Cup standings after gaining more than eight strokes with his prowess on the greens with his prowess.
All of this is not to say that the 27-year-old’s actions violated any laws. His stroke may have a sufficient amount of lateral movement to suggest that he is not stabilizing to a fixed point.
However, the topic of interest in professional locker rooms continues to be.
The referee I spoke to continued, “He’s probably OK.” He’s probably just touching the shirt material, but what he’s trying to achieve is to be as close to his chest as possible, which in turn results in player integrity.
Under the condition of anonymity, another official who refers to the DP World Tour said, “It is incredibly difficult to enforce.”
We spoke with a few players who we thought were breaking the rule, and they are all pleased to report that they have since resumed their shorter putters.
What previous instances have there been?
Following a string of major victories won by golfers using extended putter shafts, the rule was made effective in 2016.
Ernie Els and Keegan Bradley both won the 2011 US Open with their midriffs, and Keegan Bradley did the same for his subsequent Open success. Adam Scott won a year later at the Masters and Webb Simpson won a broom-handle major at the 2012 US Open. The Aussie uses the long putter even though there is still daylight between his body and his stroke.
Nine years ago, anchoring was prohibited due to the “fundamental characteristics of the putting stroke.”
Because it moves the hit, an extended shaft can be clamped against a forearm (as does US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau does).
However, some players believe even this method makes putting “too easy” to do.
Additionally, there are many more opponents who opt for longer implements and avoid convention. The likes of Akshay Bhatia, Si Woo Kim, and Lucas Glover make the most of these potentially contentious clubs, along with Schmid.
Bernhard Langer and Scott McCarron have long endured having their techniques questioned on the Seniors tour, and Eugenio Chacarra’s victory in the Indian Open on the DP World Tour in March attracted attention.
The rules have been vehemently refrained by Langer and McCarron.
According to Langer, “I personally don’t understand it because I’m a man of integrity, and breaking rules and being known as cheating is the last thing I want to do.”
Because I have control over my hand, I can tell when I’m anchoring and when I’m not. You can see it going sideways.
I’m not anchoring or touching any part of my body when my knuckle is away from the body, and I know I’m in compliance with the rules.
The issue is that it frequently is impossible to enforce and is not even apparent to the eye.
It means that a problem as fundamental as the putting stroke is obscured by more grey areas than a flotilla of battleships, which is highly unsatisfying and unfair on Schmid given how brilliantly dominant they are on the greens are they.
Eddie Pepperell, winner of the DP World Tour, says it’s “quite simple” to find a solution.
He remarked on the podcast Chipping Forecast that “insist on the putter being the shortest club in the bag.”
Some referees concur.
One official said, “The simple solution is to limit the putter’s maximum length and then finish with it.”
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