I'm not a traditionalist by any means. I love flashy golf clothes and I think white drivers are awesome and I still laugh when someone has one of those golf carts with the big tires and such on it. Maybe I'd never own one, but I get why people would enjoy them.
But I can't get behind the belly putter, or the long putter for that matter. It just ... isn't cool. Nothing about it is cool. You know who I think about when I think of the long putter? Tim Clark. No knock to the guy, but he isn't exactly posing in Lamborghini ads. You know who I think about when I think of the belly putter? Vijay Singh. I think you catch my drift.
None of this, however, is swaying some of the cooler golfers on tour from switching. Adam Scott, infamous for making women perspire even during the Silly Season, has gone to the long putter, and although the switch has been successful, the guy has lost his a bit of his coolness. Watching him at the Masters with those gaudy sunglasses and big putter made me think more Duffy Waldorf and less Denzel Washington.
Now Camilo Villegas and Ernie Els are switching? Camilo is going to use a belly putter? As Rex Hoggard joked on Twitter, it's more of a six-pack putter for Camilo than it is a belly, but is he really going to be able to do that Spiderman pose while toting a
I just don't love them. I never have, and I probably never will. Do I think it's cheating, like one of my friends at With Leather said after the Masters? No, I don't think it's cheating or illegal. It, like different shafts or lofts or wedges or whatever, is a way of going about a strategy in golf, but I just don't like it because I think it's goofy and I think it takes away from the swagger that most golfers carry. Maybe I'm being stupid, but that's my thoughts.
(Also, aren't you even annoyed by the cartoon picture above? I bet that guy's never gotten cartoon laid in his life.)
3 comments:
I enjoyed your rant. I don't use a belly or a long putter, and I don't totally agree with you , but it thought it was funny. The broom handle putter is just not cool. I agree, but I think some might be able to pull off the belly putter. I thought Freddy looked cool with it at Augusta. Maybe Spiderman can too. I don't konw.
I like the blog and you and JB on Devil Ball a lot. Keep up the good work.
Personally, I think anchoring the butt of a club against one's belly or chest violates the spirit of what I consider a golf "swing" to be. I wish the USGA/R&A would make it illegal but it will never happen.
"Spiderman pose while toting a 35 inch flatsick"
I think 35 inches is an average putter. A belly putter is usually 41 - 43 inches long.
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