(Written by: Golfspy Dave)
Golf is a silly and very difficult game. It’s ridiculously difficult actually. Think about the inability of the average non-golfer to participate in a “pick-up” round of golf compared to other sports. Someone who plays basketball for the first time probably makes a basket; the novice football player may even catch a pass. Who shoots par the first time they play golf? Who even pars one hole that first time out?
The brutal nature of the game even mandates a handicap system so that the wide range of skilled golfers can compete with each other mathematically rather than physically. Golf is hard. Practice and repetition are paramount to even minor improvements in one’s game. I can’t think of another sport where people dedicate their entire lives to incremental, frequently infinitesimal, improvements. The passionate quest for improvement drives a huge equipment industry that routinely produces the latest and greatest clubs, as well as multitudes of borderline-sadistic “training aids” to help golfers get better quicker. Getting your correct set of golf gear is no small fiscal task.
The crazy thing about golf though is the fact even after you have invested in your gear and are ready to play; the rules about equipment can change and continue to add difficulty to an already difficult game. I could bring up the max driver volume restrictions, the banning of grooves, or other governing decisions, but I want to throw my hat in the ring about the latest anchored putter debate.
To put it right out there, I am against the ban. I think that it is at best ridiculous and definitely unnecessary. We know that if there was truly a competitive advantage to the anchored putter that all of the professional golfers on all tours would be gaming them. Remember that madness with the Ping Eye 2 wedges when the groove ban went into place? PGA guys bagged those wedges, attempting to get an edge. If the long putter worked better, more (all?) pros would use it.
What about the success of Webb Simpson, Adam Scott, and Keegan Bradley you ask? Why are they so accurate with the long putter? It must be unfair! These guys are good with the long putters because they have been training with them for a long time! Seriously, how long has Webb used that belly putter? What model of Ping is it? G5 Craz-e? When did that come to market? 2005? Webb putts amazingly well with that putter because he has been using the same putter for years and years. His aiming and touch is second nature at this point because of familiarity, not the magic powers of an 8-year-old putter. Anchoring, cheating, blah blah blah. People putt better when they find a putter that “works” for them, and then roll about a million putts with it. Would the anchored putter guys play worse if they had to game a different putter? Would you?
The true silliness of the anchoring ban is best demonstrated by the putter I have to share with you today: Odyssey’s Arm Lock #7. This putter is not silly, far from it actually. Instead, it shows just how diverse the putter field should be if we are to provide all golfers the right tools to succeed at this difficult game.
Meet: The “Arm Lock”
My first look at the Odyssey Arm Lock #7 actually came at Callaway/Odyssey HQ in Carlsbad last December when some of us were fortunate enough to visit. Our visit occurred on the day, or a few days after the USGA announced their anchoring position. While we were learning about the 2013 Callaway and Odyssey gear, Odyssey’s Global Director Chris Koske brought out the “Arm Lock”. The putting style promoted by the Arm Lock was not new, Matt Kucher has been “arm-locking” a putter for years. We all saw how he was a one-putt machine at the WGC Match Play this year with his Bettinardi.
Why then is Odyssey introducing the Arm Lock putters (#7 and D.A.R.T.) if they don’t reflect a new putting style? Is Odyssey, the clear leader in putter sales worldwide, just trying to grab banned belly players? Are they trying to have the new technically not cheating long putter? Or perhaps does offering the Arm Lock allude to something else entirely?
Does The Odyssey Arm Lock Create a Competitive Advantage?
The answer is yes. But let me qualify that with the phrase “for some”. Some golfers will pick up the Odyssey Arm Lock #7 and they will mesh very well with its aesthetics and required putting stroke. Others will try it and get nothing but hole-missing awkwardness. But guess what, that’s what happens in every single golfer and putter relationship!
How many putters are in your local shop? How many head styles, different metals, lengths, inserts, colors, grips, headcovers, and so on? How many of you have a putter that you sink putts with and a whole bunch of other putters that you would never consider gaming because you suck with them? That would be all of us. We find a putter that suits our stroke and our nebulous sense for feel and aesthetics. We have a lot of options out there because we all want different things.
Anchored, blade, mallet, heel-shafted, center-shafted, and arm lock putters are all designed to give an individual golfer an advantage on the green! And guess what, not every putter works for every golfer. That is why this anchoring ban is so asinine. Raise your hand if you tried an anchored putter. Keep that hand up if you are still using it. I tested three, maybe four belly putters last year, and yet I still game a 34” putter. I get the belly concept, and I could even make some putts with them, but I feel like I am more accurate, comfortable, and consistent with the 34” stick, so that’s what I putt with. Do I care if someone I play with uses a long putter? No. If they putt better than I do am I going to cry foul and blame their “cheater” equipment? No. They putted better than I did because they are a better player. Of all of the equipment, to think that a putter style represents a miracle cure is just folly. If you want the game of golf to become standardized (aka bulls-eyes for everyone), that’s one thing, but if the intention of the anchoring ban is to remove advantage, I just don’t see it.
Back to The Arm Lock
The Odyssey Arm Lock #7 is unlikely to be my long-term gamer. Granted, a long-term gamer is not something that one who is as putter schizophrenic as myself is likely to have. That being said, the only reason that I would not game the Arm Lock is that the style of the swing really doesn’t suit my tastes. I have always liked the #7 head, and the Metal-X insert is one of my favorite inserts. I have a 34″, Metal-X #7 in my garage right now. The Arm Lock continues Odyssey’s commitment to excellence; there is not even a modicum of low quality, or speck of flawed design in this putter. I just wasn’t as comfortable with it as I am with a standard stick.
With the Arm Lock, I had the unconscious tendency to exaggerate the forward position of my left arm with the putter. When I did this, I missed the hole. However, when I realized what I was doing and added an “arm position” pre-putt mental checkpoint, my putting improved. I get the style, and I see how someone could like the enhanced stability by bracing the putter to the left arm. It’s just not what I am looking for at this point. But I feel very confident in saying that the Odyssey Arm Lock may be just what some of you are looking for, not because it’s better, but because it’s different. And the difference is the key to this putter.
There Can’t Be Only One!
Kudos to Odyssey for adding the Arm Lock putters to their line-up this year. I think that the more diverse the putter corral can be, the better. You cynics out there are likely saying that Odyssey only brought these putters to market to make money with the possible banning of the anchored putters. To you I say “Well duh”. A for-profit company trying to grab part of the highly competitive marketplace in order to boost profits? Again, duh. Economics aside, a big golf company like Odyssey introducing the Arm Lock to the average golfer is good for golf. It’s good for golf because it gives a segment of golfers a new putting tool that will help them to play better.
A diverse pool of putters is critical for all golfers to have the greatest chance for success playing this ridiculously difficult game. The anchored putter, and other putters like Odyssey’s Arm Lock are advantageous for some players, but not for all. That putter has not yet been found. I know, I’m looking for it every day. But there are putters out there that make the individual a better player. It seems almost criminal to take such a putter out of someone’s bag be they amateur or pro.
Let’s drop this whole anchoring madness and get back to the real issues with the game like slow play, five-somes, holes punched in a 7% slope, denim, and $8 beers.
Mike Singleton
7 years ago
I also believe that the ban on putter lengths, USGA conformance head designs, anchoring, etc. etc. is not conducive to growing the game. My son putts with a 38″ putter using it like a hockey stick & is quite accurate.
What we need is faster play to entice the younger generations into the game a they see 5-6hrs. at a golf course too demanding of their attention spans…..which leave something to be desired anyways these days.
Also the USGA handicap system is absurd. Why should a 14hdcp. player be allowed to take an 8 on a hole, when an 8hdcp. player cannot ? Weren’t they both trying to make a par……why alter the system in favor of the high hdcp. player ( always ) since many of the gents that I play with work the back 9 to keep their hdcps. high !