Woods dropped that news into a press conference at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Tuesday, immediately sending a ripple across Pebble Beach's practice putting greens, where more and more tour pros can be seen using long putters - both belly and broomstick - each year.
Woods said that he's a traditionalist when it comes to putting, and believes the putting stroke requires moving both hands and the end of the putter. So Woods' idea is that anchoring a putter against one's belly or sternum should be disallowed; but that anchoring the putter shaft against one's arm would be OK.
The bigger idea from Woods on Tuesday, however, was a limit on the length of putters: Woods wants to limit putters to no longer than the shortest other club in a golfer's bag. And he said he's talked this idea over with R&A chief executive Peter Dawson over the past couple years. The idea has been kicked around enough, Woods said, that enforcement procedures - such as pre-round measurements - have even been discussed between Woods and Dawson.
Does this make a ban on belly putters and broomstick putters likely? I'm not ready to go that far yet; but it certainly makes it more likely than it appeared to be yesterday. When Woods talks, the game's bigshots listen.
It's important to note, though, that Woods is talking about tournament golfers playing tournament golf. Banning long putters for recreational golfers would be very difficult at this point, far more difficult than limiting putter length for tour pros. (Which doesn't mean it couldn't happen, of course.)
It will be very interesting to hear the reactions to Woods' idea from some of golf's elder statesmen, such as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Sir Michael Bonnallack and David Fay.
What do you think: Do you favor or oppose a ban of long putters? Do you think such a ban will ever happen, or is the proverbial cat out of the bag?
Read more about Woods' suggestion
Tiger Woods: Ban Long Putters originally appeared on About.com Golf on Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 at 16:49:51.
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