"It's just a bit of a mess,” said Rory McIlroy.

A very accurate quote by the world number one. The mess he is talking about is putter anchoring - the hottest topic in golf right now. Following the decision, a couple of months ago, by the USGA and R&A to ban anchoring the putter in 2016, every golfer on the planet seems to have an opinion. The governors of the rules strangely allowed a 90-day window to hear opinions from professional tours, amateur bodies and anyone who could type or write. It's almost as if they didn't have the strength of their own convictions and this hesitancy has opened a huge can of worms.

With only a few days to go before the 90-day window expired, the politically trained Commish, Tim Finchem came forward with the views of the PGA Tour. There has been much discussion on the pro tours amongst the players, including those guys like Tim Clark and Carl Petersson who have used anchored long putters for years. Some are opposed and some are for it, but is seems the majority are against the ban. Cue The Tim!

And when did The Commish choose to announce the defection - yes, that's right on the NBC telecast during the final of the Accenture World Matchplay. Oh, the sponsor must have been thrilled at that decision, but clearly Finchem was making a big statement and on live TV. He knew what he was doing and the coming days and weeks are tantamount to a stand off between the organizations. The governing bodies on one side, perhaps joined by The European Tour, Augusta National and on the other side The PGA Tour and the PGA Of America who are supporting the Commish. Could this really be the start of bifurcation? But not as anticipated - this would be bifurcation between tournaments!

So, potentially a player couldn't use an anchored putter in the Masters, then back to the Tour with a different anchored stroke, over to The Open Championship and no anchored stroke, onto the PGA Championship and anchoring again....if he couldn't putt well before, this will really get in his kitchen! Clearly, some kind of solution will emerge, but I don't see the Commish backing down any time soon, so this is the first real test of Mike Davis' leadership at the USGA. Watch this space!

Changes to Q School...why?

The Tour has come up with a half baked plan to change the way that the traditional season ending PGA Tour Qualifying School (Q School) hands out its cards. Instead of playing well at Q School and earning a Tour Card, those that play well there will now earn a Nationwide Card. What was that you said? They qualify for Q School play 6 rounds and don't get to play on Tour. (some have played as many as 8 rounds just to get to play the final 6!) That's right, possibly starting in the 2012 season, the Tour is essentially pulling up the trap door and saying from here on you need to start your golf career on the secondary circuit and make it to the Tour that way. I have represented players who have qualified and not qualified through the highs and lows of Q school, so have lived the experience with them and these guys are not going to be happy about this.
It's not done yet and all the convoluted qualifying events have yet to be agreed, but just the thought that the Tour is doing away with one of the best season ending events played out over 6 rounds is just plain crazy. Now I'm not saying it has to stay the same because it's been this way for 30 years, but there has to be a better way. Why not have less players keeping their Tour cards - go from 125 exempt to 50 or 75 and let the rest of them fight it out at the end of the year in some way. This new proposal will impact dramatically those looking to turn pro and curtail the better amateurs from staying in the amateur game, which is not a good thing.
We all know Nationwide is not renewing when their contract is up on the secondary tour and this is a desperate effort by the Tour to inject some life (and TV) into it for the new sponsor. The truth is few want to watch a secondary anything (Triple A baseball anyone?) and one of the consequences of this half baked idea will be to drive new talent to the European and Asian Tour where they can play in the major leagues. The management of those Tours must view the PGA Tour's possible closed shop policy with relish.

Killing the game one slow shot at a time.

A fun story by serial PGA Tour observer (er, basher), Geoff Shackelford. Read here his thoughts on slow play on Tour and how they could use ShotLink data to actually do something about it. It's been 16 years (yes, you read that right) since a fine was imposed on a player in a Tour event. Now that is impossible - except for the fact that the Tour has decided not to make the players ever receive a penalty, even though everyone knows it is absolutely ridiculous for a round of golf to take more than 4 hours.

Growing up playing golf we would regularly play in 2 1/2 hours - that's 4 people playing their own ball. No running, just walking swiftly between shots and hitting it when it was your turn. When will the Tour and other official bodies realize that in this "instant world" kids don't want to spend 5 hours playing golf. They don't want to spend 5 hours watching either and as a result, Tiger or no Tiger the TV numbers are down. All of the governing bodies have a responsibility to get the game moving - if they don't the slow professional game of golf will continue to slowly erode the fan base and kids will simply go do something which takes up less time. Go on PGA Tour - fine someone and see what happens!

Seriously, you gotta love Phil!

...sorry about the ad at the start - it's a small price to pay to hear how specific Phil is about his donut intake!

Not so Groovy

The Governing bodies in golf have once again managed to make a mess of an equipment change. Recently, the USGA and the R & A altered the rules to make the grooves on clubs smaller and therefore less able to spin the ball. As we all know the game of golf is so easy that this change was made to make the game EVEN harder. The rule is really only applicable to professional golfers and those playing in elite amateur events. The rest of us get a break for at least a decade or more. Bear in mind that the average handicap in the US has hovered around 19 forever and I don't see too many amateurs ripping the ball back off the green with their current wedges. So, the change will make literally no difference to Joe Public. All it has really achieved is cost the manufacturers millions of dollars for nothing and proved once again that the alphabet soup of golfs governing bodies are as dysfunctional as ever.

Throw in the PGA TOUR into the mix and the latest PR disaster is in full motion. Now, Phil Mickelson and 9 others on Tour are playing Ping wedges circa 1989 with square grooves that slip through the new rule cracks. Scott McCarron, who is a member of the PAC, the Tour players committee, even called Phil's actions "cheating" at a press conference the other day. Cheating is a strong accusation in golf and in this instance McCarron is 100% wrong. Phil is playing within the rules and even he is at a loss to understand what the governing bodies are trying to achieve.

The best way to change the game is the BALL - roll that back and you will see a difference.