Controversy over equipment in the game is never far away. For example, even in recent days, it has been reported that the USGA and R&A is considering a full golf ball rollback for both professional and amateur players.
However, it’s not just the debate over how to curb driving distances that regularly rears its head, with equipment used in the short game also under scrutiny much of the time. One of the most enduring debates is over whether long putters should have a place in the elite game, and one legend who doesn’t think so is Ernie Els.
The four-time Major winner offered his opinion on the use of the putter favoured by the likes of Will Zalatoris, Adam Scott, Lucas Glover and Bernhard Langer in an exclusive interview with Golf Monthly, and he was adamant it needs to go.
He said: “You have to take away the long putter. The long putter has to go. They made that change with the belly putter and for some reason they haven’t done it with the rest of the game. I think if the long putter goes, then I think we’re doing a lot of things right in the game.”
Despite his huge success in the game, which included 19 PGA Tour wins, Els often struggled on the greens and even had spells with belly putters as he sought improvements. Anchoring was banned in 2016, forcing many to adapt, and that’s something Els thinks players who rely on long putters would need to do, too.
He continued: “If you have a problem with putting, that’s part of the game. I believe you should go back to the original, short putter. I don’t think it’s fair. If you have some type of problem putting, you’ve either got to live with it or get some other method, but ”
Ultimately, though, the South African thinks the use of long putters goes against the spirit of the game. He continued: “To have these putters anchored to your body, to your forearm, to your chest in many instances, I don’t believe that’s in the spirit of the game.
"I don’t think Bobby Jones and the fathers of the game would like to see how these guys putt now - especially if you go ask Jack Nicklaus he would say no, that it should be outlawed, so that’s the one thing I don’t like in the game at the moment.”
Els also revealed to Golf Monthly how his reply to a young Tiger Woods changed professional golf forever.
