Putting stance rules question

[slickpitt]

I joined up with a guy I play with from time to time out at the golf course. He has always putted with a long putter. We got to the first green and he handed me this long putter and said that he had made it. It was pretty rough looking, but all in all pretty well made... he even made an insert for it, quite impressive really. He mentioned that he's applied for a patent on it. Here's where it gets a little odd. He said he made it to hit like a Croquet mallet. You know, where you stand directly behind the ball, swing the club between your legs the straight out in front of you. He putted like that and did fairly well. I told him that I hated to burst his bubble, but I didn't think that the USGA considered that a legal stance. Didn't Snead go through something like this way back when? Am I right? I feel bad for the dude...

 

[three puttz]

It's perfectly legal to face the target line head-on, BUT you cannot straddle the target line... you must be on one side of it or the other (as I understand the rule)

So his putter design may not be completely worthless, the user would simply have to adopt a kind of side-saddle stance

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

It would be illegal to do so, unless he is doing so inadvertantly to avoid stepping on another persons line. Both feet must be on the same side of the putting line, and cannot touch or cross over even the extension of the putting line.

 

[slickpitt]

Interesting... ok thanks guys

 

[N.V.M.]

yah, if you could straddle the line, i'd probably be using my pool cue as a putter.

 

[fisher]

Who really cares about the rules. If he enjoys putting that way, more power to him. Who are we to suggest otherwise.

 

[N.V.M.]

who cares about the rules!!!!! haha! rop:

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Who really cares about the rules. If he enjoys putting that way, more power to him. Who are we to suggest otherwise.

I guess you weren't bright enough to come to the realization that the question was not made in the form of asking peoples opinion, but instead what the rule actually states. I guess that would be a big assumption on my part. I understand how you feel about assumptions, as I would then run the risk of making myself look like an ass as well.

edit 1 - go ahead, accuse me of thread jacking, or is it something else this time around? I guess you must have a lot of pent up animosity in forcing yourself to not be able to post in the other thread at the risk of going off topic, with your unwillingness to want to threadjack, or for being unable to offer any support for opinions for that matter.

 

[fisher]

It would be very insensitive for us to judge right or wrong based on the rules. Who really sets the rules anyway. He may be really good at putting that way. He's probably not playing in tournaments or submitting scores for a handicap anyway. As long as he likes it and the friends he plays with don't care it would be very judgemental for anybody to tell him he is wrong putting that way.

 

[slickpitt]

It would be very insensitive for us to judge right or wrong based on the rules. Who really sets the rules anyway. He may be really good at putting that way. He's probably not playing in tournaments or submitting scores for a handicap anyway. As long as he likes it and the friends he plays with don't care it would be very judgemental for anybody to tell him he is wrong putting that way.

Actually I was more asking the question because that's the way the putter was designed and he's applied for a patent on it, I would assume to maybe market it and sell it. He might need to know if it conforms don't ya think? As far as how he putts... he can stick the balls up his ass and fart them at the hole for all I care. So it really wasn't a question of rules as in what he should and shouldn't be doing on the course... but in his overall design and concept.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

It would be very insensitive for us to judge right or wrong based on the rules. Who really sets the rules anyway. He may be really good at putting that way. He's probably not playing in tournaments or submitting scores for a handicap anyway. As long as he likes it and the friends he plays with don't care it would be very judgemental for anybody to tell him he is wrong putting that way.

Again, who asked for anyones opinion on the matter?

Why not keep it in the thread where it was discussed? Oh, that's right, you are no longer posting there because you do not want to disrupt the thread or the initial question..

To Me, walking away from the thread and bringing it here would seem to me similar to sinking a 30 foot putt to card an 11 on a par 3. It is the only way you could conceivably find any bit of comfort in walking away from the hole you just dug for yourself.

 

[fisher]

Actually I was more asking the question because that's the way the putter was designed and he's applied for a patent on it, I would assume to maybe market it and sell it. He might need to know if it conforms don't ya think? As far as how he putts... he can stick the balls up his ass and fart them at the hole for all I care. So it really wasn't a question of rules as in what he should and shouldn't be doing on the course... but in his overall design and concept.

OK. Sorry if I misunerstood. I don't think the patent office would care if the putting device met USGA rules. Heck there are alot of people playing with drivers and wedges that don't conform and they still sell alot of them regardless of the rules. Some on the internet even market their drivers as non-conforming and get big money for them as such. If it makes him feel good about himself and it helps people enjoy playing at golf the rules shouldn't be an obsticle.

 

[slickpitt]

OK. Sorry if I misunerstood. I don't think the patent office would care if the putting device met USGA rules. Heck there are alot of people playing with drivers and wedges that don't conform and they still sell alot of them regardless of the rules. Some on the internet even market their drivers as non-conforming and get big money for them as such. If it makes him feel good about himself and it helps people enjoy playing at golf the rules shouldn't be an obsticle.

No problem... and yep I hear ya, I told him the same thing but also told him I'd find out for sure. Either way he needs to know what he's dealing with

 

[acarty]

Come on now Fisher and PA, play nice lads. It's summer!

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Come on now Fisher and PA, play nice lads. It's summer!

Can pretty much guarantee based on the circumstances I see, that's not gonna happen