The Loop

Kevin Stadler isn't going to start putting left-handed any time soon

CROMWELL, Conn. -- If the ban on anchored putters went into effect tomorrow, Kevin Stadler would probably start putting left-handed. Either that, or he'd try a non-anchored long putter.

"Putting normally just feels so weird to me," Stadler said Wednesday, a day before the start of the Travelers Championship. "It's so uncomfortable."

Luckily for Stadler, the ban doesn't start until 2016, but it is something he has started thinking about. Stadler was spotted on the practice putting green Tuesday at TPC River Highlands using a left-handed putter, prompting rumors that he'd put the new technique in play this week.

"No, not yet," said Stadler, who started using a long putter back in his college days at USC in the early 2000s. "I was just having some fun, trying out a few different things. I've always loved grabbing lefty clubs and hitting balls, but I'm still a long way from making any kind of switch."

Stadler said he'd need to get more comfortable with whatever new technique he implements before making a switch, and that he'd need to spend time "retraining his eyes" to see the hole from a new angle.

But it's not a process Stadler necessarily frets. On the contrary: in some ways, he actually finds the whole thing quite liberating.

"I get those 'happy hands' when I putt," Stadler said. "When I setup left-handed, I don't know what it is, I just feel freer."