SIGN UP Golf Digest Logo
SUBSCRIBE
News
Golf News & Tours

Has The Anchoring Ban Helped Or Hurt?

It’s easy, given Adam Scott’s back-to-back wins using a conventional putter -- just months after switching from an anchored stroke -- to say the anchor ban may actually have been a blessing for Scott. Perhaps (although the stats reveal possibly not as much as one might think). But what of the others who were forced to abandon anchoring as of Jan. 1, 2016? To be sure, the following is about as scientific as a presidential poll with +/- 6 percent margin of error, but of the seven anchorers who played in the 2014 Barclays (the final full-field event of 2014) and still playing on the PGA Tour, the results, using the tour’s strokes gained/putting statistic, are decidedly mixed.

Share story
DORAL, FL - MARCH 06: Adam Scott of Australia celebrates after his one stroke victory on the 18th hole green during the final round of the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Blue Monster, Trump National Doral, on March 6, 2016 in Doral, Florida. (Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR)
Photo by US PGA TOUR
Keegan Bradley
2014: .252 (T-47) 2015-16: -1.233 (rank 208)
Brian Harman
2014: .117 (74) 2015-16: .424 (rank 43)
David Hearn
2014: .317 (29) 2015-16: -.239 (rank 156)
Adam Scott
2014: .216 (55) 2015-16: .427 (rank 42)
Webb Simpson
2014: .303 (34) 2015-16: -.335 (rank 169)
Tim Clark
2014: .025 (94) 2015-16: -1.131 (rank 206)
Carl Pettersson
2014: -.138 (125) 2015-16: .536 (rank 28)
Share story