The controversial broom-handled
putter can stay in the golf bag.
It remains an approved club, the
Royal and Ancient Golf Club ruling body said on Thursday.
R&A officials conceded there
had been considerable discussion about the putter since the rules were
last amended four years ago. Opinion was divided and some felt the use
of the extra long club was not golf.
"But we are unconvinced that there
is a sufficiently strong groundswell of opinion for a change and so we
were disinclined to make the club unlawful," they said.
New R&A secretary Peter Dawson
said many golfers feel that without the long putter -- adopted by players
like Bernhard Langer and Sam Torrance -- "they would not be able to play
golf because a kind of paralysis takes over (when they use a normal putter)~.
"We legislate for anyone who plays
the game and the consensus seems to be that if you're a bad putter the
long putter may be of some use to you -- though not if you use it from
day one," said rules committee chairman Ian Pattinson.
"We also decided not to rule on
how the club is held or to limit the length of the putter."
The officials were also asked
about European Ryder Cup captain Mark James's suggestion for a loss-of-hole
penalty for players deemed to have incited the crowd.
They replied that the team event
was played under the Rules of Golf and a local rule covering the Ryder
Cup only was not possible.
The rule governing the role of
caddies in helping their players line up their putts was amended to bar
caddies from standing behind the "line of play" or "line of putt" while
the player is making a stroke from anywhere on the course.
Previously the rule,16-1, applied
only to the putting green.
