The New Rules of Golf Instruction Blog and Golf Tips

Thanks so very much for the clear and informative insight. I have been considering a belly putter.

Charlie, you're spot on when you said that the USGA should have banned the belly putter. It is basically cheating putting with a fixed radius but since it is not there are a great number of people that can benefit from it. 
 
The only negative for the belly putter versus the conventional putter would be long putts. The longer the putt the more acceleration and length of backstroke is going to be required. This is tough to control consistently due to the limitation of the fixed point(grip of putter attached to belly). 
 
As for the conventional putter there is not so much of a limit as to how far you can take your putter back nor is there a fixed point to limit the acceleration phase in the downstroke.  
 
The belly putter should be taken advantage by the type of players that struggle with short putts since that is the area the belly putter will increase effectiveness. 
 
Bo 
 
 

Wow I never looked at it that way, I guess it does seems like an advantage to make putting easier, I'm a conventional putter as well and I guess to me it feels like you have more freedom to control your golf ball the way you want it. However it may require more practice to ensure you aren't those few degrees open or closed at contact. 
 
But I can see that you would find more consistency in using the belly putter. 
 
Have there been many U.S. Opens won with the belly putter Charlie? I haven't been keeping up, but I do see that currently the world #1 golfers still use the conventional.