DUBLIN, Ohio – World No. 5 Xander Schauffele thinks the arm-lock method of putting should be banned.
Until it is, however, he’s going to give it a go.
Although he ranked ninth on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting heading into the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club, Schauffele used the arm-lock approach for the first time in his career in Thursday’s first round.
Worked just fine as he shot 4-under-par 68 to stand two shots out of the lead set by Collin Morikawa.
“I am for banning the armlock putters, but if everyone else is going to use it and I feel like they have a bigger advantage, I may as well do the same,” said Schauffele, who needed 29 putts. “It’s better, it’s easier. It’s more consistent. My coach and I work a lot, Derek Uyeda, in San Diego, we work a lot on start lines and making sure the ball’s doing what we think it’s doing.
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“And the fact that it’s anchored to your arm, you can flinch in your hands, but you can’t flinch your entire left arm, so that’s the process behind that.”
Schauffele is employing the same putter head but the shaft is longer and the grip slightly thicker. He locks the putter to his left arm with his right hand just above his left wrist. Despite the change, he still thinks the method should be outlawed.
“It takes the stress of putting out of the game,” he said. “Putting is so stressful in golf, obviously hitting shots and chipping and all kinds of stuff are difficult, but your putts are what give you the score on the card.
“(Putting has) ruined people’s careers and it’s helped people’s careers. And so I think putting is an art in our game and when you can lock it into your arm or anchor it to your body, it kind of gets rid of that.”
Schauffele has been arm locking for less than a week and is not 100 percent comfortable with the new style. But he’s locked into the new approach.
“My putting coach, my whole team honestly, we’re very against change and I had to see what the craze was about,” he said. “I do feel funny, obviously being a top-10 putter on Tour, switching putters or the style of putting. It’s a distinct advantage. But I know how good it can be and I think you still have to read putts and get the speed down correctly, but I’m in a very similar setup compared to my old putter and I know I can putt with a shorter putter, so I figured if I can get an advantage on the greens, maybe get to first in putting, that would be something special. So I’m giving it a go.
“I just feel like at times I can make more putts and I felt I have nothing to lose and if I can get better at something, then I can.”