In a move that I predicted in two November articles here, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem expressed what he says is the position of the Tour on the proposed “Belly Putter” ban.

Finchem has been reported to have met with players over the last few months and the USGA even presented their position to a Players meeting in San Diego last week.

After that meeting, Finchem sent a letter to the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews and the USGA, the authorities governing the Rules of Golf worldwide.

Finchem reported the contents of the letter this way:

"I think the essential thread that went through the thinking of the players ... was that in the absence of data or any basis to conclude that there is a competitive advantage to be gained by using anchoring, and given the amount of time that anchoring has been in the game, that there is no overriding reason to go down that road.”

"We hold the USGA in highest regard as a key part of the game of golf.  We don't attempt to denigrate that position in any way whatsoever. It's just on this issue, we think if they were to move forward, they would be making a mistake."?

Finchem then described what would happen if the USGA and The R&A stood firm: 

"... I haven't really thought about it. I've thought more about some areas of bifurcation, whether it would work or not. But I think that the focus here ought to be, if possible, to go down the same road, everybody go down the same road on anchoring, and that's certainly where we are right now.?"We just hope they take our view on it, we'll see."

I have hoped that cooler heads would prevail and that some sort of compromise might be found behind closed doors.  This might be the first formal move toward that compromise, but it surely looks to me like a power move by the Tour by taking their position public so early on.

The PGA Tour knows that it is the face of golf and it’s members wield plenty of marketing power from and for all the equipment manufacturers.  Plus, all those Players who have won Majors with “Belly Putters” are not willing to have their tools-of-the-trade taken away from them.

The PGA Tour is accustomed to living by a separate set of rules.  There are some players still wearing metal spikes, others continue to stretch the boundaries of acceptable dress.  This time is a much more obvious differentiation because it will affect what the public golfer purchases in the future.

I predicted that “... dollars and cents ...” would eventually control the decision over the “Belly “Putter” and I think this is just a polite salvo across the deck of the governing parties.  The question is: "How they receive it ?"

If the Rules of Golf outlaw “Belly Putters” and PGA Tour defies them, that “bifurcation” that Finchem speaks of will have much more far reaching affects than even he has thought of.  It will open the door for other challenges to equipment first, for sure, but after that, who knows ... Maybe those fans won’t be allowed to move boulders for Tour players any longer!!!