One of the major debates going on in the worldwide golf community is if belly putters should be legal. The European tour recently supported a ban on belly putters contradicting the PGA Tour‘s stance.

The USGA and PGA of America have both publicly opposed any proposed rule changes, meaning they do not wish to ban the longer putter from competition.

The belly putter, or anchored putter has grown in popularity because of the ability it gives players to remain still while stroking the ball. One of the players that has seen a noticeable improvement in his putting because of this equipment is Australian Adam Scott.

Scott, in my opinion, has one of the nicest golf swings on tour today. The Australian is one of Butch Harmon‘s pupils and has a swing very similar to the swing Tiger Woods had when he first came onto the PGA Tour. The swing he had when Tiger was also Harmon’s student.

As you can see, Scott and Woods have very similar swings.

Scott is currently ranked 7th in the official world golf rankings but has never won a major. In 2009 he dropped out of the top 50 in the world because of his putting.

Scott then switched to the anchored belly putter.

After switching to the longer putter, Scott began to score much better and regained his top 10 ranking in the world. He has also played much better in the major tournaments. In 2011, at the Masters, when he had the sole lead on the 71st hole and in 2012 when he limped in the last 5 holes, ultimately handing the Open Championship to Ernie Els.

As the 2013 season rounds into full swing, Scott is still on fire on the greens. This was very apparent during his final round of the WGC-Ford Championship at the Trump Doral resort in Miami, FL, where he shot a 64. He only had 22 putts.

This amazing round on the greens only proves to show that these long, anchored putters are helping players on the greens. Scott is just one example of a player who has drastically improved from when he used a standard length putter. This should only fuel the debate between the US and Europe on whether or not there should be a band on anchored belly putters.