Phil: "We've outlawed the paddle grip for crying out loud, I don't know why; that was legal for three decades."

Alex Myers focused on Phil's comments today on not ruling out the belly putter, but I of course was jumping for joy when he noted that the USGA did outlaw the dreaded, horrible, blatantly criminal paddle grip, which was nothing more than a slight indentation at the top of the grip, and all because putting geniuses Stockton, Archer and Crenshaw used one. (Actually that's not entirely true, but I just wanted to get a nasty email from Frank Hannigan at some point today.)

Q. Just wonder what your thoughts are on the belly putter, whether you have any objections to it.

PHIL MICKELSON: I really don't. I think that there's more to it than just starting the ball online and putting. You have to read the green correctly. You have to start the ball online, which the belly putter I think really helps, but you also have to have the right speed.

And if it were going to be banned, it should have happened 20-plus years ago. But now that it's been be legal, I don't think you can make it retroactive. There have been guys that have been working with that putter for years if not decades. I just don't believe that it should even be a consideration.
But, having said that, we've been retroactive on grooves; we've outlawed the paddle grip for crying out loud, I don't know why; that was legal for three decades. So I don't know what the process is, but I think it's very unfair to let guys play with it competitively for however many years and then try to take it away.