Bryson DeChambeau was given some rough news for his 2016-17 PGA Tour season recently. The putter DeChambeau has been using, which has the shaft connected to the center of the head, has been deemed illegal by the USGA.
.@b_dechambeau is using this putter in Hawaii. See more photos from Tuesday at the Sony Open https://t.co/V91tOXS8Kcpic.twitter.com/RS6dWpeFwP
— GolfWRX (@GolfWRX) January 11, 2017
All of this happened before the CareerBuilder Challenge when DeChambeau was forced to move the shaft from the center (see photo above) to the back of the putter head. This according to DeChambeau's conversation with Adam Schupak of The Morning Read.
"I was very disappointed with the way they handled it," DeChambeau told Schupak at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida, this week. "They've said to me, too, that they don't like the way I'm doing it. But it's within the rules, and I don't know why they don't like it. They say I'm potentially taking skill out of the game. Anything that helps shoot lower scores or makes golf more fun and grows the game, that's what I'm all about."
Side-saddle ... center pocket. 😳#QuickHitshttps://t.co/6G8fPmkged
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 8, 2016
DeChambeau made waves at the end of last year when he put his strange-looking putter into play and putted side saddle at the Franklin Templeton Shootout. It will be interesting to see where this goes from here. DeChambeau talked a lot about his putting style recently on The Clubhouse Podcast with Shane Bacon and how he's trained himself to receive the criticism. What he didn't say is whether he trained himself to change his putter shaft.
Incredibly lame that USGA says DeChambeau's sidesaddle putter does not conform but won't say why. #suspicious
— Gary VanSickle (@GaryVanSickle) January 25, 2017