"It's disappointing", "Textbook anchoring": Fans react to Bernhard Langer's controversial putting

Bernhard Langer and his son Jason won the 2024 PNC Championship after a grueling sudden-death playoff with Tiger and Charlie Woods. Despite winning the event for the sixth time in his career, he has found himself at the center of a heated debate in the golf world.

A video shared by NUCLR Golf on X (formerly known as Twitter), shows the PGA Tour veteran using his signature putter with a long shaft. The caption accompanying the clip posed the question (via X @NUCLRGolf):

"#DISCUSSION: In your opinion, would you consider this anchoring?"

Anchoring involves bracing the club against the body to create a stable pivot point. However, the move was banned by the United States Golf Association (USGA) in Rule 14-1.

Here's a look into the 67-year-old's putting technique (via X @NUCLRGolf):

An X user took to the comments section of the post and wrote:

"It’s disappointing at a minimum that this is allowed to happen."

Despite the ban, the USGA permits using long-shafted putters as long as they are not anchored to the body. However, one golf enthusiast criticized the move and said:

"I don’t care about the results from the PNC [Championship] but how can you possibly say this isn’t anchoring the putter, it’s textbook anchoring."

Amid negative comments flooding the post, some fans came in support of Langer and claimed that the legendary golfer was not violating any rules, with one writing:

"The putter doesn’t touch his chest tho," said the X user.

"I’m 99% certain that Langer’s results would not change if you gave him a random used putter before each competition. That being said: he’s 1,000% anchoring," another wrote.

Here are some more fans debating over Langer's putting:

"Looks like anchoring to me, although I could care less if someone’s anchors or not. Golf is hard enough as it is, if that helps you putt a little better, it’s alright with me," a fan stated.

"It is definitely anchoring. That said, no reason for it to be illegal," another fan said.

Amid the debate surrounding his putting style, the German golfer remained unfazed and defended his PNC Championship title, partnered up with his son Jason.

Bernhard Langer and his son Jason's WITB

Following Bernhard Langer's historic win at the 2024 PNC Championship with his son after they defeated Tiger Woods and his son Charlie in the playoff, fans were left curious about their equipment.

Here's a look into the father-son duo's golf bag for December 2024 (via PGA Tour):

Bernhard Langer

Driver - PING G400 (9 degrees) with Graphite Design Tour AD IZ shaft
3-Wood - TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees) with Graphite Design Tour AD DI shaft
Hybrid: Adams Idea Pro (18 degrees) with Midas shaft
Hybrid: Adams Idea Pro (22 degrees) with Midas shaft
Irons: Tour Edge Exotics CBX (4-6), Tour Edge Exotics Pro 723 (7-9), and Tour Edge BL Proto (PW) with True Temper Dynamic Golf Mid 115 shafts
Wedges: Cleveland 588 RTX (56 degrees) and Titleist Vokey Design Prototype (60 degrees) with True Temper Dynamic Golf Tour Issue S400 shafts
Putter: Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball Long
Grips - Golf Pride V55
Ball - Titleist Pro VIx

Jason Langer

Driver - PING G400
3-Wood - TaylorMade M1
Irons: TaylorMade P750 (3 iron to PW)
Wedges: Callaway MD3 (56 degrees) and TaylorMade MG (60 degrees)
Putter: Odyssey Metal X Milled No. 1
Grips - Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord

About the author

Lathika is one of the newer additions to Sportskeeda’s budding golf journalism team and has brought plenty of in-game experience to the role. Having been a golfer for over 12 years now, some of her crowning achievements include winning titles on the Indian Golf Union Ladies tour and Junior Girls Amateur tour.

She currently competes in Division 1 golf in Florida, and hopes to play in the U.S. Open and Chevron Championship one day. She is set to cover the 2025 Ryder Cup as well. She is currently pursuing a degree in Business Administration and Management, and holds a Sports Marketing certification from Northwestern University, which helped her learn to draft press releases and ultimately transition into journalism.

Lathika has thus developed a knowledge base that allows her to view golf from both player, spectator and media lenses, enabling her to bring statistics, insights and an understanding of fan emotion together in her copies. She only uses verified information from reliable sources like the PGA TOUR.

Her favorite golfers are Nelly Korda and Tiger Woods, both for their playing style as well as their mental strength. Much of her time away from work is spent playing golf, but she also enjoys spending time with her family and friends, and learning new hobbies or upskilling.

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Edited by Shirsh