Golf's Great Debate: Tradition vs. Innovation

Golf is full of arguments, but none are as heated as the one about technology. Some golfers want to keep things old-school, while others want to embrace new ideas. Even the oldest golf course, St Andrews, is getting updates after 600 years. Bryson DeChambeau is even making his own golf ball to boost his power. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have been on opposite sides of this debate for years. Their disagreement went beyond the golf course and into the rules of the game. The long putter is a big part of this argument. Woods wanted to ban it, but Mickelson disagreed. Woods thinks golf should be about controlling the club and swinging it like a pendulum. He wanted rules to make putters the shortest clubs in the bag. But Mickelson saw things differently. He thought it was unfair to take away something players had been using for years.Other golfers chimed in too. Adam Scott, who won the Masters with a long putter, didn't agree with Woods' views. Ernie Els joked about it, saying he'd keep using what was legal. A study in 2017 looked at how well amateur golfers did with different putters. From short distances, there wasn't much difference. But traditional putters had a slight edge from 12 feet away. The study showed that the advantage of long putters might not be as big as some think. This debate isn't just about one club. It's about the future of golf. Should the sport stick to its roots, or should it keep evolving? The answer isn't clear, but the discussion is far from over.