Unpopular golf opinions

As any trip to the clubhouse bar will tell you, golfers can be an opinionated bunch. Here, six GM writers give their slightly left-field thoughts on the game. Do any of their views resonate with you?

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Putts should count as half a shot

By Fergus Bisset

I'm not a great putter so it infuriates me how much putts make up your total score. Faffing about with slopes and tap-ins and AimPoint, claw grips and arm-locking, the nap of the green, the mysterious effects of water, arc and angles and roll... it's by far the most boring, time-consuming and fiddly element of our majestic game. Putting is the least golf-like thing about golf. And I love golf. I love the feeling of making a solid swing and getting a booming drive away.

On a 500-yard hole, one could smack a 300-yard drive. The perfect launch, a beautiful flight with a touch of draw, piercing and fizzing its way through the air and covering nearly a fifth of a mile... one shot. Then a majestic 5-iron from 200 out into the heart of the green, beautifully struck with the right power and the right shape. It sounded like a gunshot when the club made contact, the ball towered into the air, flew as straight as an arrow and landed softly 20 feet from the pin... also one shot.

Then, the resulting putt narrowly misses, grazing the edge of the cup. It rolls three feet by. The return hits an imperfection on the surface, deviates by an inch or so causing it, too, to grab the edge of the hole, horseshoe round and narrowly miss. You're then tapping in from an inch... three shots.

Two shots covered 493 yards and then three covered about seven yards. That doesn't seem proportionately correct or fair. That's why I like the idea of strokes made on the putting surface counting for just half a shot each.

That would put far greater importance on full shots and, particularly, on the accuracy of drives and approaches. I know this will be an unpopular thought with good putters, but those whose strength is ball-striking might just be inclined to agree.