Jordan Spieth has struggled desperately with his putting on the PGA Tour over the past few years.
Spieth’s putting has actually been the main reason for his recent struggles and that is hugely surprising, given just how good he was on the greens during his prime.
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The 32-year-old from Dallas, Texas, is without a win on the PGA Tour since April 2022, and he’s only won twice since his Open Championship triumph in 2017.
However, Spieth has shown signs of improvement so far in 2026, with back-to-back top-12 finishes in the last two Signature Events he has played on the PGA Tour.
The key to the three-time major champion’s mini-revival? Improved putting. He’s ranked 17th in strokes gained on the greens this season.
Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
Over the past seven seasons on the PGA Tour, Spieth has finished outside the top 100 in strokes gained putting three times and outside the top 60 twice.
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Now Spieth is being tipped to achieve success on the PGA Tour once again, due to the improvements he has shown on the greens.
Jordan Spieth wants new golf rule applied on the PGA Tour
Spieth was in a jovial mood when speaking to Kay Adams at TPC Sawgrass ahead of The Players Championship this week.
He was asked to give his opinion on long putters after Akshay Bhatia received huge criticism last week, and his answer was fascinating.
Some golf writers and fans alike claimed Bhatia was anchoring the butt of his putter grip to his chest, but he made it very clear that it was only touching his shirt.
Spieth suggested that he would like to see a new rule on the PGA Tour whereby the putter has to be the shortest club in the bag.
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“Well, in the rules, you can’t anchor,“ Spieth said.
“Anchoring as if that if that putter was touching his (Bhatia’s) sternum.
Photo by Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
“Or you can do it on your arm, you can arm bar now, but you can’t anchor it against your sternum.
“There’s a skill to it, and, you know, if it were that easy to do and made everyone that much better, everybody would do it.
“So, it’s a skill to do. He has been doing it for a long time.
“I would like the putter to be the shortest club in your bag, because it is the shortest club in my bag, and I do believe that it forces more skill.
“It uses your hands more, which makes you have to be more kind of athletic and deal with the stuff that comes up a little bit more, but at the same time, you know, I could easily go do that if I thought that it was gonna make me better, and it would be a hard skill to go learn.“
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Spieth is bang on the money right there.
Golf’s governing bodies made a big mistake by not setting a maximum length for putters, leaving the rule too open to interpretation.
Akshay Bhatia responds to fan accusations of rule-breaking at Pebble Beach
Back at Pebble Beach last month, Bhatia was accused of anchoring his putter to his chest by some golf fans.
And the 24-year-old left-hander responded via his social media channels.
“Not anchoring. Literally 2 inches short of my chest haha,” Bhatia insisted.
Bhatia is clearly not cheating – he is simply not that way inclined.
The R&A and the USGA are to blame here for implementing a rule that is open to interpretation.
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It would be fairer for everyone if a maximum length rule for putters was brought in. Or, as Spieth suggested, the putter should just be the shortest club in the bag.
Whether the powers that be at the USGA and the R&A will make any changes in that regard anytime soon remains to be seen.