Golfers tend to be a pretty conservative as a breed. Fo ra long time there were certain things that were just not done. Many players of years gone by would have looked upon an alternative putting style as a sign of weakness. It just wasn't done.

Ben Hogan once said that if he had been willing to separate his hands on the putter grip he could have played ten more years. But it just wouldn't look right and that kind of thing just was not done back then.
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I think it was the long putter and the belly putter that finally got players to begin to open up and explore different options. Then a few guys began experimenting with the claw, saw, pencil, Gator grip. Today's players are much more open to exploring knew ways to shoot lower scores.