Belly putters and "inside the leather"

Back in the day in NE Ohio, I played with a group of gamblers that introduced me to the few cordialities of the game. One was when the length of your putt was considered good, they called it "inside the leather", and that...to me, was one of the greatest gimmies in golf. The confidence of a knee-knocker-2-foot- putt was hard to stomach when your surrounded by cigar-chompin' back-room poker players by nite, duffers by day old men. The day when one of the men spoke up and said "kid, it's inside the leather", I was born-again...and $15 richer.
To this day, I still use it as an act of valor when I have someone stymied...if they knock it within 2', I give them the leather. They always end up buying me a drink for the act of kindness.

So now, here we are with the biggest golf headliner of the ages...should we ban belly-putters. Well, it depends, if you play by the inside the leather rule, then I'd say your 2' just became 4' (have you seen the length of leather on these fishing poles?!) and you'll get many drinks for your acts of kindness giving these gimmies. This will speed up the game, and allow all players to make a personal decision on whether to play the game with a bad back, or to grind it into sawdust, and to hate the game.
 If you don't play inside the leather, then you are a stuffy old bastard who is ok hitting the RocktBallz 500 yards, but can't take someone putting for dough having an advantage over you because "it's not a natural stroke".

Pandora's box has been open, and until someone says no to all things improving golf technology, then we'll all just need to get along...

...and give those 4-footers the leather.

Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB