Martin Laird is the only Scot to have tasted success on the PGA Tour while using the belly putter but there was hardly a murmur over his use of the now controversial club when he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2011.

The Arizona-based 30-year-old has used belly putter for seven years and is irked by the prospect of a ban on anchoring being brought into effect from the start of 2106 as a consequence of meetings between Mike Davis, the chief executive of the US Golf Association, and his R&A counterpart Peter Dawson.

"I understand why they considering a ban and I don't have a problem with why they want to ban anchoring but they are 20 years late if they go ahead with it," Laird said ahead of the Shell Houston Open, which starts today.

"When you have golfers doing something they've been doing for 35-40 years, virtually playing a whole career using a putting method, and suddenly [the governing bodies] come along and tell those players they can't do it any more, I have a real problem with that.

"You can say it's better late than never but this is why everyone is annoyed about a pending decision to ban anchoring. Twenty-five years ago when only 2% of players [were] using this putting method, there would not have been a headline [in it]. If Keegan [Bradley], Webb [Simpson] and Ernie [Els] had not won win three of [the past] five majors, there would not be an issue.

"Ernie and Adam Scott battling it out for last year's Open Championship both using long putters, on top of Keegan winning the PGA Championship using a belly putter and then Webb Simpson using the same kind of putter to win the US Open was probably enough.

"The USGA looked at the subject two years ago and thought it wasn't an issue. Now it is only but only because three of the last five majors have been one with someone anchoring the putter."

Laird says that unlike the likes of Bradley, Vijay Singh, Carl Pettersson and his fellow Scot Colin Montgomerie, he does not "tuck" the putter into his stomach.

"When I use the putter it hardly touches my body. I don't tuck it in to my stomach," he said. "If I cut another inch off that putter it wouldn't make a difference [to my stroke] at all. If they go ahead with the ban I will accept the decision but I think it's all a little too late. I don't think the PGA Tour will go it alone [by refusing to participate in a ban, as has been mooted]. They will go along with the ruling."

Laird hopes to qualify for the Masters via the $6.2m Houston tournament. Victory this weekend or in next week's Valero Texas Open in San Antonio would enable him to join his fellow Scots Paul Lawrie and Sandy Lyle in the season's first major.

Els, 43, who won last year's Open at Royal Lytham with a belly putter, will revert to a traditional club for this week's inaugural Chiangmai Classic in Thailand.

The South African, famously said that as long as belly putters were still legal "I'll keep cheating like the rest of them" will go back to the longer putter for next month's Masters but is clearly preparing himself for the proposed ban.

"Even if I won here this week, I'd use the belly putter at the Masters simply because the greens are so quick over there," said Els, who switched to the belly putter in 2011. "But after the Masters, I'll try to use the short putter more regularly."