David Howell says what he would ban from golf as he reacts to Cam Young’s ‘very unusual’ putting quirk

The 28-year-old has now secured the biggest win of his career so far, with his dramatic victory at The Players Championship on Sunday.

David Howell surprised by what Cam Young does on the greens

Young is an intriguing character on the PGA Tour. He is known for barely showing any emotion on the golf course, with some of his celebrations at Bethpage last September coming as a surprise to many.

And it turns out that he also has a peculiar way of approaching his putts. It was revealed that Young’s caddie reads all of his greens for him.

It has proved to be successful, perhaps to the surprise of some.

Howell established himself as one of Europe’s best putters during his career. He also has worked with Laurie Canter fairly recently on his game on the greens.

Speaking on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, Howell stopped short of calling for a ban to be introduced when it comes to caddies reading putts on their own, but he did admit to being a little confused by Young’s system.

“Remarkable, I’m not sure that I’ve hit more than five putts in my entire career where I’ve hit it exactly where my caddie says without any input from me. That’s not the way I’ve ever gone about it. Very unusual, but you find a winning formula. Maybe he started one day and it went quite well, and it turns into one week and before you know it, if that formula works for you, you keep going with it until it stops,” he said.

“By the way, his caddie’s not reading every putt correctly, because every pro doesn’t. There’s plenty of errors. That’s just normal, isn’t it. If you do that, you have to accept you’re going to be given the wrong line any number of times during each day, just like you might choose the wrong line. So you’re giving up the autonomy, aren’t you. 

“You shouldn’t ban that, I don’t mind. Caddies should be able to get involved with putts. I’d ban the line on the ball if you’re going to go anywhere. That’s the thing I’d get rid of.”

Cam Young has made a startling improvement on the greens over the last few years

Of course, banning caddies reading all putts for their players would be incredibly difficult to police. Ultimately, a player could argue that they simply agree with their caddie every time when they suggest a line.

The player still needs to be able to execute the shot at the correct pace.

Young still deserves credit for becoming one of the best putters on the PGA Tour. He was seventh for strokes gained on the greens during the 2025 season.

That marked an incredible improvement, with Young ending up in 145th place in the same category in 2024.

It does appear that his stoic nature is absolutely ideal for when the pressure intensifies on the stages the size of the Ryder Cup and The Players.

Few will forget the putt he holed to beat Justin Rose on Sunday at Bethpage. And few will forget the birdie he rolled in on 17 at the weekend on his way to winning the biggest individual prize outside of the majors.