Recovering from ACL Reconstruction. Looking to move to lefty to get back sooner.

[Tfonz]

So I had patella graft ACL reconstruction on my left knee about 6 weeks ago (I play righty). I picked up golf about 3 years ago and I absolutely love it even though I'm not the greatest. A round in the 90's is successful for me. I'm looking to get back sooner thank 6 months to golf and I've been thinking of making the attempt to switch to lefty since there will be much less rotation on the left knee that way. I have a surprisingly fluid golf swing with a left handed club and seem to make decent contact. The way I'm thinking is i'm bad enough to maybe actually make this switch and maybe improve on my previous play while being able to play sooner. Does anyone have experience with coming back from this surgery? or even switching to lefty?

[David in FL]

I can’t speak to your particular surgery, but I know 3 avid golfers who had total knee replacements.  All right handed, 2 left knee and one right knee.  All were back playing within 12 weeks or so, and all completely back to “normal” in far less than 6 months.

Switching to Lefty would likely take longer than that to reach any kind of proficiency, if it even ever happened.  Plus the need for new clubs.  Sorry, I just can’t see that as any kind of reasonable “solution” to a relatively minor, short-term issue.

 

[chspeed]

14 minutes ago, David in FL said:

 

Switching to Lefty would likely take longer than that to reach any kind of proficiency, if it even ever happened.  Plus the need for new clubs.  Sorry, I just can’t see that as any kind of reasonable “solution” to a relatively minor, short-term issue. 

 

As someone who's had surgery (albeit a different one), I second this. I'd also add that you'll likely get cleared to start putting and chipping a lot sooner than a full swing, so you can work on that.

Edited April 9, 2019 by chspeed

[Big C]

Good luck. I had the surgery 13 years ago at the age of 25. I am right handed and the surgery was on my right knee, so not an identical situation. But my golfing career somewhat mirrors yours.

In my early 20's, I played tennis, basketball, snowboarded... heck I even played in a couple flag football leagues. Golf was a secondary pastime for me and when I played, I usually would shoot in the high 80s/low 90s. 

After surgery, I pretty much gave up anything with intensive lateral movement (so long basketball) and spent a lot more time on golf. 

As far as I'm concerned, the key is being diligent in your physical therapy and devoting adequate time to re-strengthening the leg. If you do that, you shouldn't need to go left handed or adopt any major swing changes. My surgery was a success and I would say that 99% of the time, I don't notice any difference in my surgically repaired knee. I still walk 75% of my rounds and can knock a good drive out there quite a ways. Recently, I have noticed a few more "snap, crackle and pops" in my knee during early morning rounds. But if I can wake up early enough to do 15 minutes of stretching in the morning that's not really an issue either. 

Again, best of luck. The recovery is not fun, but put in the work on the PT and you will be back at it in no time.

 

[Tfonz]

11 minutes ago, Big C said:

In my early 20's, I played tennis, basketball, snowboarded... heck I even played in a couple flag football leagues. Golf was a secondary pastime for me and when I played, I usually would shoot in the high 80s/low 90s. 

Hey Big C, 

Im 26 and it actually happened while playing flag football lol. How long did it take you to get back to swinging and playing on it since it was your back leg? I'm interested to know that since youre the first one I've encountered with the right leg.

[Big C]

Honestly I don't remember. I want to say about 9 months, since I was also playing softball at the time, and I remember re-joining one of my leagues and having no issues swinging the bat about 9 months post-surgery. 

I couldn't tell you when I was able to play my first round, because golf wasn't a huge priority for me at the time - that came about 2-3 years later.