Golf with an eyepatch

[bunkerputt]

This is going to sound completely ridiculous at first, but bear with me. I think I may have keyed on to the most major source of my inconsistency in golf.

I've always had two golfers in me. One that plays off about a 5-handicap and one that's around 25. The difference mostly shows up in my full-swing... particularly my second shot, though my tee shot suffers some too. I mean, all kidding aside, my ball-striking goes from fabulous to lousy and back to fabulous on a day-to-day basis. I took a look at time of day, versus ball-striking, and I almost always do well late in the day, while most of my poor play occurs early in the day. I always thought this was because I was too tired to swing hard late in the day. I could just relax and let the ball-striking flow.

It occurred to me while reflecting on a comment that almost all of the greatest ball-strikers have been lead-eye dominant, while most people are trailing eye dominant. That is, if you are a right-hander, you are probably right-eye dominant. I found that I am EXTREMELY right eye dominant. So dominant, in fact, that if I cover up my right eye and stare off into the distance, everything goes black for a moment. It's quite difficult to read with my left eye only. Not because the image isn't clear, but because my brain seems to only care what the back of my right eyelid looks like. Now back to golf...

Here's my hypothesis: I work at a desk job where I read ALL DAY LONG. Late in the day, my right eye is tired from working so hard, so my brain recruits my left eye to pull a larger load. When I am hitting balls late in the day, I always think about the front of the ball, exactly where my left eye is looking. This causes me to hold off my release for about the width of a ball and I hit it with a slightly descending blow against the face of the club. Early in the day, on the other hand, I am looking at the bottom of the right side of the ball. My mind is thinking about how to put the leading edge of the club between the ball and the turf and I almost always hit it fat or thin from releasing too soon. Mentally, when looking at the ball from the right side, I cannot figure out how NOT to hit up on it. On the other hand, when looking at the ball from the front, you have to hit down on it. It's the only way conceivable by your brain. Only one of these produces a good result, and I think it's obvious which one.

Now, such a thing can occur to your eyes because your brain knows which eye is "best". That is, it can distinguish a subtle change in the refractive index of each eye, such that it tends to prefer one eye over the other. This creates a downward spiral where the other eye suffers from lack of use causing the issue to get worse. But you can train your poor eye with an eyepatch over your good eye.

Has anyone tried training with an eyepatch over your trailing eye to get your brain to only think about the golf ball from the lead side?

[GDWindowpane]

Arrrrrrrr!!!!!! Let me ask my parrot...

[clubhousehero]

That may work. I know there are some baseball drill where batters hit whiffle balls with a patch over one eye. I have never done it but i think they put it over the left eye to train the hitter to look at the pitcher and ball with both eyes instead of their lead eye.

[Jota]

Hey BP, reviving this ultra old thread because I was asking myself the same question today. Long time lurker of the forums but never had even created an account, decided to do so to now.

I am certain that having the ability to approach the ball with your target-side eye (regardless of lefty/righty) can promote/enable some good things for you - getting a better feel of hitting from the inside is, in my view, one of them.

Did you give this one a shot? and by a shot, I mean a proper go with at least a few range sessions hitting w/ an eyepatch. Eager to know if you tried it out and hear your experience.

I'm going to buy one later today and take it to my practice session tomorrow, should prove to be an interesting exercise.

Cheers,

Jota

[DrvFrShow]

I am left-eye dominant.

[dave s]

An eye patch on the golf course should be good for at least a couple strokes in a match!

dave

[golfdu]

I apologize for bringing this thread back but I just got a professionally made eye patch and I am going to practice with it covering my non-dominant eye and see how my neck rotation in the downswing and follow through will change, I feel that mainstream golf instruction has been inspired by cross dominant golf legends (Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, and Tiger Woods are left eye dominant) and so that's why I as a same side golfer (left eye dominant and left handed) don't improve as much as I want to, despite practicing so much. 

[iacas]

4 hours ago, golfdu said:

I apologize for bringing this thread back but I just got a professionally made eye patch and I am going to practice with it covering my non-dominant eye and see how my neck rotation in the downswing and follow through will change, I feel that mainstream golf instruction has been inspired by cross dominant golf legends (Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, and Tiger Woods are left eye dominant) and so that's why I as a same side golfer (left eye dominant and left handed) don't improve as much as I want to, despite practicing so much. 

It's fine that you bumped the topic Frankie, but I don't think that not being cross-dominant is why you aren't improving as much as you'd like.

More than likely, you're either:

• Not practicing properly.
• Practicing the wrong things.
• Just not as skilled as you think.

To say more would be to go off topic, so, good luck with the eye patch, I guess?

[dennyjones]

This is a little off topic but I use to play with a guy that lost an eye in an snowblower accident.   He took some time to recover but his golf game hasn't suffered much.   He still shoots in the mid 80s.   The eye patch, I believe, is just a crutch.   Follow @iacas's lead with the previous post.  

Good luck

Edited January 9, 2018 by dennyjones
typo