Did you know your left side should be dominant?

[GolfLug]

I am with those who think there is not a left hand or right hand dominant swing. Just the feel depending on your own physiology. Although to me it seems that the left has to lead till the club gets back in front and then the right has to pour while left side of the torso pulls out of the way.

[natureboy]

And Jackie Burke wrote this.

Who's right? They all are!

I personally like to feel the pivot more with my right side, think it helps keep things more centered.

Well said. Use the feel that helps you put the right moves on the ball through impact. Experiment to find what works for you.

I am with those who think there is not a left hand or right hand dominant swing. Just the feel depending on your own physiology. Although to me it seems that the left has to lead till the club gets back in front and then the right has to pour while left side of the torso pulls out of the way.

I agree. I like to feel primarily active with left side on takeaway and right side active late - near impact as I have a personal tendency to get quick from the top. My right side / arm is slightly active through the whole backswing though. But Kathy Whitworth is a better golfer than me so worth playing with as a feel at some point maybe.

[Butcho]

When I am playing my best the only thing I am focused on is where I want the ball to go. A step down from there I take note of my ball flight and look to a way back to finding the target. Sometimes it is simply ball position. Sometimes body alignment. Feet, hips, shoulders, eyes, etc. It is usually a fault in my setup position. If I don't like the way the ball is flying, even if it is to the target, then I assume it is probably in my swing itself. Usually renewed focus on maintaining a firm flat left wrist but not so firm as to inhibit any up or down flexion fixes my swing. If during a round of golf I suddenly become discombobulated I return to my fall back position wherein I simply turn relatively straight back and forth into a short but effective swing where I nearly always find good control but at the expense of distance. I have shot par with my short swing. Golf is not so much about how as how many. The golf range sometimes comes in very handy.

I take my firm flat left wrist to my short game as well. In fact, I would say that a firm flat left wrist is even more important to good scoring in the short game than the long. Putting, chipping, and yes even pitch shots love a firm flat left wrist. There are exceptions but the firm flat left wrist is the general rule. Really long putts, aerated greens, popping it over a greenside tree to a tight pin, such things sometimes require a little imagination. A little to heck with general rules of thumb I just need to do whatever it takes to get this thing done.

Now, I am not saying my way of playing is the only way of playing. What I am saying is that it works for me far more often than not. Sometimes I just need a good laugh. There is no crying in golf.

[FlatLeftWrist]

She is absolutely right.  Left side should lead the golf swing.  The minute you push with the right hand you lose all your lag and you scoop through the shot.  It is counter intuitive and that is why almost no one truly compresses the golf ball like the pros do.

[Abu3baid]

2 hours ago, FlatLeftWrist said:

She is absolutely right.  Left side should lead the golf swing.  The minute you push with the right hand you lose all your lag and you scoop through the shot.  It is counter intuitive and that is why almost no one truly compresses the golf ball like the pros do.

Lol she is right about what?  I call bullshit!

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, FlatLeftWrist said:

She is absolutely right.  Left side should lead the golf swing.  The minute you push with the right hand you lose all your lag and you scoop through the shot.  It is counter intuitive and that is why almost no one truly compresses the golf ball like the pros do.

Makes sense.

 

12 minutes ago, Abu3baid said:

Lol she is right about what?  I call bullshit!

Doesn't seem like it?

[Patch]

My take on left side dominance for the right hander is this. It was taught years ago, and still is today. It must have worked back then, and probably still does today. 

Myself, I tend to pull the club through the impact area with my left arm/side. It's more like I am guiding the club with my left arm/side, while relying on my right arm/side to help add some club head speed through the impact area.   I like to end up with my weight on my left side. I like to have my left side leg/hip start my down swing from the top. Now, do I do all this with my left side everytime? I have no idea. I never really ever think about it, since aa I care about is what my club head is doing at impact. I just know that if I put to much into my swing with my right arm/hand, I hit poorer shots. 

Knowing what I know now, I would have started off swinging left handed in the beginning. My right handedness would have been in a better position, being it was my stronger, dominant side. 

I never discount any golf swing theory as being wrong, because no one theory will fit every golfer. 

[Abu3baid]

3 hours ago, Lihu said:

Makes sense.

 

Doesn't seem like it?

What makes sense?  Pushing with your right, pulling with your left, feeling like gravity is doing the work, what ever other feel any player may have is unique to them..  

Telling me that doing one or the other causes a flip or causes you to cast ect is just bullshit..  It's not on me to explain why it is, but rather on you to explain to me the physics behind how one action causes the other..  

Can you explain? If not I'm not sure why you are disagreeing with my assessment.  If you can then I will take back what I said and give both you and him and the original OP a smily face.  :)

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, Abu3baid said:

What makes sense?  Pushing with your right, pulling with your left, feeling like gravity is doing the work, what ever other feel any player may have is unique to them..  

Telling me that doing one or the other causes a flip or causes you to cast ect is just bullshit..  It's not on me to explain why it is, but rather on you to explain to me the physics behind how one action causes the other..  

Can you explain? If not I'm not sure why you are disagreeing with my assessment.  If you can then I will take back what I said and give both you and him and the original OP a smily face.  :)

Your right hand is always putting pressure on the shaft, but in synchronization with the body turn. What I assumed from his statement is that if you generate excessive force it could throw off the timing of impact relative to the position of the rest of the body. So, you lose lag and power.

[saevel25]

6 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Your right hand is always putting pressure on the shaft, but in synchronization with the body turn. What I assumed from his statement is that if you generate excessive force it could throw off the timing of impact relative to the position of the rest of the body. So, you lose lag and power.

It's all about finding feels that work for your swing. To claim that one side is doom and the other is salvation for the golf swing is just idiotic generalization that has plagued golf instruction for decades now. 

[Lihu]

3 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

It's all about finding feels that work for your swing. To claim that one side is doom and the other is salvation for the golf swing is just idiotic generalization that has plagued golf instruction for decades now. 

Yeah, in reading @Abu3baid's complaint, I kind of got that feeling that he was against the blanket generalization rather than it just being a feel aspect. I agree with both of you then.

[tshapiro]

I've spent nearly 10 years trying to debunk the left side dominance theory and turns out I can't - it really is the best. Here's why - body rotation is the main source of power. Your lower body is in a better position to drive your leading shoulder (think pushing on a refrigerator) than to pull on a trailing shoulder. The point I think most people miss... Neither the left arm or right arm is 'dominant'.  The lower body is dominant. It's just that the Energy from the Kenamatic Sequence flows down your left arm - so it too is a somewhat passive player. Over time, I've been able to master the Kenamatic Sequence and I can use my legs to drive my torso which swings my left arm.  When I coordinate the timing of the release the club snaps very hard. No pushing of the right arm would add any benefit as it would be much too slow. The difference in power to using the Kenamatic Sequence versus a hit or a push is night and day. Though I have no proof, I personally am 100% certain this is how every tour pro swings. When your right hip drives your torso and the right arm is slung into the sweet spot of impact - I personally feel it's an illusion that the right arm is powerful. People refer to effortless power. This is the power of the right  arm. 

Just wanted to add that I have a hitting cage in my backyard with a swing speed monitor and have easily hit 100,000 balls over the last 10 years exploring this exact subject. 

Edited May 9, 2016 by tshapiro

[SavvySwede]

1 hour ago, tshapiro said:

I've spent nearly 10 years trying to debunk the left side dominance theory and turns out I can't - it really is the best. Here's why - body rotation is the main source of power. Your lower body is in a better position to drive your leading shoulder (think pushing on a refrigerator) than to pull on a trailing shoulder. The point I think most people miss... Neither the left arm or right arm is 'dominant'.  The lower body is dominant. It's just that the Energy from the Kenamatic Sequence flows down your left arm - so it too is a somewhat passive player. Over time, I've been able to master the Kenamatic Sequence and I can use my legs to drive my torso which swings my left arm.  When I coordinate the timing of the release the club snaps very hard. No pushing of the right arm would add any benefit as it would be much too slow. The difference in power to using the Kenamatic Sequence versus a hit or a push is night and day. Though I have no proof, I personally am 100% certain this is how every tour pro swings. When your right hip drives your torso and the right arm is slung into the sweet spot of impact - I personally feel it's an illusion that the right arm is powerful. People refer to effortless power. This is the power of the right  arm. 

Just wanted to add that I have a hitting cage in my backyard with a swing speed monitor and have easily hit 100,000 balls over the last 10 years exploring this exact subject. 

Doesn't really matter how many balls you've hit. What you feel often isn't real.

[tshapiro]

11 minutes ago, SavvySwede said:

Doesn't really matter how many balls you've hit. What you feel often isn't real.

I don't know... Once you understand how it works it's as easy as throwing a ball. It's not that big of a mystery. 

[SavvySwede]

3 minutes ago, tshapiro said:

I don't know... Once you understand how it works it's as easy as throwing a ball. It's not that big of a mystery. 

 

1 hour ago, tshapiro said:

I've spent nearly 10 years trying to debunk the left side dominance theory and turns out I can't - it really is the best. Here's why - body rotation is the main source of power. Your lower body is in a better position to drive your leading shoulder (think pushing on a refrigerator) than to pull on a trailing shoulder. The point I think most people miss... Neither the left arm or right arm is 'dominant'.  The lower body is dominant. It's just that the Energy from the Kenamatic Sequence flows down your left arm - so it too is a somewhat passive player. Over time, I've been able to master the Kenamatic Sequence and I can use my legs to drive my torso which swings my left arm.  When I coordinate the timing of the release the club snaps very hard. No pushing of the right arm would add any benefit as it would be much too slow. The difference in power to using the Kenamatic Sequence versus a hit or a push is night and day. Though I have no proof, I personally am 100% certain this is how every tour pro swings. When your right hip drives your torso and the right arm is slung into the sweet spot of impact - I personally feel it's an illusion that the right arm is powerful. People refer to effortless power. This is the power of the right  arm. 

Just wanted to add that I have a hitting cage in my backyard with a swing speed monitor and have easily hit 100,000 balls over the last 10 years exploring this exact subject. 

Sure sounds like your guessing from the language of your post. Hitting a lot of balls and developing a good swing will only give you a good understanding of what you need to feel to hit the ball well. It's big part of why a lot of top pros wouldn't make good instructors.

[natureboy]

2 hours ago, tshapiro said:

Your lower body is in a better position to drive your leading shoulder (think pushing on a refrigerator) than to pull on a trailing shoulder.

When your right hip drives your torso and the right arm is slung into the sweet spot of impact

How physiologically does the lower body drive / push the lead shoulder? How does the right hip 'drive' your torso?

1 hour ago, tshapiro said:

I don't know... Once you understand how it works it's as easy as throwing a ball. It's not that big of a mystery. 

I don't necessarily disagree that you can hit ~ 90% of your distance potential with only a lead arm swing (google Sasho McKenzie & also similar evidence in 'Search for the Perfect Swing'). That doesn't mean that the trail arm adds nothing in ~ 10 to 15% (maybe up to 20%) of potential distance and possibly / likely improved accuracy / consistency. How a really efficient swing feels to a particular player with or without that contribution, though, is going to vary.

[Lihu]

1 minute into this video shows Mike Austin replacing the lead arm with a strap of some sort.

No lead arm.

[Rainmaker]

Little golf blurbs and tips like that are hilarious, I think.  There's a reason why, for just about every golf tip, there is an equal and opposite golf tip. 

For me - I can't say I feel that either side is dominant or that I feel necessarily like I'm pulling or pushing.  I just spent several minutes trying to see what it feels like.  Beats the crap out of me....for me it doesn't feel like there's that much going on in my arms.  Not that I feel "dead-armed", either . . .I don't know.  Weirdness.  It's working good right now, though, so . .whatever, lol.