Confusion in Handedness

I'm left-handed, and I don't know how to play golf. (Pausing for laughter).

I'm confused about handedness in most aspects of life. Here is the breakdown: I write and throw left handed; I bowl, hammer and eat right handed. But, God help me, I can't figure out how to golf.

I tried golfing left handed at first, and the results were terrible. I could barely make contact with the ball. I blamed my baseball swing with its cocked elbow and "flat" swing plane. I can say in my early attempts I don't think I actually got any balls airborne.

I was at a party one night where a couple of kids were hitting golf balls into a pond. They only had right-handed clubs available, so I thought, "What the hell," and took a right-handed swing. The ball jumped off the club and headed off toward the pond. After that, I only golfed right handed.

However, as I've gotten a little older and started trying to play more, I've noticed that even right-handed I am iffy at best. Some of my shots get good air. A couple of them go straight. But I can hardly say I'm consistent.

To add more confusion, I've heard from a couple of left-handers that I should be hitting left handed. And as a child, when I had been trying to shoot basketball right handed, a coach asked me to try shooting left handed and I ended up playing in college.

So, needless to say, I'm confused. What do you think? Should I try going lefty or should I stick to right-handedness?

Seems like a lot of people who do everything else left handed still golf right handed.  I always assumed it was a case of "those are the only clubs in the garage so that's how I learned."

I think we are all a mix of handed-ness in one way or another.  I do everything right-handed ... except I'm a left-handed shot in hockey.

And when it comes to feet, I'm a real weirdo.  I used to be the punter (left footed) and kicker (right footed) on my high school football team. And I still do it that way.  If I'm taking a corner kick, its gotta be my right, but if I want to drill a low, hard shot, or make controlled passes, I'm better with my left.

Here's where the biggest point of confusion is. I have been playing right-handed, and hitting the ball okay every now and then. However, when I swing a club left handed I admit it feels more natural, and I think maybe that's what you mean about having a dominant side. That feels particularly true of my lower body. A right handed swing for me feels a bit stiff and perhaps uncoordinated. A left hand swing feels correct in my legs.

Are you sure?  That seems really counter-intuitive to me.  A slap shot has some vaguely similar movements to a golf swing, so it seems natural to me that right-handed golfers would normally be right-handed hockey players.

Heck, if you were to just slide your left hand up the shaft a bit, then you basically ARE hitting a golf shot.

(Can you tell that I really want to stay abnormal? ;))

I saw a video one time where they put a slap shot and a golf swing side by side and showed them in slow motion. They were eerily similar in many ways.

I don't remember where I saw the video and can't find it but I did find this one mostly about the setup.

OK, that does make sense.  I am not totally incompetent as a left handed hitter - I never tried to switch hit, but with a little practice I know I could - and I think I could make a decent left-handed golfer as well (proof: http://thesandtrap.com/t/67219/show-us-your-opposite-swing/0_30#post_847833) but stick a right handed hockey stick in my hand and I will likely miss the puck entirely, and probably fall over trying to shoot.

It does ... I appreciate that. ;)

I'm ambidextrous too.  Write left handed but I did everything else in right handed when I was young -- batting, bowling, shooting a basketball or casting a rod.

Didn't seem to make a difference playing other sports but when I picked up bullseye target shooting (with a gun) things changed.  In bullseye, you shoot single handed w/the arm extended w/o support from the other hand.  So, a right handed shooter would normally line up his RIGHT eye in line w/his arm towards the target.

However, doing this, I couldn't hit the target consistently and the problem wasn't w/my breathing, grip, arm strength or trigger finger release.  It was in my vision.  An old timer asked if I ever checked my eyes for dominance.  Turns out that I was (am) left eye dominant and, when I was shooting right handed, my left eye would take over causing my vision to "cross over."

I converted to left hand shooting and my accuracy improved dramatically.  Assume the same thing would apply to archery but not sure if it matters in golf.

Can't play golf worth sh*t yet but seems to me that swinging right hand and being left eye dominant shouldn't matter.  In fact, it might be better since my dominant left eye is facing the target when I swing or putt.  Thing the same thing applies when I'm batting.

Would be interested in hearing otherwise if anyone has some research data to point to, but I'd hate to have to buy a new set of left handed clubs and start all over trying to learn how to swing the club left handed, if it turns of that eye dominance matters in how well you swing a golf club.

If you bat left handed and throw left handed, then you probably are better off golfing left handed.

So, I'm more or less the same as you. I bat lefty or righty, throw left, write left or right,. . .  Basically, we're "ambidextrous". Sometimes, I can't even tell which way is left or right. If forced to, I could do everything ambidextrously. I tried golf right handed and played the first three years right handed, then switched to lefty about the time I joined this site a little over 2 years ago. Even though it was awkward for the first month or two, it turned out to be the right choice.

I'm left eye dominant and the only thing I notice is that I have a tendency to want the ball further forward in my stance than most right eye dominant players. Some claim it makes a difference in what we see during alignment. I don't see either as a big factor.

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Nicklaus was left eye dominant and I think Mickelson is right eye dominant so...

That is me (and my brother). Dad was right-handed so, when he cut down clubs for us to use in the back yard as little kids, that is what we learned. I am about as left-handed as a person can be but I can't hit a golf ball left-handed to save my life. It is foreign to me.

It was at first for me too, but I knew it was the right thing to do. My only proof is that I play so much better in roughly the same time as I played right handed.

I bought my current house with a couple sets of right handed clubs in the garage, and those are the clubs with which I started using years later when my kids started playing.

Quote: :

Originally Posted by phan52

That is me (and my brother). Dad was right-handed so, when he cut down clubs for us to use in the back yard as little kids, that is what we learned. I am about as left-handed as a person can be but I can't hit a golf ball left-handed to save my life. It is foreign to me.

Originally Posted by Lihu

It was at first for me too, but I knew it was the right thing to do. My only proof is that I play so much better in roughly the same time as I played right handed.

One benefit I developed from playing golf right-handed at a very young age is that I have a nasty lefty backhand in tennis.

Not that I'm that good, but I've developed a pretty quick method of using fore-hands only. Righty and lefty. It confuses much better players than me and allows me to get a few points off them.