# Lefties using right handed clubs?



## Bucky (Dec 7, 2011)

Does this apply to many of you?

My Dad gave me a right handed junior set as a kid, so I learnt to play right handed with no problems (I'm glad he did).  I just wondered if any of you who have a better understanding of swing mechanics than i do (that'll be most of you then!) could shed any light on what things this might aid me with, and also what hinderances there are. 

Personally, I think it has benefitted me just by simply always having clubs available to me, wether it be to borrow from a friend etc, and obviously there being a bigger selection to try and buy.  I recently bought a left handed guitar and I find it much harder to 'get into it' because if I want to play/practice, I have to have MY guitar with me, cant just pick up a friends and have a go.  Its a huge barrier in that sense.

What about course layout, would you say courses tend to be set up with right handed golfers in mind?

Interested to hear your thoughts.


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## DaveM (Dec 7, 2011)

Mickleson is right handed but plays golf left handed. I'm lefthanded but can play righthanded. Not as well but I can manage. Play guitar righthanded. Do a lot of thing righthanded as there are many thing only made for righthanders. Was a hairdresser many moons ago and scissors then were only right handers. Have found a lot of courses favour a right handed fade. A lot of the dogleg holes go left to right. Not all I admit, but more than right to left.


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## chris661 (Dec 7, 2011)

I dont think courses are set up with a particular aspect for a "handed" golfer maybe more with shot shape, my track is getting some changes done and it looks like it will be a course for a draw. 

I am left handed but play right handed like you but have never encoutered any problems with clubs.


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## wull (Dec 7, 2011)

i am left handed but play golf right handed.......

i do a lot of things left handed and other things right handed.i can't play golf left handed at all,i can swing the club but that's about it.

and it's not because i was bought right handed clubs as a junior,my mum and dad bought me a left handed 5 iron for my birthday when i was 9/10 and i was like..."wtf" lol.....they presumed because i wrote with my left that i would play left handed.


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## Bucky (Dec 7, 2011)

DaveM said:



			Have found a lot of courses favour a right handed fade. A lot of the dogleg holes go left to right. Not all I admit, but more than right to left.
		
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I was thinking the same thing.  I actually think this might be a disadvantage because it has allowed me to 'get away with' my liability to slice the Driver.  I think if the course was set up to punish my slice a bit more then I might have addressed the problem a little sooner!


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## Bucky (Dec 7, 2011)

If you were to play cricket, would you bat right handed? Anything where you are swinging something using both hands i'd do right handed. Tennis etc left handed.


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## ash01 (Dec 7, 2011)

I'm left handed and play right handed. 

I've never really thought about this issue.

I do prefer to shape shots alot and possibly this is a result of being left handed playing right?

Ash!!


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## MadAdey (Dec 7, 2011)

I read something in a golf magazine some years ago about a young player who was right handed. He had an accident and he really struggled to swing the club. But he found that he was able to swing left handed. He was a single figure player before the accident. But after a couple of years playing left handed he was looking at getting on the Europro tour. 

The explanation they gave for this is you swing the golf club with your leading arm. Basically a right handed player is actually swinging using his left arm and vice versa. So if a leftie plays right handed he is actually hitting the ball with his predominant hand.


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## Bucky (Dec 7, 2011)

MadAdey said:



			The explanation they gave for this is you swing the golf club with your leading arm. Basically a right handed player is actually swinging using his left arm and vice versa. So if a leftie plays right handed he is actually hitting the ball with his predominant hand.
		
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Yep i considered this.  But, the difference is if a lefty plays lefty, you have your strong hand as your 'guiding/pushing' hand.  if a lefty plays righty, you are then pulling the club through with your strong hand.  surely this has implications...


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## Phil2511 (Dec 7, 2011)

My 5 year old is left handed and i gave her right handed clubs and she can stand and hit as many balls as i give her and not miss a single one.
I know 3 other people who are left handed and play right handed clubs one is a 2 hcap and the the other two are father and son and 6 and 7 hcaps the son only plays twice a month too. The father actually shot level par 2 or 3 weeks ago. 
The only other person i know that is a leftie and plays with left handed clubs laughed at me when i said had he ever tried right handed clubs and saidwhy would I when i am left handed. The same guy was the most inconsistent golfer i have seen considering he has been playing for years. Its probably coincidence but strange how the lefties playing right are actually pretty good golfers compared to the lefty playing left handed, and he has had numerous amounts of lessons. the father and son team i know the father has had none and the son has had 2 just for the driver, the 2 hcap player i am unsure of his background.


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## Tommo21 (Dec 7, 2011)

I came through a time when people were forced to write with their right hand even when naturally left handed. Iâ€™m one of those so I play snooker left handed, football left footed, darts left or rightâ€¦crap both ways. I had real trouble with writing when I was young but never knew any better until I was older. According to my late uncle when I first picked up a club I tried to swing left handed and he recons I would have been better playing left handedâ€¦..who knows.  Anyway, Iâ€™m a right handed golfer and I can easily hit a ball left handed with the back of my 4 iron or putter, a handy shot to have in your bag.


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## Jimbooo (Dec 7, 2011)

I'm a leftie for most things (tennis, snooker, darts, writing, etc), and I putt left handed, but I swing a golf club right handed (same as a cricket bat).  No idea why - it just feels right!  Almost everyone I play comments that its weird that I swing a club one way but putt the other.

I'm sure I read something a while ago that it may also be something to do with which is your dominant eye (mine is my right eye).


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## HomerJSimpson (Dec 7, 2011)

I'm another predominantly left handed (darts, snooker, tennis, writing, etc) but play golf and cricket right handed. It was simply the way I was shown as a youngster and so never thought to question it may be easier the other way. In terms of golf gear, it still seems even today that lefties have a much harder time finding somewhere that stocks anything resembling the same number of current models. I think my local AG only has the R11, G20 and the Cally Razr on display and no Mizzy or any of the 15-20 other models. I accept its a smaller audience but there is rarely even a demo model available to try and then order in


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## Chris1980 (Dec 7, 2011)

HomerJSimpson said:



			I'm another predominantly left handed (darts, snooker, tennis, writing, etc) but play golf and cricket right handed. It was simply the way I was shown as a youngster and so never thought to question it may be easier the other way. In terms of golf gear, it still seems even today that lefties have a much harder time finding somewhere that stocks anything resembling the same number of current models. I think my local AG only has the R11, G20 and the Cally Razr on display and no Mizzy or any of the 15-20 other models. I accept its a smaller audience but there is rarely even a demo model available to try and then order in
		
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Im the same as homer. Ive a friend who is a lefty and plays lefthanded and he curses the lack of equipment he can get his hands on!!


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## Aztecs27 (Dec 7, 2011)

I'm a massive lefty but play right handed.


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## Snelly (Dec 8, 2011)

Aztecs27 said:



			I'm a massive lefty but play right handed.
		
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Me too.  So was Seve and Jack Nicklaus!


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## need_my_wedge (Dec 8, 2011)

Guy at my club is a lefty, plays either way. Played for years as a left hander, then switched to right hand. He always carries a left handed 7 iron in his bag though and can easily get out of trouble on the odd occasion he's layed up against the wrong side of a tree trunk.


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## Bucky (Dec 8, 2011)

Snelly said:



			Me too.  So was Seve and Jack Nicklaus!
		
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Ah, so it sounds like im in good company! 

I suppose its no bad thing that Seve and Jack did it either...


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## DaveM (Dec 8, 2011)

MadAdey said:



			I read something in a golf magazine some years ago about a young player who was right handed. He had an accident and he really struggled to swing the club. But he found that he was able to swing left handed. He was a single figure player before the accident. But after a couple of years playing left handed he was looking at getting on the Europro tour. 

The explanation they gave for this is you swing the golf club with your leading arm. Basically a right handed player is actually swinging using his left arm and vice versa. So if a leftie plays right handed he is actually hitting the ball with his predominant hand.
		
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Dont know if I agree with that! Just try this little experiment. With no club hold a ball in your leading hand and throw the ball in the same way you swing. i.e. arm kept straight it will not go very far. Now use the other hand, so you are throwing underhanded. It will go lots further.
To my mind the front arm controls the direction of the club. The following arm applys the hit. I may be wrong but that is how I have always understood it.


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## DaveM (Dec 8, 2011)

For lefthanded gear. Try lefthandedgolf.com best choice I have found.


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## brendy (Dec 8, 2011)

Im a lefty also, can hit the ball reasonably with left handed but learned as a right hander so kept it that way.
Id love to go round a course left handed to see what I could do and if there was any reason to persue it.


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## SliceMonster (Dec 8, 2011)

I also started playing RH purely out of cost. I read somewhere that if you can play wrong handed then it is beneficial as your lead hand can be over dominant. I was then given a LH set and my game improved as it felt more natural. Its great being a lefty as you are in a minority and always prompts a comment from your partner(s). Finally (sadly!) it puts me in a small minority of players who have broken 80 Left & Right Handed. So change is my recommendation. 



Bucky said:



			Does this apply to many of you?

My Dad gave me a right handed junior set as a kid, so I learnt to play right handed with no problems (I'm glad he did). I just wondered if any of you who have a better understanding of swing mechanics than i do (that'll be most of you then!) could shed any light on what things this might aid me with, and also what hinderances there are. 

Personally, I think it has benefitted me just by simply always having clubs available to me, wether it be to borrow from a friend etc, and obviously there being a bigger selection to try and buy. I recently bought a left handed guitar and I find it much harder to 'get into it' because if I want to play/practice, I have to have MY guitar with me, cant just pick up a friends and have a go. Its a huge barrier in that sense.

What about course layout, would you say courses tend to be set up with right handed golfers in mind?

Interested to hear your thoughts.
		
Click to expand...


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## daymond (Dec 8, 2011)

If as Homer says there is little LH choice, imagine what choice there was in the mid fifties especially as there were half the number of golf clubs and no golf outlets independent or large chains.
Thats probably why I play right handed but I do putt left.


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## Monty_Brown (Dec 8, 2011)

Another natural left hander here who plays golf right-handed.

Before taking up the game as at about 14, I'd played years of cricket and tennis left-handed. 

My natural inclination was to play left-handed, but when I first went for lessons to start, the pro said that unless it felt massively easier or better to play leftie, he'd recommend right. 

His reasons were that by the time you have learned technqiue and trained your muscle memory to swing, the body won't remember or care what feels 'natural'. And he said it was a nightmare to bet LH gear, which it sounds like is still the case.

I've always wondered though if my natural left-sidedness (left-handed, left-footed, even left eyed!) lay behind my tendency to have an over active left side in he swing that spins aggressively out of shots. Effective when on song, but a tad wild at other times.


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