Changing right to left handed

[scubascuba3]

What's the protocol if a golfer wants to change from right handed to left handed? i.e. his handicap would need to be reassessed as in effect he is a different golfer.

This isn't a temporary change this is a long term switch from using right handed clubs to left handed clubs. Reason to change is injury. Can he put 3 new cards in etc?

 

[delc]

What's the protocol if a golfer wants to change from right handed to left handed? i.e. his handicap would need to be reassessed as in effect he is a different golfer.

This isn't a temporary change this is a long term switch from using right handed clubs to left handed clubs. Reason to change is injury. Can he put 3 new cards in etc?

He is still the same golfer and the rules don't discriminate between playing right or left handed, i.e. you can't have a right and a left handed handicap at the same time. However as this is a permanent change caused by injury, he should write to his club's handicap committee for a re-assessment of his handicap.

 

[Colin L]

As Del says, the player continues to hold the same handicap and should advise his handicap committee of his change in circumstances. The committee is empowered to make a general play adjustment to his handicap if his scores show such a change in playing ability that it would take too long for his handicap to adjust in the normal way.

The likelihood is that he will need a significant upwards adjustment to his handicap as a result of the change to playing left-handed which can be done as a general play adjustment. That means, of course, that there has to evidence of his play after the change. If he hasn't yet submitted any scores since the change, he needs to do so - the quickest way being to put in a few supplementaries. I would ask for 3. If his game actually improves, the system should more quickly take care of any downward adjustment required with the availability of an Exceptional Score Reduction being subsequently applied if it doesn't do so quickly enough and he comes in with a sequence of scores significantly below the buffer zone.

The same applies to whatever significant permanent change an injury causes, not just from right to left handed play.

 

[Norrin Radd]

not an easy thing to do changing hands ,a chap at my club did it to good effect though ,lowest as a right hander was 14 ,but he got to 12 being a leftie ,he is currently off 16 due to injury but im betting he will be back down very soon .
as for the h/cap system im afraid i am at a total loss on how it works.

 

[clubchamp98]

What's the protocol if a golfer wants to change from right handed to left handed? i.e. his handicap would need to be reassessed as in effect he is a different golfer.

This isn't a temporary change this is a long term switch from using right handed clubs to left handed clubs. Reason to change is injury. Can he put 3 new cards in etc?

I played a guy once who had half right handed clubs and half left handed .

He told me he had the unmentionables in his short irons so played 130 yds in left handed.

we did have one discussion about a staked tree where he wanted a drop form 90yds right handed but I said "no as you told me you play from 130 left handed " and the tree did not interfere with his swing this way.

Handicaps don't distinguish by dexterity only scores.

 

[hovis]

I played a guy once who had half right handed clubs and half left handed .

He told me he had the unmentionables in his short irons so played 130 yds in left handed.

we did have one discussion about a staked tree where he wanted a drop form 90yds right handed but I said "no as you told me you play from 130 left handed " and the tree did not interfere with his swing this way.

Handicaps don't distinguish by dexterity only scores.

I'm left handed playing right but i putt left handed

 

[rulefan]

I played a guy once who had half right handed clubs and half left handed .

He told me he had the unmentionables in his short irons so played 130 yds in left handed.

we did have one discussion about a staked tree where he wanted a drop form 90yds right handed but I said "no as you told me you play from 130 left handed " and the tree did not interfere with his swing this way.

Handicaps don't distinguish by dexterity only scores.

As he was demonstrably reasonably competent with either hand I see no reason to deny him relief.

None of these constraints would seem to apply.

(a) interference by anything other than an immovable obstruction makes the stroke clearly impracticable or (b) interference by an immovable obstruction would occur only through use of a clearly unreasonable stroke or an unnecessarily abnormal stance, swing or direction of play.

 

[clubchamp98]

As he was demonstrably reasonably competent with either hand I see no reason to deny him relief.

None of these constraints would seem to apply.

(a) interference by anything other than an immovable obstruction makes the stroke clearly impracticable or (b) interference by an immovable obstruction would occur only through use of a clearly unreasonable stroke or an unnecessarily abnormal stance, swing or direction of play.

If he was reasonably competent from 130 yds right handed he would not have had left handed short irons!

He was trying it on because he had a iffy lie.

So from 90 yds he was left handed but was trying to get a drop that any other left handed player would be denied

 

[clubchamp98]

As he was demonstrably reasonably competent with either hand I see no reason to deny him relief.

None of these constraints would seem to apply.

(a) interference by anything other than an immovable obstruction makes the stroke clearly impracticable or (b) interference by an immovable obstruction would occur only through use of a clearly unreasonable stroke or an unnecessarily abnormal stance, swing or direction of play.

As a right handed player would I get relief from a bad lie by turning my wedge around and playing left handed and saying "I can't play this left handed "
I dont think so.

using this logic he could pick and choose .

he should declare on first tee he is right or left handed this settles the drop issue as it was a shock on the first fairway to see him play left handed.

He was no hacker as we were playing in the scratch league.

 

[Colin L]

he should declare on first tee he is right or left handed this settles the drop issue as it was a shock on the first fairway to see him play left handed.

There is no requirement that he should do so.

 

[rulefan]

If he was reasonably competent from 130 yds right handed he would not have had left handed short irons!

He was trying it on because he had a iffy lie.

So from 90 yds he was left handed but was trying to get a drop that any other left handed player would be denied

He doesn't have to be able to make a brilliant or even good stroke. The constraints are simply that the stroke is clearly impracticable or clearly unreasonable. Neither are clearly so here.

 

[rulefan]

he should declare on first tee he is right or left handed this settles the drop issue as it was a shock on the first fairway to see him play left handed.

I use a two faced putter and putt left or right handed depending on how I feel about the length.
What should I declare on the first tee?

He was no hacker as we were playing in the scratch league.

Given that he carries a mixture of clubs, it suggests that he is reasonably competent with all of them.

 

[clubchamp98]

I use a two faced putter and putt left or right handed depending on how I feel about the length.
What should I declare on the first tee?


Given that he carries a mixture of clubs, it suggests that he is reasonably competent with all of them.

theres no staked trees on our greens.

this is what I was asking anyone can carry ambidextrous set but if he clearly said " 130 yds in he is a lefty" I think he is taking liberties to get a drop from 90 yds right handed because once he has dropped he can then play left handed.

Obviously but should someone who only plays left handed get a drop when he can clearly play left handed but deliberately chosen right handed because he was impeded that way .

that option is not available to me.

If I carried one left handed club is that available to me every time I get in trouble.

That does not sound right!

 

[backwoodsman]

I think you'll just have to lump it. Someone who can play left or right handed can choose which way round they play. And in any case, its not so different to the scenario of (say) a right handed player being impeded in playing towards the green, deciding to play away from it , then getting relief from something else. And then having a shot at the green.

 

[Colin L]

theres no staked trees on our greens.

this is what I was asking anyone can carry ambidextrous set but if he clearly said " 130 yds in he is a lefty" I think he is taking liberties to get a drop from 90 yds right handed because once he has dropped he can then play left handed.

Obviously but should someone who only plays left handed get a drop when he can clearly play left handed but deliberately chosen right handed because he was impeded that way .

that option is not available to me.

If I carried one left handed club is that available to me every time I get in trouble.

That does not sound right!

The rules do not have anything to say about club selection, whether you play with some left handed and some right handed clubs, whether you play a shot opposite handed with the back of a club or by turning the club round to play with its face etc. Your player who carried a mixture of right and left handed clubs is not obliged by the rules to use any particular one at any particular time. He has complete freedom of choice for any shot including the one near the staked tree whatever he said to you. If the club he selected for that shot resulted in his gaining relief from the staked tree, that's just a consequence of his freedom of choice.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

theres no staked trees on our greens.

this is what I was asking anyone can carry ambidextrous set but if he clearly said " 130 yds in he is a lefty" I think he is taking liberties to get a drop from 90 yds right handed because once he has dropped he can then play left handed.

Obviously but should someone who only plays left handed get a drop when he can clearly play left handed but deliberately chosen right handed because he was impeded that way .

that option is not available to me.

If I carried one left handed club is that available to me every time I get in trouble.

That does not sound right!

So if he had 131 yds to the pin and is in the middle of the fairway and decides to play it left handed are you saying you would insist on him playing right handed ? And if he ignored you, what action do you think you could take?

 

[rulefan]

That does not sound right!

It may not to you but it is according to the rules.

 

[clubchamp98]

So if he had 131 yds to the pin and is in the middle of the fairway and decides to play it left handed are you saying you would insist on him playing right handed ? And if he ignored you, what action do you think you could take?

To be honest I was unsure of the ruling this is nearly 30 yrs ago so yardages were more guesswork then.

when I questioned him about it he did not know either but took his drop anyway.

i had not been playing long but played because the club was one short

you know you can't insist anyone does what you say

if if he was wrong I win the hole but turns out he was right , that's how you learn the rules

Rules or not I still think it's wrong.

 

[chrisd]

Rules or not I still think it's wrong.

It can't be wrong, you have no jurisdiction over how he plays a shot unless he does so and breaks a rule which he clearly didn't. Also, the distance he claimed to play from, left or right handed couldn't have been accurately measured as measuring devices weren't allowed back then, that's even supposing you were applying a rule and not a rules myth

 

[scubascuba3]

Its good that after 30 years finally you know the right answer.