Playing The Wrong Way

[Crazyface]

A thought struck me today. I'm left handed but play right handed. I think this gives me an advantage. Why? Well, if your strongest arm is your lead arm and holds the club at the furthest point it can then the leverage must be greater (physics). Yes? Surely the power comes mainly from the lead arm? Eg. If you threw a frisbee you'd use your strongest arm sort of like a golf swing but on a flatter plane. So then a leftie will be stonger playing right handed and vice versa.

 

[Kellfire]

A thought struck me today. I'm left handed but play right handed. I think this gives me an advantage. Why? Well, if your strongest arm is your lead arm and holds the club at the furthest point it can then the leverage must be greater (physics). Yes? Surely the power comes mainly from the lead arm? Eg. If you threw a frisbee you'd use your strongest arm sort of like a golf swing but on a flatter plane. So then a leftie will be stonger playing right handed and vice versa.

Only if you play back handed. A right handed player’s lowest hand will be his right usually. Good thread.

 

[Slab]

So does that mean that you can type that OP out quicker or slower using a right handed keyboard

On topic and for what its worth I’d answer; an ‘advantage’ over who or what?

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I've often wondered if it is a help.
I once borrowed a lefthanded putter, from a mate, for a friendly putting competition, and was half decent.
I thought the lead hand didn't breakdown as much as when I putt righthanded.
Not taken the experiment any further however.

 

[SaintHacker]

Quite scary how good some of the pro's are at playing the wrong way round. Apparently Mickleson is actually right handes but learned to swing a club as a child by standing in front of his father and mirroring him, hence swinging left handed

 

[evemccc]

Right handed but left-footed in football and kicking rugby balls.

Think it boils down to what you do first as a child or when you first pick up a club


There is, however, no sport where being left-handed is a benefit more than cricket.

The proportion of lefties in national and first class counties is staggering

 

[larmen]

Quite scary how good some of the pro's are at playing the wrong way round. Apparently Mickleson is actually right handes but learned to swing a club as a child by standing in front of his father and mirroring him, hence swinging left handed

And his brother is left handed but plays right handed. At least that is what I heard.

Our handicap secretary plays right handed but puts left handed. Took me 4 holes to work out why I was always standing wrong on the green.

 

[Imurg]

Naturally right handed and play everything right handed.
Only exception was in Cricket if we were shutting up shop and playing for a draw I'd bat left handed
For some reason I had almost perfect defence left handed and never got out.
Couldn't play an attacking shot but then that wasn't the point of the exercise..

 

[larmen]

There is, however, no sport where being left-handed is a benefit more than cricket.

The proportion of lefties in national and first class counties is staggering

Doesn’t any advantage swing the other way then? I know playing table tennis against a lefties as weird, but they found playing righties normal, and playing other lefties weird. But once there are more lefties then the righties become weird?

 

[Canary_Yellow]

I'm also left handed but play "right handed".

Often an analogy that is used by teaching pros teaching the swing is the feeling of skimming a stone, but that's useless to me as I would never skim a stone with a backhand throw!

I'm not sure whether it's an advantage or not, I'd say playing right handed while being left hand dominant makes it less likely that the player in question will have an over the top swing because there is no temptation for the right arm / shoulder to throw the club as that's not a natural motion for a left hander. Actually I suffer with the opposite, too much from the inside on the downswing, like I'm playing a cricket cover drive!

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Right handed but left-footed in football and kicking rugby balls.

Think it boils down to what you do first as a child or when you first pick up a club


There is, however, no sport where being left-handed is a benefit more than cricket.

The proportion of lefties in national and first class counties is staggering

Just to clarify, it's not that being left handed gives the advantage, it's that left handed people are a superior breed. More athletic, more intelligent, just, well....better.

 

[evemccc]

Doesn’t any advantage swing the other way then? I know playing table tennis against a lefties as weird, but they found playing righties normal, and playing other lefties weird. But once there are more lefties then the righties become weird?

10% approx of public are lefties

There is substantially higher proportion of lefties in the elite echelons of world cricket

Yes in theory, it would if lefties became dominant. But to make it to the pro ranks players would have spent years in youth, junior, second sides with i would imagine an approx 10/1 proportion of right to left.

Perhaps they gained confidence, interest from coaches and selectors, and years of having better batting and bowling averages by being a small minority advantaged vs the majority right handed players.

So perhaps their journey to elite cricket is somewhat because of years of self-selection through their advantage

 

[Canary_Yellow]

10% approx of public are lefties

There is substantially higher proportion of lefties in the elite echelons of world cricket

Yes in theory, it would if lefties became dominant. But to make it to the pro ranks players would have spent years in youth, junior, second sides with i would imagine an approx 10/1 proportion of right to left.

Perhaps they gained confidence, interest from coaches and selectors, and years of having better batting and bowling averages by being a small minority advantaged vs the majority right handed players.

So perhaps their journey to elite cricket is somewhat because of years of self-selection through their advantage

Is that people that are actually left handed, or just those that bat in what is called "left handed"? For example, I'm left handed and play cricket, I bowl left arm but bat "right handed". I'm not an elite cricketer, but would I be left handed or right handed in your stats?

 

[Liverbirdie]

And his brother is left handed but plays right handed. At least that is what I heard.

Our handicap secretary plays right handed but puts left handed. Took me 4 holes to work out why I was always standing wrong on the green.

I think that should be enough to re-open the HNSP thread, this situation may not have been considered in the original thread.

 

[sweaty sock]

Just to clarify, it's not that being left handed gives the advantage, it's that left handed people are a superior breed. More athletic, more intelligent, just, well....better.

Ive read that in sport that's actually true. Measurably better hand eye coordination etc.

 

[evemccc]

Why is being left-handed such a benefit in cricket?

Changing bowling angles and angles of swing - disruption of fielding sides position when batting, spin footholes etc


It’s a big advantage for teams to have a decent proportion of lefties in their side - everything else re: talent being equal

 

[Imurg]

I think that should be enough to re-open the HNSP thread, may have been not been considered in the original thread.

You're a bad man Peter

 

[sunshine]

I'll raise you switch-hitters in baseball

And cricket. Even Joe Root was doing it for fun when destroying the SL bowlers (feels a long time ago)

 

[Orikoru]

I don't see a benefit. If you liken it to tennis - it's like hitting a forehand or a backhand. Personally I can get more power + control in a forehand than a backhand. And what OP is doing is effectively playing golf 'backhand'. Phil Mickelson is famously right-handed and has done rather well playing golf 'backhanded'. But if it was really advantageous to play that way, then wouldn't everyone have been taught that way round since the year dot?

 

[USER1999]

It's true that Mickelson writes right handed. I've also heard the stories about him copying his father, but I'm a bit cynical about that's why he plays left handed, I think it's just because he does, if it wasn't natural he would have soon realised that playing right handed was easier...

Sergio is left handed, Stenson is left handed, I could be wrong but the way Spieth puts his putter in his right hand and picks the ball up with his left makes me think he's a leftie too.

One thing that confuses me though, what advantage does Crazyface have over the rest of us?

You are correct, Spieth is a leftie playing right handed.