Right or left handed swing

[Petracelli]

Hi

My son who is 6 has shown a great deal of interest in my golf clubs which were until recently gathering dust in the cupboard. We went to a local driving range over the weekend and he has borrowed a child's right handed club.

my son is left handed but held the right handed club with his left hand at the bottom. Despite this he has been consistently striking the ball.

do we encourage him to use the right hand club correctly or try a left handed club. I am not looking to see him become the next tiger just would like to him to enjoy the game and it also inspired both my wife and I to start hitting balls at the range as well.

cheers

phil

 

[the_coach]

Just let him have fun, enjoy hitting the ball just as a game. He wants to swing right handed, left below right for now, just let him, if he keeps asking to go & you can take once a week or so then go with the flow, but just keep it a game, fun.

If he shows some more interest show him just a few vids of some good swings, Rory, Justin, Ricky Fowler, golfers who have what the onlooker might class as a more 'ideal' 'normal' kinda of action, kids that age are great mimics they just soak it up, if it's something that catches there interest.

If that continues buy him the right size say 8i something with a bit of loft he maybes could swing at home outside with some foam/plastic balls.
(first size kids club there is a 6 to 8 range, it's about size of club obviously, but just as importantly it's about the weight, cut down adult clubs are way too heavy, would just hinder him finding/having a natural swing motion kids quite good at finding this to a certain extent, especially if they are shown good swing models to look at, they are great copyists at that age)

Maybes too after watching some golfers he may figure the hand position out himself, but for the time being just let him run with it.

He keeps showing interest, wanting to go to the range, just ask him if he'd like to get a lesson or two, maybe say Dad is thinking about it too. If he's up for that then he can get some good Pro guidance from the get go then the basics including holding the club can be looked at, no doubt the Pro too would also have junior groups lessons too, maybes that might appeal to him having kids the same age group learning & having fun together.

Important thing, as you elude to in your question, real early stages, if he's having fun with it that's a great starting point alone, just go with his interest, let him know the options are there for him if he wants to look further into it.

Welcome. Hope he enjoys it & wants to have more fun with it.

 

[DaveM]

Why not pick up a cheap left handed club, and let him see which he prefers and go from there. I play left handed. There is plenty of choice of clubs these days, unlike when I started.

 

[garyinderry]

I play snooker left handed as I was taught by a left hander. Just make sure he doesn't play cack handed. There is a handy player at our club who plays like that but why not fix that at this early stage. It will only make things more difficult in the long run.

Left or right handed but hold the club correctly.