Switching a left-handed kid to swing right-handed?

Switching a left-handed kid to swing right-handed?

I'm a leftie that plays right handed. As a leftie though, I don't like the idea of someone being made to play right handed. If she naturally addresses the ball as though she's gonna hit it left handed, that is how she should play IMO.
I will say though, as someone that has never swung a baseball bat, when I finally got in a cage, I had a while deciding whether I should swing it left or right handed because of my golf swing.

I'm a fan of letting nature take its course and go with what works for her. Give her a club and let her swing it. If she swings it lefty, lefty it is.

I'm right handed and do everything right handed but I play the guitar left handed. Can't even begin to do it right handed. Don't ask me why but that is the way it is.

As a lefty, I couldn't imagine trying to play golf right handed but I was also later in life when I started so that wouldn't have helped. I also played baseball/softball for a very long time so I understand your concern about habits. In my mind it is very difficult to go back and forth between baseball and golf. I tried golfing for about 2 months when I first got out of college and got frustrated going back and forth between both sports. Since I was playing on 3 softball teams, I decided to just play golf. Looking back on it, I wish I had stuck with golf.

But I would do what comes natural for her as my brother switched when he was younger from throwing right handed to left handed. It stuck but it doesn't look natural. Didn't look natural then and still doesn't look natural.

Great advice here on THP so far, as usual.

I have three daughters who all played softball growing up. I had the honor of coaching them for 8 years, and I also played a LOT of baseball growing up. I can still hit the fool out of a softball when needed.

I recently started taking lessons from a really good PGA pro who played baseball in college, and he told me he thinks baseball and softball swings as a kid are good for golf. Sure, you've got a fix a few things here and there technically, but there's a lot more in common than there is that's different between baseball/softball and golf.

Last summer I took my wife and daughter (who played softball for almost 10 years) to a PGA Tour event. We went to the SwingFix tent and my daughter got a mini lesson from a female pro there. Guest what she told my daughter to do ? "Just make your natural softball swing at the golf ball".

My brother, who is a really good athlete, is the most ambidextrous person I know. And he's good at all of it. Let her body and brain naturally decide which way she wants to go. And go with that. There will always be a way to buy equipment, even if it's custom.

And the fact that your 8 year old daughter is playing golf ? Way cool !

Something also to consider, and this is what I've seen from coaching lacrosse. Athletes will generally have better core fundamentals if they start working with their non-dominant hand. A lot switch hitters in baseball have a better average from their non-dominant side because they worked twice as hard to perfect the swing from that side of the plate.

I would tell your wife not to worry at all. There are plenty of parallels between golf and softball in terms of the swing. If anything, golf will improve her hand-eye coordination. I think it's important for kids to play different sports all the way through high school. That way they don't get burned out and decide that they don't like the sport anymore.

She is 8. Learning golf is not going to ruin her softball swing.

I went about it a little different. My son is a lefty and does everything lefty. He eats, writes, and picks his nose with his left hand. One day last year he decided he wanted to go golfing with me. Unfortunately the only clubs I had laying around the house were right handed clubs. At first he had some issues with placing his hands on the clubs, stated that it just didn't feel right. Over time he has actually been hitting the ball well.

I think it all comes down to how they can adjust the holding the club correctly.

Do not switch her, she will not succeed. She will be a natural from her days on the softball diamond. It won't affect her soft swing .

If she was already a switch hitter in softball (not as common as in baseball I know) then I wouldn't think she would have a problem with golf and her softball swing. But if she is a pure lefty (in softball it's so much better to be a lefty) then I would keep her left handed while playing golf. The golf swing will come more natural because of her softball swing.

I have been a lefty for all of life and I am right hand dominate. I played baseball up to this year and I swung lefty in that to, but it did not effect my baseball game, it just effected my golf game(not majorly but still a small amount). I would personally keep her at lefty because it is what feels natural, but it could also help to be able to swing a golf club right handed because then she might be able to learn to be a switch hitter in softball.

Tadashi70 said:

Do not switch her, she will not succeed. She will be a natural from her days on the softball diamond. It won't affect her soft swing .

Click to expand...

My name is Adamw238 and I approve this message

Rap-a-tap Tappin' on my SG4