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

steamcorners

steamcorners

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My daughter--will be 8 next month--has expressed interest in joining me on the golf course.

She's a lefty.

She's also a pretty good softball player. My wife's sport was softball, so she's obviously encouraging her to excel on the diamond. She's concerned that a golf swing will cause her to learn bad habits that will mess up her swing at the plate.

Any thoughts about turning her around and golfing from the "right" side of the ball? She has no golf habits to unlearn--mostly because it's quite hard to find kids lefty clubs...

I'm cutting down an old Bullseye putter for her, so she can go either side there...

But how does everyone feel about deleftifying my kid?
 
I'm a lefty who golfs righty. I can't go back and do it the other way to compare, but I don't feel like it held me back. I'm just a bad golfer. Wasn't intentional, the only clubs available were righty so if I wanted to play, I'd play right. There wasn't going to be another set bought because I wanted left-handed.
The swing is an odd enough motion that I'd say just let her go with whatever she finds comfortable. there's plenty of leftys up here, so I think we may have it easier to find clubs. I don't think you're going to scar her or destroy a budding career either way.
 
Can she do other stuff righty? I'd say let her decide what she wants to do. The last thing you want to do is force her to play a certain way and have her not enjoy it. If she wants to play golf, and do it lefty, I say let her have at it. She seems too young to be worrying about messing up her softball swing. It should all just be about having fun.
 
Boy, that sounds like it would be immensely hard and frustrating for her. Golf is tough enough without learning to do it from the other side.
 
I joke all the time about being on the wrong side of the ball to lefties. However If she is comfortable left handed I say teach her that way. Don't increase the learning curve with golf as it is already tough enough.

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I am a lefty who plays golf right handed. I had no choice as a kid, because the only golf clubs we had were right handed. If there had a been a lefty set, I am sure I would be playing left handed today, which would make my entire foursome of regulars lefties!
 
U.S. Kids golf usually has lefty clubs in stock. As a life long lefty, I know how hard it can be to find equipment at times but it is out there. I do have a friend that is right handed but golfs left handed due to eye dominance. So it could work for your daughter. I'm sure you could find a 7i in the right length on the bay in both RH and LH for cheap and let her give it a go.
 
Another left-handed person who plays right-handed here as well - primarily because it was the first club that I picked up. My dad played and is right-handed so the first club I swung was a cut-down iron that he managed to snap on a tree root. I played for a number of years with right-handed clubs and my dad even took me to a pro who watched me swing the club both right-handed and then left-handed and advised that I stick with playing the way I was

So my advice would be that if she has never swung a club, try her with a right-handed club and see how she goes
 
If she bats lefty, I'd say let her golf lefty. I was a baseball convert, but luckily I didn't have the "baseball" golf swing. The only downside is club availability.
 
As a lefty golfer, I will say if she continues this sport as a lifelong hobby or career even, being right handed makes it a little easier equipment possibility wise. As a person I would encourage the freedom for her to choose which is natural
 
I, like others that have commented, am a lefty in all other aspects of life with the sole exception of golf. Was not given an optuon sime 40 years ago when I was introduced to the game. Obviously, the equipment options are substantially more vast than 40 years ago so I woukd let her try bith ways and make her own decision about what feels more natural to her. Chances are trying to force it one way or the other will lead to frustration and giving up the game.
 
Not to get too deep into this, but if she could go either way, I would consider eye dominance as a factor when considering which way to swing.
 
I am right handed, and golf lefty. When I started golfing everyone told me to learn right handed, but it doesn't feel natural. If she wants to swing a club naturally, and it's left handed, that is the route I would take.

Mike Weir once sent a letter to Jack asking this question. If you're a lefty golfer, you're a lefty golfer.
 
One more thing that I read years ago that made sense but I don't know how true it is, if a person can swing from the opposite side they will have a stronger swing as the dominate hand will be pulling through on the swing. As I said, this makes sense but I have no idea if it is really true.
 
I'm a lefty who plays righty because my first exposure to golf was an elective class in high school and there were only righty clubs. While I was able to pick it up eventually, it was awful in the beginning, very frustrating and had I not been left with complete boredom as the only alternative, probably would not have stuck with it.

I was a fairly accomplished baseball player growing up and I still would have rather learned to play lefty. I don't think it would have "messed up" my baseball swing, and while I've been able to force a decent right handed swing, it still (I'm 38 now) feels slightly unnatural. I have a buddy who golfs lefty and I sometimes will grab one of his clubs to take a swing or two, and it feels pretty natural, like I could work that into a good swing if I put some effort into it. Trouble is, at 38 and an avid golfer, I don't have the time or patience to learn the swing all over again. It sucks.

I would let her play however she felt more comfortable, just my opinion.


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DawgDaddy said:
One more thing that I read years ago that made sense but I don't know how true it is, if a person can swing from the opposite side they will have a stronger swing as the dominate hand will be pulling through on the swing. As I said, this makes sense but I have no idea if it is really true.
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I would say this is mostly true. I would be the opposite on this one. I am much more dexterous with my right hand, by my left arm/hand has a ton more power in it. So although I do things like writing and throwing with my right hand, I swing the club left handed.
 
Thanks, everyone, for the advice. I think I'll take the suggestion above of grabbing a similar 7i for either side, and letting her see what feels best. She's got a 5 year old sister that will use the right-handed club if big sis stays on the other side...
 
I would think it would be easier for her to pick up playing from her natural side
 
I recommend letting her play on the side that feels the most comfortable. At 8, it should just be about having fun. Also, regardless of what side is chosen, there are techniques in softball/baseball that "mess up" a golf swing. And, there are techniques in golf that "mess up" a sofeball/baseball swing. In the end, IMO, it's about whether your child is enjoying both sports, and whether your schedule/finances can handle a 2-sport child.
 
staticline said:
I recommend letting her play on the side that feels the most comfortable. At 8, it should just be about having fun. Also, regardless of what side is chosen, there are techniques in softball/baseball that "mess up" a golf swing. And, there are techniques in golf that "mess up" a sofeball/baseball swing. In the end, IMO, it's about whether your child is enjoying both sports, and whether your schedule/finances can handle a 2-sport child.
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There is some truth to this for sure. Though the swings are similar, it's only to a degree. You can use a lot of baseball/softball analogies when teaching some parts of the swing, but for the most part they are different. Plus, growing up playing both baseball and golf, I can attest to the fact that I just couldn't do both. Not at the same time. For girls, it's not as bad though, at least if it's anything like it is here in KS. Here, girls golf is played in the early fall as a team sport, but softball is played in the spring and summer. So if my daughters (5 & 3) in the future want to play softball and golf, they could. There would just come to a point in the summer where softball would end and golf would begin. IF they decided to try and excel in both.
As for her swing. Let her try both ways and work from there. Someone mentioned golf right, bat left. If she can do that, she would probably excel at BOTH even better. This is because our brains are wired to work with one side to swing with the other. So if you want to increase that, you try and force yourself to learn something opposite of how you do it well. You'll quickly find that the extra focus leads to better improvement (over time) on your strong side.
Good luck!
 
staticline said:
and whether your schedule/finances can handle a 2-sport child.
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This one I have to laugh at..she's playing basketball, soccer (2 seasons a year of soccer), softball, and gymnastics.

I'm looking for a way to actually get out on the course AT ALL..so bringing the kids with will be helpful.
 
I am a lefty that swings righty. For me it was whatever way I started swinging was the way I would stay swinging. My dad was the opposite he is a righty that played hockey lefty and started golfing lefty. He made the switch to righty and he still thinks he would have been better playing lefty if he didnt change years ago. For me at least I swing a baseball bat lefty and other than remembering how to position my hands when swinging a bat, there really isnt any issue. Like Agent Jay said swinging righty for one and lefty for the other actually keeps me from confusing the two swings. Granted I do not play baseball anymore but I have tried swinging a bat righty and it follows my golf swing but swinging lefty is a regular baseball swing.
 
I'm left handed and I play golf right handed. I think it's the better option. You're pulling through the shot with your dominant arm, which seems easier for me to do.

Also, you have lots and lots more clubs available to you as a rightie.
 
Let her swing natural be it right or left. She needs to be comfortable and not thinking "I can't hit a good shot because I'm swinging wrong".
 
I'm not sure what to say, but I would let nature take its course.

For me, I'm right handed but I play golf as a lefty, it's very hard to even try to hit a right handed club, my body just doesn't swing that way. I know...a kid 8-years old can do anything, but there's got to be something that makes it easier and more controllable to swing from either side.
 
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