Left vs. Right.... could the righties have it all wrong?

I'm a Lefty........but I'm right handed, write with my right, wave with my right, use my right eye to shoot a gun and pull the trigger with my right, use my right hand to work the mouse on my computer, look through a telescope with my right eye, put the phone up to my right ear....etc etc....but I shoot left in Golf.

I'm also very curious by nature so I tend to be a student of whatever I'm into....a Golf nerd in this case if you will.

A recent comment in a thread got me thinking...why the F' am I a left handed golfer? We get made fun of, club selection is not as good, instruction is confusing...etc etc. Its a hard life of abuse to be sure. Lord knows I'm right handed, I should have played golf Right....right?

Then I started to think and question myself...am I really a left handed gofer? I stand with the ball in front of me (It's not on my left), I take away towards my left side yes, but then swing through on my right. The ball exits on my right, I generate power towards my right side, I use my right eye and right side of my body to power the swing and coordinate my motions. This is not the debate though (I'd lose that one), because in Baseball, we classify the hitters based on the same positions (right vs. left), so lets just call it what it is for simplification. But I would like to think I bring up some interesting points.

With that said.....it got me thinking based on the fact I happen to play "left", but I use all my dominant right side to truly engage in my swing. Are people playing "right" when they should be playing "Left" all because that's what most people do? Golf and the motion of it is extremely complicated and each person thinks the game differently depending on how his or her body works best. I control the swing (The precision part of it) with my right hand...right or wrong, that's what I do. My left is there for moral support, at least that's how I strike. The only job my left arm has is to make sure it's straight at impact so my damn wrists square up. I don't need right handed precisions to do that. But my swing path, decent, position at the top, position at impact, holding my lag and all the fussy crap is the job of the leading hand, which in most gofers is their left hand/arm....wait....whaaaat? So how the heck do you righties play with your left side as the dominant side through impact? Statistics around the globe show most people are right handed (something to do with language being taken care of by the left side of the brain that works the right side of the body ...blah blah blah). Golf instruction is clear in this as well, it details all the things your left hand and wrist should be doing, doesn't really care what the fudge the right side is doing though. I feel bad for you righties, you're leaving all the decision making to the dumb side of the body?

Pondering further I have to wonder, how many people out there just can't for the life of them improve or even remotely play half way decent because they are actually swinging the wrong way. Is it because the stigma of playing "left" has kept the correct clubs out of their hands?

Something to chew on

Of course the righties have it all wrong!

Seems like I heard once that Phil Mickelson is right handed. Dont know if thats true, but if it is, he's doing ok.

~Rock

McRock said:

Seems like I heard once that Phil Mickelson is right handed. Dont know if thats true, but if it is, he's doing ok.

~Rock

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he is in fact right handed in the traditional sense of the definition (writing...etc etc)

Right handed golfer. Lefty for writing, knife, detail work. Righty for throwing, batting, hockey. Everything else is whatever arm is closer.
I golf righty because the set available when I started was righty. No mystery. I've tried lefty a few times, but the motion is just odd to me now and I'm not learning all over again.

Also know a few right handed folks who play golf left, and at least one who plays from either side pretty well. I figure its just however you start and is comfortable. If you can switch hit, you could probably play from either side. It's the same game both ways.

Very interesting idea. I'm not very different from you, JuMPy. I play lefty, I throw lefty, I write righty and do many other things righty. When I think about my swing, most of my power feels like it's coming from my right side. When I was 9 or 10 and I picked up a club (right handed) I didn't even consider using the club right handed. I distinctly remember only feeling natural as a lefty. My only thought is I was trained to use my right hand for small motor skills tasks specifically writing. Many natural left handers were forced to learn to be right handed in the generations before mine. Also in the generations before mine were extremely few options for left handers in the golf equipment arena. I know several natural left handers that play righty because that was all they could do when they learned.

I am the complete opposite of you. My whole life is LH except for golf.

In Canada I think the numbers are around 30% left handed golfers compare to less than 5% in the US. I would suggest that most of the 30% are right handed for writing etc. I think it's mostly due to hockey as most coaches teach young players to hold the stick with their dominant hand at the top which would eventually translate into their golf swing.

I'm right handed at everything except hockey baseball and golf! We often have a foursome composed of four left handed golfers that are right handed in their everyday life.

Lefty here as well, and the only golf related thing I can do right handed is putt. For some reason, I feel my putter is greater opposite handed. However, when it comes to swinging as a righty I just can't do it and end up looking like a goofball attempting to.

Sox Fan said:

I am the complete opposite of you. My whole life is LH except for golf.

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This is me as well. Though, I can do a lot of things right handed too, but typically not as good as I can left handed (writing, shooting, etc.)

Superb post. I, like several that have already posted, am also right handed but swing a bat, hockey stick and golf club left handed. I find it more natural and I do believe that it supplies more power to my swing. As you pointed out, your leading arm generates the power and control, whereas your trailing arm not so much. I believe I get way more power on my swing as a righty playing lefty and wouldn't trade this "odd" circumstance for anything. I'm a bit older and back in my day kids were discouraged from doing anything left handed as this was "unnatural". My parents really tried to force me to play baseball and hockey righty. My dad was the opposite, lefty all around, but would swing a bat or golf club righty. Weird.

Of course the balance to this extra power is a complete lack of ability to play/purchase/demo golf clubs. I once played in a random 4-some where we were all lefties...I think it was one of the signs of the apocalypse.

Sox Fan said:

I am the complete opposite of you. My whole life is LH except for golf.

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-CRW- said:

This is me as well. Though, I can do a lot of things right handed too, but typically not as good as I can left handed (writing, shooting, etc.)

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This actually works into my point. Parts of me wonders if Right handed people should be playing left and left handed people playing right


#mindflip #mindblown #someoneshutthisguyup

LOL

Yantropov said:

In Canada I think the numbers are around 30% left handed golfers compare to less than 5% in the US. I would suggest that most of the 30% are right handed for writing etc. I think it's mostly due to hockey as most coaches teach young players to hold the stick with their dominant hand at the top which would eventually translate into their golf swing.

I'm right handed at everything except hockey baseball and golf! We often have a foursome composed of four left handed golfers that are right handed in their everyday life.

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I was about to say, the numbers of LH hockey players is well above what one would expect. I naturally just started out playing hockey left handed, even before any coaches got ahold of me. I was also pretty proficient hitting a baseball from the left side even though I was a RH hitter/thrower and have always been confident turning a club upside down to hit the rare lefty golf shot out of trouble. I golf, and do absolutely everything else right handed, except hockey. But it wasn't a coaching thing. Now the OP has me wondering IF I might have become a better golfer had I started out from the left side?

I'm left handed...play golf left...but im right eye dominant..I shoot a gun/bow right handed..not sure it is an advantage..maybe on the putting green...My oldest daughter is right handed and left eye dominant...She is in 9th grade and close to breaking 90...

What I do left handed: write, throw, play tennis, anything that takes fine control/detail

What I do right handed: play golf, bat baseball, play hockey, kick (right footed)

I am also fully left handed except for golf. I do shoot hand guns equally good or bad with either hand also. Can weld either side, but that is from repetition.

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I dont have a good reason why i choose hands for certain things, I just have been doing what felt better since i was little.

Write - lefty

Eat - Lefty but switch somtimes

Throw - Everything right except for darts lol, throw those lefty

Bowl - lefty

Golf - right

Shoot - right

Kick - right

Hockey - right

Table tennis - lefty

Pretty interesting to think about

I'm not really sure what was being said in the first post, but I'm a lefty that plays right handed. I often wondered whether playing the wrong way for me held me back, but if Phil can play the wrong way round and be one of the best of all time, I guess playing back to front isn't hurting me.


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My grandfather is right handed but plays golf and baseball (when he was younger) left handed. He says he has no idea why, he just started doing what felt natural as a kid. It's worked for him, he's almost 89 and still shoots mid 80's when he's able to get out and play.

I write RH
Throw RH
Bat LH
Golf LH
BBall LH
Hockey LH

Interesting the number of ambidextrous people on this thread. Now I don't feel so alone. In baseball I pitched with either arm until age eleven. Play tennis and ping pong with either hand to this day. Put me at a white board or black board and I'll likely write with the hand that is closest to the writing implement. In golf I currently swing left and putt right, but I've also putted left handed for many years at a high level. Nevertheless, for most things I simply pick one. Even with truely ambidextrious people there is a learning curve involved with complex movements. So for example, writing with both hands on a white board I can do because I've done that my whole life and developed the skill with both hands. I've never worked on swinging a golf club from the right side, so I wouldn't be any good as a right handed golfer (other than my putting). But give me a year or two and I could probably get to the same level of proficiency from that side.

For what it's worth, my observation is that much of golf requires a delicate balance. Lots of things go wrong when one side dominates the other. You'll find a lot of fitness training for golf emphasizes this whether we are talking strength, flexibility, fast twitch muscle activity.

I suspect this is a lot more complex topic than any of us realize.

I write left handed but play golf, throw & bat with my right hand. I also kick with my right.

McRock said:

Seems like I heard once that Phil Mickelson is right handed. Dont know if thats true, but if it is, he's doing ok.

~Rock

Click to expand...

He is

I am left handed in everything except golf. You should see me try to throw a ball right handed lol.


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As a righty, I don't see how the left side would be dominant at contact. There is a big weight transition in to the right side for a majority of the swing, and the power is built from the right leg and torso rotation starting from the right side.

An interesting take, no doubt, but unless you're swinging with a reverse pivot, just about everything is coming from the right side (for a right handed golfer).

I am left-handed but play golf right-handed as the first club I picked up was one of my dads, who is right-handed, so that is how I learnt to play golf

My dad did once take me to a pro to ask about playing left-handed and after the pro took one look at my swings in both directions he told me to stick with what I was doing