golfrewind.com

Hello all
My name is Joe and I am a sports journalist with The Irish Times newspaper in Ireland. The sports editor has asked me - as a lefty - to write a piece about what it is like to be a lefty in this oppressive right-handed world we live in. I would love to hear from any of you about the pluses and minuses of playing left-handed. It can relate to anything - nearly being clubbed by a righty, difficulty getting equipement, jokes - whatever.
I'd appreciate your help.
Many thanks
Joe (a member of The Island GC just north of Dublin: one of Ireland's hidden jewels of a true links course)

I drove into a small club near Lake Tahoe on holiday. I asked about a game and was told that two guys were teeing off if I'd like to join them. Having made it to the tee as the second teed off, I introduced myself as a holiady maker from Uk and was welcomed to join the game. Having nailed a respectable tee shot down the middle I was greeted with the line.

Gee, not only do you guys drive on the wrong side of the road, but you stand on the wrong side of the ball as well.

A happy round full of banter and good fun followed.

and another one......

On our men's invitation day, I arranged to pair with another lefty member. We both brought guests who were lefties and asked for the earliest tee time possible. Sure enough we got first slot of the day.

Evryone watched the first tee, ready for their round and saw one,then two ,then three and finally a fourth lefthander tee off.Highest handicap was 11 and we all hit the fairway.No one had ever seen a fourball of lefties before.

Coming from Canada, the land of the lefties (must be the Hockey influence) the criticism from fellow golfers isn't really that bad. Positives about being a lefty: fellow golfers can't "demo" your new driver, the unspoken lefty camaraderie. The worst things about being a lefty have to be any instructional video, books or magazines, are always talking about your left hand this, right foot that, and you have to train yourself to be dyslexic to gain any benefit from it. Another thing would be the lack of equipment, as some companies only make certain products for right handers, as well as there being a smaller market to try and find good deals is a pain.

I don't really have any funny lefty stories, but hope these ideas help you out a bit.

Good luck!

I'm a natural lefty. Fortunately though, I've never had a problem finding equipment. Had I took up the game in the 70's that may have been the case, but not anymore.

However, I once took instruction from a pro who became so frustrated with my inability to improve that he suggested I start playing right handed. In my fervor to improve my pathetic attempts at striking golf balls with a golf club (I daresay that what I do doesn't have the right to be called "golf". It's something else entirely) I was talked into switching to playing right handed. At first I just went and bought some old beater clubs so that I wouldn't spend a lot of money if the right handed experiment ended in failure (as if it weren't already predetermined by the the Golf Gods). So after several weeks I went out and spent over $500 U.S. on a brand new set of Adams hybrid irons and several hundred more dollars on some no-name but decent woods.

Progress actually came fairly quickly at the beginning and I thought that I was on my way to proficient golf. Wrong. If I didn't practice every day, and I mean 7 days a week, my swing would leave me. After roughly nine months I was nothing more than a flailing blob of goo that somehow managed to move a golf club in more than one direction.

So I cashed in my expensive right handed clubs for a set of left handed irons. Of course I didn't get equal value but I figured that if I was going to be a terrible golfer that I might as well feel physically comfortable doing it. It was at this time that I decided to give up the game. After struggling with the game from my natural side of the ball and then being bamboozled into hitting from the WRONG side of the ball, I'd had enough. I'd spent too much money and too much time and gotten nothing out of it.

But I couldn't completely due to the nature of my job. I have to take clients golfing when they ask so I managed to get away with only playing 3 or 4 times over the course of the next two years.

But about 5 or 6 weeks ago I had a meeting cancelled on me right after I'd eaten lunch. I had another appointment in two hours and nothing to do. For whatever reason, I'd never actually taken my clubs out of my car... An evil little voice inside my head suddenly whispered, "Why don't you go to the driving range? It's only a mile away and you still have tokens in your bag from two years ago."

So I went and within minutes was striking the ball very well. So I went the next day, and the next, and the next. A week later I played golf again for the first time since I could remember and shot 110. But now I've got the fever again after nearly a two year layoff. And I'll never hit from the wrong side of the ball again.

I play many rounds of golf with two guys that are lefties.......I always hear the problem when they shoot a bad score....."its the ball"...."they only make balls for right handed people".

Or we get into the conversation that most old golf courses were built for right handed players, not lefties. (doglegs in particular).

In my experience I've found the opposite to be true. Lefties tend to have a natural fade that works well for dogleg left type holes. When I think of the courses that I've played, it seems that most doglegs go to the left which would be more challenging for right handed players. But that's just anecdotal so it means almost nothing.

If any player can strike the ball acceptably (which I don't, btw) it shouldn't matter which side of the ball they're playing from.

wish i could buy right handed clubs at left hand prices!

I play with a fade ,and when I get too quick it can turn into a slice. A guy I play with (rightie) has a draw that can turn into a smother hook. We both hate the same holes. One par four (423 yds) has a teeing ground back right, with trees on the right and two fairway bunkers on the left. My line is as close to the trees ,hoping the fade doesn't take the ball into the trap. His line is exactly the same.