It sure would make some lies much easier.
To expand on the question…
Any in any sport outside of switch hitters in baseball?
Heh.
I think I’ve seen Tiger Woods play a left handed shot due to a bad lie.
I too have seen pros play odd shots - and I know of one who played nine holes with left-handed clubs for a bet. However, no player could realistically hope to play equally both ways, because of the limit of 14 clubs in the bag - they could only have a half-set for each hand.
I think you should also remember that if you were a switch hitter in golf you would probably not be as good one of the ways. If you’ll notice a switch hitter in baseball always hits better from one side or another. You’re usually a switch hitter in baseball because you hit really badly against either left or right handed pitchers from your dominant side.
Wouldn’t a right handed person making a left handed shot need a left handed club?
I can find multiple historical examples.
As an example, from 1966:
Australian Merv Becklaus, the champion at a Sydney(Australia) club, had a handicap of 7 from the right side, and 6 from the left.
He wasn’t exactly a slouch, as the article said he finished third to Bruce Crampton in the New South Wales schoolboy Championships a few years before that.
The copy was unclear, so I hope I spelled his name correctly.
Lots of others, mostly in the 1920-50 period.
Outside of the pros, few golfers carry a full 14 clubs. An ambidextrous golfer could carry an offhanded 7-iron, for example, and hit a variety of shots with it.
The footage of Tiger doing it showed him using a right handed club rotated through 180 degrees so the face of the club still struck the ball but the handle came from the top/rear of the head rather than the front/bottom.
This very well may only be a UL, so don’t ask for a “cite”.
Two golfers meet on the course of a resort hotel. Both played right-handed and as golfers tend to do they started betting on the first day. Their scores were very close, but one usually came out winning more than the other. On next to the last day, they discussed this fact and the one that had won the most suggested that they up the ante considerably, and to make it interesting he would play left-handed with an old set of clubs his dad had left him.
The next day, he showed up with an old set of left-hand clubs and proceeded to win every hole and every bet. He completely wiped out the other golfer. He left with a big grin on his face and the other golfer headed for the 19th hole. As he sat drowning his sorrow, the bartender asked what had caused him to be so depressed. He told the whole story.
The bartender laughed and said “Everyone around here knows that old Harry is a left-handed golfer. He’s pulled that trick several times.”
I used to play regularly with a guy who carried a left handed 5 iron. I saw him use it a few times and he always managed a serviceable shot. He was a pretty good golfer (about a 10 handicapper) but hardly a pro.
Read about Australian golfer Joe Kirkwood, ambidextrous golfer and trick golf shot artist.
One of the members at my club plays to a 6 handicap right handed and a 9 handicap left handed. It depends on what kind of mood he’s in, whether he brings his left or right handed clubs. Notah Begay, a tour pro and teammate of Tiger’s when they were at Stanford, putts from either side. He uses a bladed putter. On right to left hand breaking putts he putts righthanded, and vice-versa.