My girlfriend wants to learn to play golf. Her company has regular outings and she wants an outdoor hobby. I’m a fair golfer but not much of a teacher and she has an initial question that has me stumped. That question is, which type of clubs should she use? Lefty or Righty?
I wouldn’t think this would be a issue since most of us just feel natural one way or another, but she’s not an athlete at all. She writes lefty, throws righty and doesn’t claim to have a preference when swinging a bat/racket/club. The golf swing is a peculiar thing in that nothing about it feels natural, so she can’t answer “which side feels right” since they both feel equally wrong.
So, anyone have any tricks that might help clarify the situation?
I suppose since she’s starting from zero, truly and completely zero, she could probably learn either way but I suspect that eventually her true handedness might rear it’s head once she reaches some level of comfort and finding she’s using her weaker dominance might be a drag.
As the left-handed son of a left-handed father who was “turned around” when he was a kid, and who has encouraged my left-handed son to revel in his handedness, I have to say WTF?
If your girlfriend wants to learn golf, she should take a few lessons – maybe not even anything elaborate, just your basic adult education course. At the first lesson, she should tell the instructor her dilemma. He’ll have her swing righty, then lefty, and be able to tell which his better.
I had never even seen a left-handed club, much less tried one, and when my instructor saw my swing, he said “never even pick up a right-handed club again.”
Well, the whole “never swung a bat” problem makes that less than conclusive.
Yeah, it’s weird to me too. But then again I’ve grown up being athletic and doing things with my hands. She’s apparently been ambidextrous most of her life and aside from writing and throwing hasn’t ever really had handedness as an issue. Being an arty theater person kinda does that I suppose. My dad is a lefty who grew up swinging a bat and club righty because that’s the way he was taught back in the day when they tried to fix you. He probably would agree with you, but my g/f doesn’t even call herself a “lefty”. Bizarre I know.
I’m all for finding her a lesson and a pro to sort things out but I kinda figure having clubs is a key part of starting that equation out. She’s not going to pony up $800+ for an individual lesson on the first day, a group lesson is probably the way to go.
My late mother was left-handed and in fact had a very weak right arm. When she bowled or wrote she used her left hand. But she golfed right handed because she found it very difficult to find women’s left-handed clubs, gloves, and other equipment. So that could be a major consideration for your girlfriend.
If it all feels equally weird, I suspect (SWAG alert) that she would have better success swinging left-handed if her stronger arm is the right arm (and vice versa).
She can probably generate more club head speed by ‘pulling’ with her stronger arm/hand than
‘pushing’ with her stronger arm/hand.
Disclaimer: right-handed clubs are going to be MUCH easier for her to find.
Since your girlfriend is presumably taking up golfing as a fun social past time and not as a competitive outlet and in most of her life she is ambidextrous I wouldn’t worry what hand might be best, and go with the most convenient. She is going to get used to which ever side she starts with. Right handed clubs are going to be a lot easier to find, borrow, and replace. Why make things harder then they have to be?
Where are you!? I can get an hour long individual lesson here at any public golf course for around $90. And with an issue like this, I think that’s probably not a bad start.
You could also take her to a golf specialty store. They often have a pro on staff. Have them help you figure it out.
Left-handed golfer chiming in here. The above is definitely the case, and particularly true if you’re thinking of purchasing a used set of clubs.
Of course, if she becomes addicted to golf that situation does result in one** big **advantage for left-handed golfers - we can walk into a golf store, look at all of that spiffy new and $$$$ equipment and think “isn’t that nice” without being tempted to buy anything because very little of the stuff on display is for left-handed golfers.
I took my first lessons on a driving range, where they had clubs available. Even with a group lesson, the instructor still spent individual time with each of us. She won’t need clubs until later, and even then, a half-set will do just fine.