I seem to have this crazy idea that if I ever get to the point of fully owning my swing (I’m a right hander) that I should be able to swing left handed reasonably well. I’ve tried a lefty club so at this point I definitely don’t “own my swing” according to my left handed ball striking.
The reasoning being that swinging opposite will expose any flaws or timing based compensations in my current swing. Kind of like looking at a drawing in the mirror to make you really take a good look at whether something is off in the drawing.
Any one else ever have this thought or thoughts about my premise?
i kinda did based on that i grew up playing tennis and my two hand backhand was pretty good, and playing basketball i was and still
am more natural dribbling and doing things on the left side of the court…but none of it amounted to a hill of beans in regards to golf
you should email mac o’grady, he could shed some light…
Ironsmith I think it would be difficult switching hands and hitting reasonable shots, whether you own the swing or not, however if you put in plenty of practice anything is possible.
I play tennis much better than golf and I know the mechanics of hitting down the line shots, top spin, slice, lobs…etc. Awhile back I hurt my shoulder and I tried playing left handed just to see if I can, even though my brain knows how to hit the shots, the muscles in my body just simply wouldn’t coordinate.
A good golf swing requires both hands (yes there are some one handed players), and you also need to coordinate both legs and shoulders, I think swinging opposite to expose any flaws would be confusing.
Doesn’t the term “own my swing” imply a good golfer (eg scratch player or better), if I ever “own my swing” the only left handed shot I will ever play is when I’m against a tree and can’t swing right handed.
Ironsmith when you “own your swing”, just enjoy and own the course.
Well, I’m still working on trying to own my swing right handed. Since I have started reading up on ABS here and with Bradley about “hitting” vs. swinging for about the last 6 months, my swing has gotten much better. I’m able to go out cold and still strike the ball well when it used to take me the first 9 holes to warm up if I didn’t hit the range first. Still not perfect all the time but I do get some perfect shots in at a higher percentage than I did before. Also my misses are much better than they used to be. For the most part left is out of the picture. Either straight or fade. My big miss is a big cut with the driver but I know what I did to get that. I love hitting more fairways and greens than I used to.
I didn’t say that if I own my swing I’d be able to swing left handed just as well, I said “swing left handed reasonably well”. I was thinking more in the scratch right handed/9 handicapper left handed kind of capability. So I guess since I’m a 9 right handed, that should put me about a bogey golfer left handed?
I tried hitting a few last night and it was ugly left-handed but I did feel like I wasn’t that far off of almost hitting decently. Yes, you’re right it would take practice for sure. Just getting over translating the opposite thinking and checking everything to see if just the setup is correct was uncomfortable. My brain was twisted in knots and I hadn’t even taken a backswing.
I don’t know if my theory is correct but at least it is something fun to experiment with. If nothing else, it gets me to think about my setup and swing in a unique manner. Never hurts to have a lefty shot in the bag for that tree you described.
I’ll keep you guys updated if this goes anywhere. (Probably won’t go anywhere but it will still be fun.)
