Lefties, righties, and golf shots

[George Pazin]

Phil said something last night during his press conference that really surprised me. He said the tee shot on 16 is the toughest shot on the course for him, because both misses for a lefty are very bad: come out of the shot and you're short left, dead in the water; pull it a little and you go long right, which is also a bad result.

Call me an idiot - "You're an idiot" - but I've always looked at the lefty righty thing as a relative non-event, believing preferred ball flights had a greater impact than which side of the ball you're standing on. And I say that as a confused lefty; I'm a mishmash of sorts, playing golf righty, but doing most other things lefty.

Do his thoughts make sense to you? I gotta admit, they made sense to me, and it was something I hadn't really thought about before. I'm embarrassed to admit I never really noticed my own misses tend to be long left or short right (or off the map entirely).

[Garland Bayley]

Yes it makes sense to me. But, you have to balance that with the 12th which is bad for the righty. Both of Phil's misses on 16 get him on the green on 12.

[JESII]

Makes sense to me George...and is the basis for my argument that a "Reverse Redan" isn't really a Redan at all...for me.

[Brent Hutto]

Absolutely. I think a lefty who can work the ball gets all sort of advantages on the Par 4's and Par 5's due to the differing performance of lefty hook and righty fade and lefty fade and righty hook. And on #12 a lefty is at a definite advantage if he chooses the aggressive play.

But the shot on #16 is the flip side of #12. Green light special for righties but two kinds of trouble in store for a double-crossed or poorly planned shot from a lefty. It's the only shot like that I can think of that's a disadvantage play lefty. Overall I think Phil has about a full stroke advantage on the field due to his handedness.

[Jason Topp]

I think his perspective is spot on.  Short right and long left are the misses for a solidly hit shot by a right handed player.  Short left and long right are the misses for a left handed player.  I presume it is because a closed clubface also delofts the shot and an open clubface increases loft.