Slightly OT: Bringing More Golfers To The Game

[Evan Fleisher]

...LEFT-HANDED golfers that is! 

Okay, so here is my crazy idea that I had over the weekend (as I began preparing for this year's season).  All of the "great" golf instructional books are written for right-handed golfers (Ben Hogan's Five Fundamentals, Nicklaus' Golf My Way, etc.).  So what if we took all those books, flipped the images around 180 degrees, and replaced all the LEFTS with RIGHTS and vice versa?

Would seeing all of those famous pictures and diagrams in a "proper" orientation make it easier for a large portion of the population to learn the game and therefore get more involved...or am I smoking crack?

Discuss...

[Jerry Kluger]

Evan: I've played golf with you and seen your swing - I don't care if Ben Hogan reappeared and gave you personal lessons - nothing's going to help - we are both lost causes.

[Evan Fleisher]

Ouch!  But thanks for the feedback!

Really I was wondering if it was a "million dollar idea" in new book sales (someone is bound to make a boatload doing so, yes?)...not so much if it would help my specific game, which of course does suck and always will suck (the truth hurts).

[Will MacEwen]

Lefty to lefty, I can tell you it has never bothered me.

I do wish that the references were to "top" and "bottom" hand as opposed to left and right, but no big deal really.

[Ben Kodadek]

Evan,

Being a lefty myeslf, I've come to process all instruction exactly opposite of what is said or written.  I am currently working with an instructor who struggles with lefty speak.  We now literally work in a righties "world."  He talks to me as though I'm right handed and I do exactly the opposite.  It has certainly made his life easier.

I've been doing it for years watching any golf on TV, reading Golf Digest, tolerating that idiot Michael Breed, etc....

[Matt_Cohn]

You might need to change the wording, but not the pictures.

Lefties can just look in a mirror and match their positions to the positions in the books.

Actually, if anything, the images in books for righties should be flipped around!

[David_Tepper]

I am pretty sure that Phil Mickelson and Bob Charles, the only 2 lefties to win a major, do everything but play golf right-handed! I remember reading Charles say that "I stand on the right side of the ball and I hit the ball with the right side of the club head. As far as I am concerned, I play golf right-handed!"

[Dave McCollum]

I read somewhere that a famous instructor—Peter Kostis, I think—said he always looks at lefty swings using a mirror and that is the only way that he can teach a lefty.

[Pat Burke]

I am pretty sure that Phil Mickelson and Bob Charles, the only 2 lefties to win a major, do everything but play golf right-handed! I remember reading Charles say that "I stand on the right side of the ball and I hit the ball with the right side of the club head. As far as I am concerned, I play golf right-handed!"

If we don't give Mike Weir his Masters, Canadians won't count all the American teams that won Stanley Cups!

[Steve Strasheim]

David,

When I took my son for his first lesson last fall the first thing the pro taught was how important the left hand is to my sons right handed swing. He made the point specifically that Phil is right handed, but hits leftie so his strong hand is his right.

That thought has helped improve my swing.

I am pretty sure that Phil Mickelson and Bob Charles, the only 2 lefties to win a major, do everything but play golf right-handed! I remember reading Charles say that "I stand on the right side of the ball and I hit the ball with the right side of the club head. As far as I am concerned, I play golf right-handed!"

[Sam Morrow]

I think it's a great idea, I admit that when I am giving lessons to lefties I often have to catch myself before I say something backwards.

[David_Tepper]

Sam Morrow -

My apologies for overlooking Mike Wier's Master win. My bad.

DT

[John Moore II]

The idea of reversing swings is not unheard of. The V1 golf video software has a feature that allows you to mirror a swing, i.e. make Tiger swing left handed and Phil swing right handed if necessary. Its a really cool feature. Oddly enough, in all the lessons I gave, I never once instructed a left handed player.

[David_Tepper]

I am reminded of a story an old tennis pro once told me:

He is giving a lesson to a woman who has never played tennis before. He puts a racket in her hand, shows her the correct grip, shows her how to turn and make a forehand stroke. He tosses her balls for 30-minutes and the woman barely can make contact with the ball. He can't figure out what the problem is. When the lesson is over, he apologizes for not being able to help her hit the ball. Then the woman says, "maybe next time I can try holding the racket in my left hand, because I doing everything else left-handed."