The Most Important Key In Left Handed Golf

There is no reason why golf cannot be played left-handed just as well and efficiently as it can be played righthanded.

We have emphasized the fact that a golf stroke is an ambidextrous action—that the first lesson in golf, footwork, is a lesson that will teach a person to become right-handed. He must learn to balance himself on his right foot so that he can raise the club using the right side and the right arm.

To bring the club through he has to train himself to become lefthanded, to shift his weight to his left foot, so that he can use his left side and his right arm to bring the club down and through the ball.

Actually a good golf swing requires an equal ability on both sides of the body. There are switch hitters in baseball like Mickey Mantle, and there could be switch hitters in golf. But everybody does not feel this way about lefthanded golf.

Some years ago while visiting in a neighboring city, a friend of mine and I, dressed in street clothes, found ourselves in front of a golf school. It was a canvas, tent-like enclosure where golf was taught by driving the balls from cocoa-mats against a loose canvas backdrop.

"Let's go in," I suggested. Upon entering we were cordially greeted, whereupon I said, "I'm sorry, I guess we got into the wrong place. We thought this was a tent show of some sort." "This is no show," came back the answer, "this is a golf school."

With that I picked up a righthanded #5 iron and approached a ball on the mat with a lefthanded stance. As I placed the back edge of the righthanded club to the ball, I said, "This is about the most awkward tool I ever saw—how can anybody play with this thing?"

"You are going at it incorrectly," volunteered the in¬structor. "You are going at it lefthanded, and that can't be done." "What do you mean that can't be done, this is the only way I could play," was my response.

"Well, it's wrong," said the instructor, "you can't play golf lefthanded." "What do you mean, I can't play lefthanded?" I asked. "Why can't I play lefthanded?" "It just can't be done," the instructor replied, "because golf courses are not built for lefthanded players."

With that remark I turned the club upside down (I made a lefthanded club out of a righthanded one), I raised the club with my left side and I smacked the ball against the canvas with a resounding bang.

I placed the club back in the rack and we left without saying a word. Incidentally, this trick of making a lefthanded club out of a righthanded one is very useful should you get up against a tree or a fence from where you must play left-handed. Curiously, each iron as it is turned upside down provides exactly the same angle of loft as it does in its righthanded position.

There are many stories of players who started playing golf lefthanded and improved their game after they changed and played righthanded. This is understandable. In fact, in righthanded golf a good strong active lefthand and arm are most necessary—and in lefthanded golf a good strong right arm and right hand are most helpful, but in each case both hands must be used.

There is, in other words, an ambidexterity that must be developed in both instances, in righthanded or in lefthanded golf.

A most remarkable performer in this respect is my long-time friend, Johnny Bulla, of Phoenix, Arizona. Bulla started as a lefthanded player but was persuaded that golf should be played righthanded, so he switched sides.

And he played it well. Competing in the Los Angeles Open, Bulla once registered an unbelievable score of 29, seven under par for the first 9 holes on the difficult Riviera Golf Course. He started this round with 5 straight threes, and finished the 9 holes with 7 threes showing on his card.

Bulla is now playing golf lefthanded again. Recently he turned in a remarkable performance at the Paradise Valley Golf Club in Phoenix, Arizona. Playing righthanded, he established a new course record of 60, and shortly thereafter, playing lefthanded, he scored a 64.

Who says you can't switch hit in golf? Early in this book we indicated that ambidexterity was the exception rather than the rule, and that the average person was more or less physically lopsided—he was either predominantly righthanded or predominantly left-handed. Medical authorities confirm this fact; however, there is nothing serious or detrimental about this situation. Everyone has the latent ability to be ambidextrous, but the inclination or tendency is to the contrary.

In many cases simple exercises will rectify and cure this tendency or condition, and there is no finer exercise than a golf stroke that is properly executed to cure this lopsidedness. For this reason, I recommend and urge most strongly junior golf activities and junior golf instruction. Properly coached, the junior golfer will develop a balanced physical setup, one in which he will be able to use his right hand as well as the left or vice versa, an ability that will be most helpful in any game and all future activities.

In the junior golf classes which I conduct at Bel Air, after teaching the youngsters the double 4 routine of the golf swing, I make them do it lefthanded.

This is done long before they are permitted to hit golf balls. The purpose, of course, is to have them actually know the golf swing, and be able to do it forwards and backwards— just as is often done in school when learning the alphabet.

To return to the original discussion, I would again like to state that golf can be played righthanded or it can be played lefthanded, but whatever way you play, don't try to do it one-handed—learn to use both hands—it will be easier, more effective and more fun!

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