How to Golf Left Handed – For the Shots that Require Extra Creativity
Switching hands while golfing isn’t normally recommended, but sometimes the right handers need to know how to golf left handed, and vice-versa to get out of a particularly tricky lie without taking a penalty stroke. Watch this instructional video where Dan shows you how to golf left handed to get back on the green with a minimum of fuss. For more free golf lessons see Dan’s other articles and videos on improving your golf game.
>>DAN DAVIS, PGA PROFESSIONAL: Hi, I’m Dan Davis out here at Thousand Hills Golf Course on #8, on the back side of the green right now. I’m in a position where this is not a staked tree so I cannot get relief from this tree. But I’m a right handed golfer and I cannot get to my ball with a normal stance so I’m trying to evaluate my options here.
Of course I could take an unplayable lie and go ahead and take relief from the tree but that would cost me a penalty shot.
So what I’m going to do now is to choose something a little bit unconventional, one option I have is to go ahead & try to hit a left handed shot with my right handed club. So I’ve chosen a club with a lot of loft, this is my sand wedge, and it will give me the best possiblity of hitting the ball in the air on a shot like this.
Ok, so I’ve got my sand wedge, it’s a 56 degree sand wedge and I’ll go ahead & take a left handed grip. I’m right handed so I normally have right hand low. On the left handed grip I want to go ahead and have my left hand low, still thumbs on top. Instead of hitting it this way I’m going to turn it so that the toe is pointed towards the ground. And you can tell that you still do have some loft on this sand wedge. It’s going to tend to send the ball to the right so I’m going to aim a little left of my target and this does take a little bit of practice. It helps to have a little bit of forward thrust. You go ahead and take the best swing you can for a left handed golf swing and we’re going to try to hit the ball first on the way down and see what happens.
Not too bad, caught the ridge but I’m on the green and I’m able to keep playing here instead of having to take that penalty shot. There’s certain situations where these shots will help you and just be smart about it, try a few of these when you’re out practicing and I promise you it will make your practice more fun and hopefully help you out of some bad situations on the golf course!
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