Opposite handed shots

[EnglishGolfer]

At some point you will all have to play a shot with the club turned around and swing the opposite way to how you are used to swinging. How many of you out there have actually practised doing this? Even better, have any of you been sad enough to borrow a set of opp' handed clubs and play a few holes? It's great for a laugh but extremely frustrating because you feel you have no control over the damn thing and have to rely entirely on decent timing to connect.

I've played 9 holes left handed in 16 over par. Hitting it wasn't too hard, a good 3 wood went about 180-200 but sand was a nightmare. It really makes you realise how much you rely on your hands and arms to make little changes during the swing which technically speaking shouldn't be happening.

Please let me know if you are brave enough to humiliate yourself trying this. I'm going to try and video myself playing left handed which should be a chuckle. In fact lets all do it and set up a gallery of comedy swings for people to laugh at when they have just shot 120, lost all their balls and wrapped their putter round a tree.

Go on, I dare you!

[DaveE]

I don't have the equipment to tape it but I use the shot when I have to. I'm a natural lefty but I play right handed so it's not as tough for me.

The first time I saw that shot was at a tournament by a trick shot artist. He could turn a 5 iron upside down and smoke it straight down the middle. I started practicing the shot in my back yard just for fun but it comes in handy at times, especially around the greens when you're on the wrong side of a tree.

[EnglishGolfer]

Originally Posted by DaveE

I don't have the equipment to tape it but I use the shot when I have to. I'm a natural lefty but I play right handed so it's not as tough for me.

Lucky you. When I played a few holes opp' handed i felt completely drained because of the level of physical and mental effort that it required, almost like I'd played 36 holes right handed

[SiberianDVM]

I've practiced turning the club upside down and trying to hit the ball, but only for a few yards, in order to get it out of an impossible lie. A lower lofted club like a 2 or 3 iron works best, and I choke down on it a lot. A whiff is not uncommon.

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

I've yet to try this.

[Bravo]

EG:

YOu have a lot of guts to do this...hats off.

Almost all of the lefthanders I play with use righthanded clubs. I rarely play with someone who plays from the opposite side...I don't know how I would access a set of lefthanded clubs but I doubt I could break 120 playing from the left. You are a hell of an athlete to do as well as you did.

Recently, I had a ball that came to rest about 3 inches from a tree. My only choices were to hit it the way you described with the club upside down from the opposite side - OR - stand behind the tree with my left arm around it and swing the club with my right hand only. This tree was next to a green and there was a bunker between the ball and the green.

I decided to play it right handed and hug the tree with my left. Hit a solid shot that cleared the bunker and landed squarely on the green...I may have wiffed if I tried it the other way..

[Pa Jayhawk]

I have practiced this, and my wife is a lefty, so I have messed around with her clubs. Never went so far as playing on the course solely left handed. I figure I can only use my own clubs on the course legally, so that wouldn't help me too much. I am able to get about 100-120 yards on a good shot by flipping an iron. I have had to resort to this in a round on several occasions, and doing so even won me a match on one occasion.

Another option that Pelz mentioned is to swing with your back to the hole one handed. Personally I see no advantage to this over playing lefty and about broke my ankle when trying to practice this.

[EnglishGolfer]

Originally Posted by Bravo

EG:

YOu have a lot of guts to do this...hats off.

Almost all of the lefthanders I play with use righthanded clubs. I rarely play with someone who plays from the opposite side...I don't know how I would access a set of lefthanded clubs but I doubt I could break 120 playing from the left. You are a hell of an athlete to do as well as you did.

Guts? No. Sorry to shatter the image but I had a lefty mate who bet me he could hit a drive further with my clubs than I could with his, it was a close competition but I seemed to be OK at it. At the time I was using a Ram FX 3 wood which was one of those awful offset triangular things for people who slice and he turned it around and absolutely screamed a drive right off the tip of the point of it. If he had got under it then it would have been lodged in his brain.

Athlete? LMAO! I think it's all to do with how the left and right hemispheres of your brain are wired up.

I'm quite excited to have a go at it again now 'cause it has been about 6 years since I did it last. I'll borrow a couple of lefty clubs and post the results regardless of success/failure/hilarious hospitalising accidents etc

[Bravo]

EG:

What amazes me is how this could keep your interest for an entire round.

I would play 3-4 holes, become totally disgusted with myself and turn it in...

[EnglishGolfer]

Originally Posted by Bravo

EG:

What amazes me is how this could keep your interest for an entire round.

I would play 3-4 holes, become totally disgusted with myself and turn it in...

Just the sheer novelty of it I suppose, plus I heard that there used to be a club pro near me who played off 4 handicap opposite handed which must have taken a fair bit of dedication to attain.

At the time of last trying I was playing every single day of the week for weeks on end so regular golf was getting a little bit tiresome

[Woosey]

im up for it, ive got some left handed clubs too, ill get the video next week

[EnglishGolfer]

Originally Posted by Woosey

im up for it, ive got some left handed clubs too, ill get the video next week

Nice one! I'm off to the range this weekend so i will see if the pro there will lend me a knackered old LH club to destroy. It's like being a beginner all over again except you have even higher expectations.