Are You A Leftie?

We can't blame the golf club manufacturers for targeting their most profitable market of right-handed golfers, but it is quite difficult for those golfers who play left handed to find the selection offered to the mainstream players.

A few golfers made the change early on by training to play right handed but this is unrealistic for most people.

You should be playing in the most natural manner possible and if that means left handed then so be it.

Unfortunately with everything these days it all comes down to economics and profitability and there just isn't enough money to be made for many manufacturers in the left-handed market.

The percentage of left handed players to right handed players is somewhere in the region of 8 percent so the market is quite small, although it is a niche market that some manufacturers are targeting albeit at more expense in most instances.

But there is always a silver lining to the problems that we might encounter.

At a recent after tournament function I was introduced to an elderly gentleman who was playing on a low handicap and had done so for many years. During the discussion he mentioned left-handed clubs and the fact that he had started playing left handed initially. He hadn't learned how to play from a professional and had developed some bad techniques.

Eventually, due to frustration with his game and the inability to source the clubs he wanted to, he enlisted some professional help. After much discussion it was decided that he should try playing right handed and the golf pro would give him the necessary tuition.

It was a godsend as he was effectively starting from scratch and he learned how to play golf without any of the bad techniques that he had developed on his own.

The change from left to right, along with the professional training had held him in good stead for the rest of his golf playing life.

Sure, it was a major decision that most golfers wouldn't make, but you can never beat a golfer at trying to improve his game no matter what steps they might take.

To a better golf game!

Fran