Left Handed Golfing Equipment
Golf is a unique sport in many ways. For instance, it’s the only sport wherein the lower your score, the better your performance. Less superficially, it’s one of those sports where the equipment tends to differ considerably depending on whether or not the golfer is left or right handed. With basketball and football, there is little difference in equipment – players will tend to use the same balls and wear the same uniforms regardless of which of their hands is most dominant. In baseball, batting helmets and gloves will be specific to one hand or the other (obviously), but ultimately, the majority of the game’s equipment, such as the bats and balls, are suited to either left or right handed golfers equally. With golf equipment, however, it is a different story.
If you’re a left handed golfer, the first thing you notice about using a standard club is that it seems to be backwards! When you swing a typical club, your dominant hand is going to be providing power and guidance, keeping the club on its intended path as it glides towards the ball. You’ll also tend to draw the club backwards over the shoulder of your dominant hand before initiating the swing. Of course, the face on a club-head only faces in one direction. If you are left handed, and thus more inclined to swing the club from above your left shoulder towards the right side of your body, the problems become immediately apparent – you’ll be hitting the ball with the back side of the club! Unlike a sport like baseball where you could swing the same bat in two different directions and contact the ball with a similar part of the bat, you’re going to need an entirely new club if you hope to perform admirably as a left handed golfer.
To put it simply, a quality set of left handed clubs is absolutely essential to any left handed golfer. Your only own alternative is to reverse your natural swing in order to use a standard right handed club, and generally speaking, it is much more advisable to simply spend the money on a left handed set of clubs and go with your natural physical instinct.
In golf, however, it’s not just the clubs that are specifically fitted to either the left or right hand, it’s nearly all equipment. Golfing gloves, intended to greatly enhance your grip upon the club, are also specifically made for the right hand in most instances and you’ll need to seek out a left handed alternative to get the most out of your left handed swing.
The deeper you get into the game of golf, the more equipment you’re going to find that you’ll need a left handed variation of. For instance, if you begin to use a set of training aid clubs out on the driving range, you’ll need a left handed set of those as well. Obviously, these expenditures can grow rather quickly, but most serious left handed golfers find the expense more than worth it when they see what effect going with their natural left hand dominance has upon their score!