The Most Important Key In LEFTHANDED 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