Opinion & Analysis
Life as a left-handed golfer
“My bad, forgot you were a lefty,” my cart partner says, driving to the wrong side of the ball for the third straight hole.
“All good. Let me just grab my wedge and putter and you can head over to your ball,” I say, realizing I left that wedge on No. 2.
“Too bad you can’t use one of mine!” my hilarious buddy jokes. And just like that, we’re off. The life as a lefty.
Saturday morning rounds usually start casually enough. Tees are thrown and partners drawn. As I approach the ball, my laser-like focus after a terrible range session is typically interrupted by everyone’s favorite knee-slapper.
“Did anyone ever tell you you stand on the wrong side of the ball?” ZING!
“Actually, I’m standing to the right of the ball if you really look at it,” a younger me once quipped, a joke that would confuse and embarrass all involved. And then, with the confidence of an awkward night at the improv, I dead block one that nestles next to a tree.
As we cruise down the rough, my chauffeur politely asks, “You pulled your drive, correct?”
“Yeah, missed left side,” I mumble, preferring not to get into that brain teaser.
Now, this ball may be perched to the right of the tree, giving me a lucky angle in. “Man, what a time to be left-handed, eh?” Or, to my chagrin, settled just to the left of it forcing me to play it sideways. “Ugh, what a tough break being left-handed, huh?”
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Now, I don’t fault anyone for making these observations; even I think left-handed players look outrageous on the golf course. The most experienced golfer will still see a fellow lefty in the middle of their ensuing fairway and wonder, “Why is this guy hitting it toward us?”
We’ve been conditioned to think this way. I like to call it The Ugly Duckling Syndrome. Maybe someday, we too will turn into swans and have the beautiful swings that all right-handed golfers like to say we have (we don’t). The compliment usually comes in around No. 6 as he’s starting to get the hang of this cart thing and your wedge is still holes behind.
“You have a good swing there. You remind me of Phil Mickelson. I bet you are a big fan of his?”
Sure, why not. I also have a Mark Brunell jersey, Mike Vick fathead, and I exclusively watch James Harden play basketball.
Sarcasm aside, us lefties are a proud bunch and really do love playing with or seeing another lefty on the course. For many of us, it’s the only chance we have to try different equipment. We take full advantage.
Seeing another lefty at the club is like seeing a long-lost friend on Thanksgiving Eve. We might wave, give a head nod or take an air swing, but I promise you we are acknowledging each other. Have you ever been out on the lake and pulled off the friendly wave to a fellow boater? That’s being a lefty on the golf course.
Now, we like you righties; we know your charm. You provide us an endless supply of dad jokes and sometimes you have an original one. And when we finally have a second to go grab that wedge left on No. 2, we know you’ll return it with a smile. “Well, at least you knew I wasn’t going to keep this one, Mickelson!”
Lather, rinse, repeat.
As the editor-in-chief of this website and an observer of the GolfWRX forums and other online golf equipment discourse for over a decade, I’m pretty well attuned to the grunts and grumbles of a significant portion of the golf equipment purchasing spectrum. And before you accuse me of lording above all in some digital ivory tower, I’d like to offer that I worked at golf courses (public and private) for years prior to picking up my pen, so I’m well-versed in the non-degenerate golf equipment consumers out there. I touched (green)grass (retail)!
Complaints about the ills of and related to the OEMs usually follow some version of: Product cycles are too short for real innovation, tour equipment isn’t the same as retail (which is largely not true, by the way), too much is invested in marketing and not enough in R&D, top staffer X hasn’t even put the new driver in play, so it’s obviously not superior to the previous generation, prices are too high, and on and on.
Without digging into the merits of any of these claims, which I believe are mostly red herrings, I’d like to bring into view of our rangefinder what I believe to be the two primary difficulties golf equipment companies face.
One: As Terry Koehler, back when he was the CEO of Ben Hogan, told me at the time of the Ft Worth irons launch, if you can’t regularly hit the golf ball in a coin-sized area in the middle of the face, there’s not a ton that iron technology can do for you. Now, this is less true now with respect to irons than when he said it, and is less and less true by degrees as the clubs get larger (utilities, fairways, hybrids, drivers), but there remains a great deal of golf equipment truth in that statement. Think about it — which is to say, in TL;DR fashion, get lessons from a qualified instructor who will teach you about the fundamentals of repeatable impact and how the golf swing works, not just offer band-aid fixes. If you can’t repeatably deliver the golf club to the golf ball in something resembling the manner it was designed for, how can you expect to be getting the most out of the club — put another way, the maximum value from your investment?
Similarly, game improvement equipment can only improve your game if you game it. In other words, get fit for the clubs you ought to be playing rather than filling the bag with the ones you wish you could hit or used to be able to hit. Of course, don’t do this if you don’t care about performance and just want to hit a forged blade while playing off an 18 handicap. That’s absolutely fine. There were plenty of members in clubs back in the day playing Hogan Apex or Mizuno MP-32 irons who had no business doing so from a ballstriking standpoint, but they enjoyed their look, feel, and complementary qualities to their Gatsby hats and cashmere sweaters. Do what brings you a measure of joy in this maddening game.
Now, the second issue. This is not a plea for non-conforming equipment; rather, it is a statement of fact. USGA/R&A limits on every facet of golf equipment are detrimental to golf equipment manufacturers. Sure, you know this, but do you think about it as it applies to almost every element of equipment? A 500cc driver would be inherently more forgiving than a 460cc, as one with a COR measurement in excess of 0.83. 50-inch shafts. Box grooves. And on and on.
Would fewer regulations be objectively bad for the game? Would this erode its soul? Fortunately, that’s beside the point of this exercise, which is merely to point out the facts. The fact, in this case, is that equipment restrictions and regulations are the slaughterbench of an abundance of innovation in the golf equipment space. Is this for the best? Well, now I’ve asked the question twice and might as well give a partial response, I guess my answer to that would be, “It depends on what type of golf you’re playing and who you’re playing it with.”
For my part, I don’t mind embarrassing myself with vintage blades and persimmons chasing after the quasi-spiritual elevation of a well-struck shot, but that’s just me. Plenty of folks don’t give a damn if their grooves are conforming. Plenty of folks think the folks in Liberty Corner ought to add a prison to the museum for such offences. And those are just a few of the considerations for the amateur game — which doesn’t get inside the gallery ropes of the pro game…
Different strokes in the game of golf, in my humble opinion.
Anyway, I believe equipment company engineers are genuinely trying to build better equipment year over year. The marketing departments are trying to find ways to make this equipment appeal to the broadest segment of the golf market possible. All of this against (1) the backdrop of — at least for now — firm product cycles. And golfers who, with their ~15 average handicap (men), for the most part, are not striping the golf ball like Tiger in his prime and seem to have less and less time year over year to practice and improve. (2) Regulations that massively restrict what they’re able to do…
That’s the landscape as I see it and the real headwinds for golf equipment companies. No doubt, there’s more I haven’t considered, but I think the previous is a better — and better faith — point of departure when formulating any serious commentary on the golf equipment world than some of the more cynical and conspiratorial takes I hear.
Agree? Disagree? Think I’m worthy of an Adam Hadwin-esque security guard tackle? Let me know in the comments.
@golfoncbs The infamous Adam Hadwin tackle ? #golf #fyp #canada #pgatour #adamhadwin ? Ghibli-style nostalgic waltz – MaSssuguMusic
Episode #16 brings us Cliff McKinney. Cliff is the founder of Old Charlie Golf Club, a new club, and concept, to be built in the Florida panhandle. The model is quite interesting and aims to make great, private golf more affordable. We hope you enjoy the show!
Last week, I came across a reel from BBC Sport on Instagram featuring Scottie Scheffler speaking to the media ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush. In it, he shared that he often wonders what the point is of wanting to win tournaments so badly — especially when he knows, deep down, that it doesn’t lead to a truly fulfilling life.
View this post on Instagram
“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said. “To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what’s the point?”
Ironically — or perhaps perfectly — he went on to win the claret jug.
That question — what’s the point of winning? — cuts straight to the heart of the human journey.
As someone who’s spent over two decades in the trenches of professional golf, and in deep study of the mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the game, I see Scottie’s inner conflict as a sign of soul evolution in motion.
I came to golf late. I wasn’t a junior standout or college All-American. At 27, I left a steady corporate job to see if I could be on the PGA Tour starting as a 14-handicap, average-length hitter. Over the years, my journey has been defined less by trophies and more by the relentless effort to navigate the deeply inequitable and gated system of professional golf — an effort that ultimately turned inward and helped me evolve as both a golfer and a person.
One perspective that helped me make sense of this inner dissonance around competition and our culture’s tendency to overvalue winning is the idea of soul evolution.
The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies has done extensive research on reincarnation, and Netflix’s Surviving Death (Episode 6) explores the topic, too. Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, the idea that we’re on a long arc of growth — from beginner to sage elder — offers a profound perspective.
If you accept the premise literally, then terms like “young soul” and “old soul” start to hold meaning. However, even if we set the word “soul” aside, it’s easy to see that different levels of life experience produce different worldviews.
Newer souls — or people in earlier stages of their development — may be curious and kind but still lack discernment or depth. There is a naivety, and they don’t yet question as deeply, tending to see things in black and white, partly because certainty feels safer than confronting the unknown.
As we gain more experience, we begin to experiment. We test limits. We chase extreme external goals — sometimes at the expense of health, relationships, or inner peace — still operating from hunger, ambition, and the fragility of the ego.
It’s a necessary stage, but often a turbulent and unfulfilling one.
David Duval fell off the map after reaching World No. 1. Bubba Watson had his own “Is this it?” moment with his caddie, Ted Scott, after winning the Masters.
In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, reflecting on his 2011 Super Bowl win, Rodgers said:
“Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? I was like, ‘Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?’”
Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
Eventually, though, something shifts.
We begin to see in shades of gray. Winning, dominating, accumulating—these pursuits lose their shine. The rewards feel more fleeting. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight makes us feel alive, yes, but not happy and joyful.
Compassion begins to replace ambition. Love, presence, and gratitude become more fulfilling than status, profits, or trophies. We crave balance over burnout. Collaboration over competition. Meaning over metrics.
Interestingly, if we zoom out, we can apply this same model to nations and cultures. Countries, like people, have a collective “soul stage” made up of the individuals within them.
Take the United States, for example. I’d place it as a mid-level soul: highly competitive and deeply driven, but still learning emotional maturity. Still uncomfortable with nuance. Still believing that more is always better. Despite its global wins, the U.S. currently ranks just 23rd in happiness (as of 2025). You might liken it to a gifted teenager—bold, eager, and ambitious, but angsty and still figuring out how to live well and in balance. As much as a parent wants to protect their child, sometimes the child has to make their own mistakes to truly grow.
So when Scottie Scheffler wonders what the point of winning is, I don’t see someone losing strength.
I see someone evolving.
He’s beginning to look beyond the leaderboard. Beyond metrics of success that carry a lower vibration. And yet, in a poetic twist, Scheffler did go on to win The Open. But that only reinforces the point: even at the pinnacle, the question remains. And if more of us in the golf and sports world — and in U.S. culture at large — started asking similar questions, we might discover that the more meaningful trophy isn’t about accumulating or beating others at all costs.
It’s about awakening and evolving to something more than winning could ever promise.
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Stixman
Dec 12, 2017 at 5:12 am
Our family line is more-or-less ambidextrous, playing sports other than golf lefty to a good standard. I can chip lefty with a LH club and turn a RH wedge upsidedown fairly normally.
I’ve always said that if anthing happened to my body which made playing the game RH impossible/ difficult, then I would turn around to lefty That never happened, fortunately. but it left me wondering. And since I don’t want to die wondering, I bought a set of Ping clone irons in Lefty to see what I can do. In the UK we have precedents for that, both laura Davies and Ian Woosnam turned around so they could have a game with their mates. They were too successful, as it turned out, and were better than good lefty as well
Kit Lefroy
Dec 11, 2017 at 9:48 pm
I am glad someone pointed out that close to 40% of Canadian golfers are lefties. That is a bit of a stretch, as the national figure is somewhere in the mid-twenties. In Quebec it is slightly higher, probably because of hockey. Left handed equipment is for the most part readily available in Canada. Some limitations, e.g., drivers tend to come only in two or three lofts 9.5 to 12. However, if one is willing t o look past the major brands there are lots of options, e.g., I have a 14 degree driver and a strong 3 wood (12 degrees). I do remember going into a big golf shop in San Diego some years ago. No left handed clubs, no, wait there were a few in “Lefties Corner”.
lee jones
Dec 11, 2017 at 8:17 pm
Cant understand why they cant publish golf Magazines with a lefthanded version.I tired of reading insruction articles and have to change the illustrations around
Edge Of Lean
Dec 11, 2017 at 6:35 pm
I don’t mind the tired jokes and snide comments. Pretty much done deaf now. A worthy saying that is just as old: It’s not how, it’s how many. I usually have the last laugh (and a few in between).
Bill
Dec 11, 2017 at 4:01 pm
My standard comment is that I come from Canada, and it’s legal to Golf left handed in Canada.
But when people ask why there are so many left handed golfers in Canada, I turn it back around on them. “Why are there so few lefty golfers in the US? Look at all the guys who bat left handed in baseball.” Completely stumps them.
Tom54
Dec 11, 2017 at 3:46 pm
Although I am a right handed golfer I certainly can empathize with the lefties. We definitely have the advantage when it comes to purchasing clubs. I can’t imagine trying to find latest clubs in left handed versions. When ever my buddies who are all right handed get some new clubs we just try each others to try them out. Plus growing up l could never have started without my dads hand me downs. My friends kid is just learning and he is steering his boy away from swinging left handed for that very reason
John
Dec 11, 2017 at 3:40 pm
I can tell you as a lefty I wish I would have learned to play right handed. It’s probably too late though. Way too much time & money invested playing left handed. My golf buddies always lament the fact I’m left handed because of all the clubs I buy and they don’t get to try. We do miss out on some nice equipment though just due to the fact it isn’t offered in left hand. I did have the pleasure several years ago to be part of a golf foursome & 3 of us were lefties. We were the majority that day & made fun of the right hander all day.
Robert
Dec 11, 2017 at 3:32 pm
My dad always tells me this story of how he put a Fisher-Price plastic club in my hands when I was really young. I could barely make contact and looked completely uncoordinated. In that moment my dad jokes that he was fairly certain “sports weren’t going to be your thing”. Then he said heck with it and turned me around (lefty) and there was no looking back. Easily the most frustrating part of being a lefty golfer is the equipment selection. OEMs just don’t offer a lot of great stuff (i.e. Mizuno blades, TaylorMade “Tour” specs, certain stock lofts on everything from woods to wedges) with the same variety as the righty versions. The jokes are what they are, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. As an ex-baseball player, batting lefty was a godsend. Never had an issue dealing with instruction always being from a righty perspective, but that was what I was used to. To this day, it still looks funny watching other lefties golf, even though I know I’m on that side of the ball too. We do make things look prettier/smoother though.
Terry Dunlap
Jan 12, 2019 at 9:55 am
I totally agree. The selection of clubs and configurations are in short supply. Try going to a pro shop and look at lefty clubs. All I usually see are off brand clubs primarily for the beginner and those without the funds for the better clubs. I am currently trying to get vokey sm7 wedges. I used the wedge finder on t by e vokey website. But now I can’t find left handed in the lofts and bounce they recommend. FRUSTRATING.
Joro
Dec 11, 2017 at 11:40 am
I do most things right handed, but throw, swing, and kick with the left. I play left because my throwing hand is the best one for the swing. You don;t pull a club, you hit with it, so for a lefty that is the way. Sure, in my over 60 yrs. of playing everything is not perfect, but getting the best clubs have improved a lot, and I have heard all the jokes and my response has always been, good, let’s double the bet.
And by the way, we stand on the RIGHT side of the Ball, not the left. So to all you Lefties, Good on you.
jim morus
Dec 11, 2017 at 11:32 am
My wife and I are both left handed. My father taught me to bat right handed with the logic that left handed power hitters were almost all right hand dominant. It took me an extra year to catch up to my friends but I did all right.
If you want to really be impressed with left hand dominance you need to go to a professional photography convention. Close to 75% of the photographers are left handed. Apparently creativity is housed in the right hand side of the brain which is the dominant side for lost natural left handers.
My wife hits left handed and is much more consistent than could ever hope to be.
Try finding left handed ladies specialty clubs if you think left handed men are ignored.
Ron Forest
Dec 11, 2017 at 11:15 am
The brain is “cross-wired” so that the left hemisphere controls the right handed side of the body and vice-versa and hand dominance is connected with brain dominance on the opposite side – which is why we say that only left-handers are in their right minds!
Kit Lefroy
Dec 11, 2017 at 9:37 pm
Love your comment Ron. As a right handed person who hits left – thank you baseball – I still get the occasional “wrong side” of the ball comment. My Usual retort is, “actually I hit from the right side of the ball”. Your retort is more counter-attack ammunition.
Dean
Dec 11, 2017 at 12:48 am
Most of us left-handers must take note when we see one of our own. What I’ve really taken notice of is how many lefty golfers I know are actually right hand dominant. I don’t know how pervasive it is, but I know a dozen people who fit this description (including a lot of hockey lefties and tennis players with really nice two-handed backhands). I haven’t looked to see if anyone has data on this, but I’d be interested in the stats.
Next article: how courses are set up in favor of righties and they don’t even notice! 😉
L Smith
Dec 11, 2017 at 11:12 am
We left handers know the frustration of eternally going into pro shops all over the world (except perhaps, Canada) and being lucky if we see a single left handed club. We can’t “try out” new clubs – we just have to take the risk of ordering online or always paying the extra for a fitting.
Right handed golfers have absolutely no idea of what it is like for us.
Joro
Dec 11, 2017 at 11:44 am
The Big Box Stores have plenty of Leftie stuff, and much cheaper than the Pro Shops, who are getting out of the hard goods as they know their money is in soft goods.
Try it, you will find plenty of Leftie clubs.
Brent
Dec 10, 2017 at 10:43 am
I think the stats here in Canada are pushing close to 40% lefties – due predominantly to hockey. Like many people I know, I swing left, but I’m right handed.
Forgotten from that list, fellow lefty Canuck Mike Wier…probably forgotten because he forgot how to golf after winning the Masters…
Underachiever
Dec 9, 2017 at 8:03 pm
Lefties have a brain 1/2 the size of righties… I’m sorry it’s science.
Dave
Dec 10, 2017 at 9:03 am
Yes, but we use all of it.
chris franklin
Dec 9, 2017 at 7:37 pm
Sorry but as a vintage left-handed golfer I can tell you nothing new has been said about portsiders since 1963 when the mighty Charles won the Open and showed that winning major titles was not limited to our right-handed brethren.
If you are not graceful and elegant then you should probably be playing right-handed and leave this exclusive club to those of us who are.
rex235
Dec 9, 2017 at 7:19 pm
Matt-
“The game isn’t how, it’s how many.” Thanks for the article. Glad someone asked.
There is nothing wrong with playing golf left handed. Ask Bob Charles, Phil Mickelson, Russ Cochran, Bonnie Bryant, Brian Harman, Cody Gribbles, and a host of other people that should be named. So it’s the road less traveled, and you’re on it.
If you ever decide to peruse the Classic and Persimmon section in Golfwrx Forums, there is at least one person who points out a RH ONLY caveat to those past inquiries in the various Equipment sections. Very few companies devoted their master craftsmen and luthiers in making LH golf equipment when it was just persimmon woods and forged blades, but indeed, some of these gems were made and are coveted. Weren’t changes in technology were supposed to increase production and decrease costs? LH golf equipment was and is the last to be offered if at all, and the first casualty. Try to find a set of LH Ben Hogan Apex PC model irons. Co$t was always the given reason, and a TV Golf Announcer remarked on air LH golf equipment is “..take what you can get.” At this time it is important to note more people play golf left handed than ever. Yet Wilson, in 2014, after making signature LH Staff Dynapower Forged blade irons for generations, chose to offer their FG Tour 100 Forged blade iron model, supposedly to celebrate their 100 years in golf, RH ONLY.
Just keep celebrating the game. You are not alone.
Kurt Kruithof
Dec 9, 2017 at 6:19 pm
I’ve often heard the ‘wrong side’ comment. When they stand behind me I just casually step to ‘their’ side and aim right back at them and ask “Like this?”
Had one guy yell from the green on an approach shot (60 yds) so I stepped to the right side, flipped my wedge over and miraculously hit it to three feet!
What really frustrates me is companies (Bombtech) who make great new products, but not in left hand.
henry
Dec 10, 2017 at 2:09 pm
This was a worthy comment until you specified Bombtech as a great company.
John
Dec 11, 2017 at 3:47 pm
What’s funny is the fist generation of Bombtech drivers had a left hand option. I still have mine. I think that was the only club they ever made for lefties. I know that they have abandoned lefties going forward. Even bigger companies are doing close to the same thing. Look at tour edge for instance. Hardly anything in left hand. Ping is the best oem for lefties in my opinion.
Derek
Dec 9, 2017 at 5:08 pm
Finally a left handed golf article! Us lefties never get these, I have also used the “actually I’m standing on the right side myself” line myself…always gets a weird look until they realize what I meant. Let’s also not forget about having to flip-flop in our heads which arm/leg when watching instructional videos since 99% of them are from right handed golfers. P.S. I’m also in Pittsburgh, and work in IT….weird. Is that a lefty thing as well? Take care!