A different Golf / Tennis swing question...

caligolfer2103 · August 9, 2019

Have read a number of threads on this topic and now have a specific question I'd be curious for views on. My son is 8 and plays golf, soccer, tennis, in that order of seriousness. He is a natural lefty but golfs righty, kicks lefty and started playing tennis righty. However, we were messing around today and I had him switch to lefty tennis. While he was less "stable", which I attribute to familiarity, he was hitting for much more power and you could actually see a much better swing. Especially his backhand, which he was absolutely crushing... I believe because it has a similar mechanic to his right golf swing.

So here's my question. Let's say I'm trying to "optimize" for golf because that's what he enjoys. Is he better off playing lefty tennis because then his backhand effectively mimics his golf swing, versus having a forehand on his right side? I know I am way over thinking this, but that's what I enjoy doing, as I'm quite curious by nature. If nothing else, I'm just curious what folks think!

BertGA · August 9, 2019

Righty tennis mimics the right handed golf swing too, just on the forehand. Without getting too deep into the mechanics, think about this: in the typical tennis match, which stroke does he hit more often? Forehand or back hand?

GolfWithdrawals · August 9, 2019

I'm not sure it makes that much of a difference. I started playing golf as soon as I could walk, but never got that serious into it. My dad is a golf pro but never gave me many lessons. I played just about every sport I could and started playing tennis when I was 12. I went on to play D2 college tennis and taught for a few years after. Now golf is my obsession. I'm a scratch golfer and don't believe playing years of tennis affected my swing at all. Golf, tennis, baseball, all have similar movements so as long as he is playing all of them at a young age I think he will be fine.

caligolfer2103 · August 9, 2019

Helpful. Thanks! @BertGA for now, he's not all that serious with tennis and no comp, but in practice I make him do both sides equally.

I guess now will be the fun of figuring out what side he should play tennis on, as he seems to be able to do either!

thekingsolly · August 13, 2019

for what it is worth the kid (10 yr old) in our group is a lefty tennis player playing golf right handed -- he absolutely destroys the ball. He definitely has the driver acting like a back hand topspin.

caligolfer2103 · August 14, 2019

@thekingsolly that was sort of my observation... my son is a natural lefty. but hits a righty forehand which is consistent but not very powerful. but when messing around last week, he started doing a righty backhand which he absolutely crushes. my thought was that playing that way would be very complementary to his golf swing. all this said, we decided to keep playing around with the lefty tennis and see how it goes... not necessarily to help in golf, but more to see what is more effective for him with tennis.

thekingsolly · August 14, 2019

there seems to be an inherent understanding of the driver clubface relative to a tennis racquet that seems allow the junior to optimize on hitting up on the ball and imparting crazy topspin. I am trying to work with a baseball hitting coach to see if my son can improve handspeed.

leezer99 · August 14, 2019

> @thekingsolly said:

> there seems to be an inherent understanding of the driver clubface relative to a tennis racquet that seems allow the junior to optimize on hitting up on the ball and imparting crazy topspin. I am trying to work with a baseball hitting coach to see if my son can improve handspeed.

You can't impart topspin on a golf ball but you can reduce the overall backspin leading to longer drives.

BertGA · August 14, 2019

> @leezer99 said:

> > @thekingsolly said:

> > there seems to be an inherent understanding of the driver clubface relative to a tennis racquet that seems allow the junior to optimize on hitting up on the ball and imparting crazy topspin. I am trying to work with a baseball hitting coach to see if my son can improve handspeed.

>

> You can't impart topspin on a golf ball but you can reduce the overall backspin leading to longer drives.

My wormburners would say otherwise.