Playing Righty But Putting Lefty?

[hammertime1515]

So I’m having a conundrum. I’m left handed by nature, played every sport left handed growing up, batted left handed in baseball but learned golf right handed. Ball striking and distance has always been my strongest traits and ones I lean on very hard…mainly because I’ve never been a good putter. I grinded on it in High school and through college, took lessons and spent hours but never had any lasting success. So after missing around 15 putts inside of 15 feet the last two days in an event I’m seriously considering going to putting left handed. Has anyone been in a similar situation and made the switch? If so, was it successful or short lived? I’m left eye dominant, can hit a ball decently well left handed, and currently hold a +1.1 handicap (averaging 30 putts per round)

[Springsteennut]

My brother in law does this. It doesn’t look very smooth but he thinks it works better. 

[Ghostwedge]

You do realize as a + cap there is some head scratching  going on out here.

I played in a tourney recently on SLOW greens, left about 10 putts 1-6 inches short of dead center makes. I'm RH left eye dominant, bought a lefty putter once because I was so fed up with my putting. That lasted about half an hour on a practice putting green. Do what everyone else does on here...

put that putter in time out and use another one temporarily.

 

 

[tatertot]

1 hour ago, hammertime1515 said:

So I’m having a conundrum. I’m left handed by nature, played every sport left handed growing up, batted left handed in baseball but learned golf right handed. Ball striking and distance has always been my strongest traits and ones I lean on very hard…mainly because I’ve never been a good putter. I grinded on it in High school and through college, took lessons and spent hours but never had any lasting success. So after missing around 15 putts inside of 15 feet the last two days in an event I’m seriously considering going to putting left handed. Has anyone been in a similar situation and made the switch? If so, was it successful or short lived? I’m left eye dominant, can hit a ball decently well left handed, and currently hold a +1.1 handicap (averaging 30 putts per round)

Didn't Mac O'Grady put a Bullseye in the bag and putt from both sides for awhile? Forget if he always wanted slice putts, always wanted hook putts, or just did what felt best on each green. But I believe he was also a scratch swinging from the left.

[hammertime1515]

1 hour ago, Ghostwedge said:

You do realize as a + cap there is some head scratching  going on out here.

I played in a tourney recently on SLOW greens, left about 10 putts 1-6 inches short of dead center makes. I'm RH left eye dominant, bought a lefty putter once because I was so fed up with my putting. That lasted about half an hour on a practice putting green. Do what everyone else does on here...

put that putter in time out and use another one temporarily.

 

 

I understand the head scratching, I’m a + because I hit a ton of greens but have a bunch of 2 putts and when I miss the green my chipping saves me a vast majority of the time. I have one of every kind of putter you can think of (fitted and impulse buys) and none of them feel right.  Maybe I’ll try to find one to mess around with and at worst confirm that I just suck 😂

[hammertime1515]

31 minutes ago, tatertot said:

Didn't Mac O'Grady put a Bullseye in the bag and putt from both sides for awhile? Forget if he always wanted slice putts, always wanted hook putts, or just did what felt best on each green. But I believe he was also a scratch swinging from the left.

Very true, Matt Dobyn’s plays right handed and putts left handed and he is a helluva player

[jvincent]

2 hours ago, hammertime1515 said:

Has anyone been in a similar situation and made the switch? If so, was it successful or short lived? I’m left eye dominant, can hit a ball decently well left handed, and currently hold a +1.1 handicap (averaging 30 putts per round)

 

Not me, but we have several guys at our club who play righty and putt lefty.

 

One particular guy may have been the worst putter on the planet righty. When he went to lefty the improvement was spectacular.

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

I actually tried left handed putting to see if it would offer me better control. The theory was, switching my grip's leading hand would enable more control; it did to a reasonable degree. It softened my putting stroke so I'd stop overpowering my putts.

That was when I used a two way putter years ago, but when I bought a new putter I didn't want to lock in to left handed putting nor did I want to buy two putters. So, I stopped.

A part of me wants to try it again. 😄

 

[grm24]

1 hour ago, tatertot said:

Didn't Mac O'Grady put a Bullseye in the bag and putt from both sides for awhile?

Notah Begay did that as a tour player and IIRC still does that today on the Champions Tour.

[grm24]

Former tour player Blaine McCallister played right handed and putted left handed. Won 5 PGA tour titles playing that way. If it works for you go for it. Always go with what works for you.

Edited August 6, 2023 by grm24

[Volnut]

Lefty here that plays rightly... I bought a cheap left handed putter but couldn't get use to it. Decided to try the left hand low grip. It took several rounds and multiple trips to the practice greens but I'm putting better than ever. I wanted to switch back countless times early on but stuck with it and so glad I did. 

 

Might be worth a shot, just commit to it for a month or two if you decide to try it. 

[torbill]

You don’t say what your dominant miss is.

 

Here is my experience:  

 

I’m a very good player, but nowhere near your level.  I am the opposite of you, I play and putt left handed but am right eye dominant, so you have to reverse what I say.

 

My dominant miss on short putts was left.  I always seemed to have trouble seeing the line when it counted.  I would try putting right handed.  I could see the line much better this way.  But I couldn’t stroke the ball and judge distance very well on lag putts.  So I bought a bullseye putter and putted right handed on short putts, where I needed to see the line,  and left handed on long putts, where I needed feel.  It worked OK, but I was totally limited on putter choices.

 

I finally decided to go back to left handed and figure it out.  What I learned is that I need to get my dominant eye to the left of the ball when I set the club face.  If I get my right eye behind the ball I can see the line and stop the unconscious aiming to the left when the pressure is on.  

 

Here is what I do:  I putt with the putter head centered on my body and everything square.  I aim by leaning to my left, so that I have my right eye to the left of the ball and can see the line.  I set the putter face on the ground, push it down slightly so that it doesn’t change orientation, then get into my centered setup.  I start the stroke keeping the clubface square to the line, then continue.  I have no visual awareness of the line when I make the putting stroke, which has to be totally unconventional.  My takeaway focus is on keeping the putter face square as it starts back (then I let it go on a natural arc, toe hang putter).  I sometimes seem to watch the putter head out of the corner of my eye as it starts back - not a recommended practice, for sure!  But this method does work for *me*, I no longer have a dominant left miss.

 

I’m a good putter.    

Edited August 9, 2023 by torbill

[RSLP]

Lou Stagner the stat guy plays like this, and speaks about it on his podcast.

[naval2006]

You should definitely give it a try. At least you’ll feel you’ve tried your best if you decide to later go back righty. 
 

I played like that for over a year many years ago. I’d gone down a real dark hole putterwise. I had great line but could never find speed on lag putts. 

[dvq9654]

I ask this mainly as food for thought, but how do you know you’re a bad putter? I may be reading your post too literally, but missing 15+ foot putts does not make you a bad putter. It makes you normal. You also say you hit a ton of greens and have a lot of two putts. Again, potentially pretty normal. 
 

Are you tracking strokes gained on the greens? Do you keep any other stats to validate your feeling about your putting?

 

The answer very well may be you have good reason to believe you’re a bad putter, but I think sometimes people have unrealistic views of what a good putter is. 

[bluedot]

I play with three guys who play right handed but putt lefty.  All three are good putters, and all three do this for different reasons.

 

One guy is a physician who tried it because of eye dominance and never went back.  The second guy played college golf and has been a single digit player for decades, but developed a debilitating case of the yips; he switched rather than quit the game.

 

The most interesting one, though, is the third guy.  All-conference lefty QB back in the early 70’s, he grew up in a very small town, and learned to hit a golf ball right handed with his dad’s old clubs, simply because there weren’t any left handed golf clubs around.  But he started putting with a Bullseye, made the switch to lefty putting at a young age, and has played/putted that way ever since.  He’s a classic “lefty” (I am, too!) that plays some sports lefty and some righty, with no real idea why.  His most “interesting” case of that was tennis; he served lefty, then switched and played righty; he says some opponents didn’t notice until well into the match.