Putting "Backwards"

[jbil8802]

This thread was inspired by the one from the WITB section started by ARealKnightmare. You can check it out here http://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/14767-am-i-the-only-one/page-1.

 

Conversation arose in the thread about players that play one way but putt the other way. So a RH player putting LH or a LH player putting RH. I didn't want to hijack his thread so I'll tell my story here.

 

My buddy owns our local driving range. Over the past 5 days we've been in the process of installing a synthetic putting green in front of his shop. He's starting a business doing outdoor and indoor synthetic greens as well as waterless grass. It's been a cool experience for me. Hopefully we'll be done tomorrow and I'll be able to get some pics up.

 

But, I digress.

 

Today we got the green laid and finished cutting one of the holes to see how it would roll. I didn't have my clubs with me. Shockingly, he doesn't have any LH putters in his shop. Probably because he knows me too well and doesn't want me to waste my money on them.

 

So I got to take the first groundbreaking putt on the new green. I took his RH putter and and took my normal left hand low grip and made my normal stroke. Obviously, this just resulted in me putting right handed with a cross handed grip. I holed it from 15 feet. I hit a bunch more from 5, 10 and 15 feet and the results were absurdly good.

 

I'd say I'm a decent putter overall, leaning slightly more towards the bad side. My buddy joked with me that I should start putting right handed until he saw that I had a serious reaction to his statement and now I'm intrigued by it.

 

It just felt so natural and easy from the get-go. After reading this thread I'm more interested in exploring it further. I have a plan in my head of how I want to deliver my test on this to you guys in the near future. Stay tuned.

 

In the meantime, let's discuss it.

[hckymeyer]

I tried this with less than stellar results.  To be fair I don't think I gave it a great shot.  I picked up the cheapest left handed putter I could find at a random sporting goods store and took it out to play.  I didn't make anything, had no sense of direction or speed control.

 

I'm right handed with everything except I play hockey lefty, thought it might translate but it really didn't.

 

On the flip side two guys I play with regularly putt opposite of how they swing.  One righty putts left and one lefty putts right.  Both are low single digit players and both pretty good putters.

 

Moral of the story for me is that nothing works for everybody, but something will work for anybody.  Test it out and see what happens, worst case is a couple bad rounds of putting before you switch back!

 

Good luck!

[Undershooter]

I used to be just about as good either way until I quit playing as much golf late in high school and nearly none late in college. I'm still better than most with my opposite hand but not as good as right handed.

 

Overall I would say go for it. Hell man I went through I faze where I putted one handed inside 15 feet. It was weird as hell but it worked at the time. For putting, you need to do what works for YOU.

 

Question though.. I feel this is only doable if you do some things right handed or are ambidextrous in some capacity. Are you?

[jbil8802]

I used to be just about as good either way until I quit playing as much golf late in high school and nearly none late in college. I'm still better than most with my opposite hand but not as good as right handed.

 

Overall I would say go for it. Hell man I went through I faze where I putted one handed inside 15 feet. It was weird as hell but it worked at the time. For putting, you need to do what works for YOU.

 

Question though.. I feel this is only doable if you do some things right handed or are ambidextrous in some capacity. Are you?

Correct. I do everything right handed. My dad gave me a baseball bat as a kid and I swung it lefty so he left it alone. Ended up switch hitting throughout my life and I can still do it comfortably. Can't swing a golf club right handed to save my life though.

[apprenti23]

I've known plenty of people who putt opposite hand from what they use for full swings.

 

One of them is a really good putter too. In fact not only does he putt LH he looks at the hole the entire time. Been doing it for at least the ten plus years I've known him.

 

It's actually more common than you'd think- golfers are head cases!

[deejaid]

I used to have a left handed Hammy Putter. I played a lot of hockey growing up and shot left but always played golf right handed. I wasn't too surprised I could putt that way as it felt very natural. I can't swing a club lefty though.

 

If I remember correctly, short putts under 10 feet were pretty good, but if I had a long putt, distance control was the hardest part with the Hammy.

[apprenti23]

The Hammy! Hahaha I remember that putter! Natalie Gulbis actually tried one on tour IIRC

[BIG STU]

Back in the day I used to putt lefty on some matches with an old Spalding Cash IN putter practiced and got pretty good at it on those old bremuda greens. I still have 3 or 4 of those old putters in my stuff. I may drag one out and see how I do on these more modern type greens

[sp0rtsfan86]

I putt lefty but hit righty. I've been doing this since I was a kid. I can use a right handed putter but I'm not quite as good or consistent. 

 

It's something about the eye for me.  I consider myself a solid putter especially considering where my handicap usually falls.

[fozcycle]

One of my golf buddies plays lefty but putts Righty........says he sees it better and he gets more power hitting Lefty.

[Kenny B]

I believe I said this in the other thread, but I'm too lazy to check so I'll repeat to keep it in this thread.  The pro at the course where I learned to play about 24 years ago won the Washington State Amateur a long time ago.  He played righty and putted lefty, and it was amazing to watch him putt.  So, since I was a terrible putter at the time, I decided to give it a try.  I did what hcky did; bought a cheap LH putter and like jbil used my righty grip.  I was pretty good from short range, but since since I can't even wipe my ass with my left hand, longer putts were very poor.  It's the same today; I can putt short putts like less than 5 feet pretty well left handed, but not anything long range.  

 

For me, I think this goes back to the thread we had on eye dominance.  I am right eye dominant and I think I see the line better when standing over a putt left handed.  I had to train my eyes to see the line when I putt right handed.  If I could make a decent stroke left handed from long range, I would switch in a heartbeat.

[Severtheties]

I believe I said this in the other thread, but I'm too lazy to check so I'll repeat to keep it in this thread.  The pro at the course where I learned to play about 24 years ago won the Washington State Amateur a long time ago.  He played righty and putted lefty, and it was amazing to watch him putt.  So, since I was a terrible putter at the time, I decided to give it a try.  I did what hcky did; bought a cheap LH putter and like jbil used my righty grip.  I was pretty good from short range, but since since I can't even wipe my ass with my left hand, longer putts were very poor.  It's the same today; I can putt short putts like less than 5 feet pretty well left handed, but not anything long range.  

 

For me, I think this goes back to the thread we had on eye dominance.  I am right eye dominant and I think I see the line better when standing over a putt left handed.  I had to train my eyes to see the line when I putt right handed.  If I could make a decent stroke left handed from long range, I would switch in a heartbeat.

 

As I was reading this all I could think of was eye dominance. Glad you were able to articulate this. I'd imagine this has quite a bit to do with it.

[rickkimbrell]

Played golf in tournament in Myrtle Beach a few years back with a guy who had one of the original Ping putters. You could put righty or lefty with it.  On long puts, he putted side saddle left handed looking at the hole.  On shorter puts, he putted conventionally right handed.  I asked him what distance did he switch.  His answer, it is all about how I feel about the putt.  He was a pretty decent putter.  

[RookieBlue7]

I hit a 5 footer left handed with the back of my wedge in my last round. As bad as I was putting that day the result was no worse than any other putt I hit that day. It lipped out