Your Questions Answered
Are left-handed options for golf clubs as limited as they seem?
Only five left-handed players have won major championships in professional golf: Bob Charles, Mike Weir (pictured), Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson and Brian Harman.
Al Messerschmidt
Question: I’m a lefty. Why are my options in clubs so limited?
Answer: When Harry Vardon was asked to name the best left-handed player he ever saw, his answer provided some insight into why left-handed golfers have had such a hard time finding good equipment through the years. "Never saw one worth a damn," said the six-time Open Championship winner.
For a long time, the same might have been said of equipment for lefties. However, the idea that left-handed options are limited today just isn't true.
Let’s take a look at the flagship lines of the four largest equipment makers. Titleist offers all of its TSR driver models and T-Series irons for righties and lefties and the same loft options for the drivers. Ping offers all of its G430 drivers and its G430, G730, Blueprint (T and S models) and i530 irons in both right- and left-handed models. Right there you have all the options a non-portsider has.
Callaway and TaylorMade have slightly fewer options for left-handers. Callaway’s Paradym Ai Smoke lineup of drivers is essentially the same for both with just the 8-degree Triple Diamond model and the lightweight Max Fast available for right-handed players only. In irons, the Max Fast irons are right-handed only for men and women.
TaylorMade's Qi10 line of drivers offers three lofts for righties and just two for lefties, and the popular P790 irons are stiff flex and steel-shaft only for lefties (instead of three flexes and a graphite option that righties can choose from).
This is progress compared to recent decades. “Equipment was definitely an issue," said Mike Weir of his junior golf days. Frustrated by the lack of choices at age 13, Weir wrote to Jack Nicklaus and asked him if he should switch to the right side. “Nicklaus wrote back, ‘Stick with your natural swing,’ " said Weir, who not only continued to play left-handed but stuck with the same set of clubs until he began playing college golf at Brigham Young University. When Weir won the Masters in 2003, he used TaylorMade 300 Forged blade irons that were a one-of-a-kind set that cost more than $10,000 to produce.
Of course, part of the reason lefties are limited is simple math: Only 10 percent of the population is left-handed. Economics also play a role. Unlike Jimi Hendrix, a southpaw who used right-handed guitars and reversed the strings, golf-club manufacturers can't take a right-handed model and flip it over to make a viable left-handed golf club because lefties tend to come at the ball from a different angle of attack than righties, and that requires a different grind on their irons and sometimes a little different shape on the toe.
Left-handed choices might be limited with some of the smaller equipment makers, but attention is being given to lefthanders in ways not previously seen. Unlike Mr. Vardon’s take, equipment makers realize that lefties are worth a damn after all.