These Guys Are Good
Chris Kirk has set an interesting golf goal for himself this offseason
Ben Jared
Like many PGA Tour pros, Chris Kirk will get some much-needed R&R after this week's Tour Championship. Unlike most tour pros, when he returns to the golf course, he'll be playing a much different game.
That's because for the second consecutive offseason, the right-handed Kirk plans on playing predominantly from the left side. Say what?
“It brings back a little bit of the kind of childlike nature of the game," Kirk said in January after winning the Sentry Championship. "And my expectations are so low that it is way easier to be happy about what I'm doing than it is right-handed, to be honest.”
Maybe so, but now he's raising those expectations this offseason.
"I have approval from a lot of my fellow members at Athens Country Club to start a left-handed handicap so that I can play in some club events as a left-handed amateur, I guess," Kirk said on Wednesday at East Lake. "I'm not really sure how that really works with the rules."
Kirk says he recently shot 84 lefthanded and that his career-low from that side is 82. He estimates that he's about a 12-handicap as a lefty, but has made it his goal to become an official single digit from that side by the end of 2024. Pretty sick. Here's a look at his lefty swing from last offseason.
Not too shabby, huh?
"My left-handed golf, it's just so fun," Kirk continued. "But obviously I have a huge advantage over a normal beginner golfer. I kind of already know all the answers to the test. It's just a matter of how long it takes me to figure out how to do it."
Imagine mastering golf to the point that you need another challenge? Must be nice. Anyway, good luck, Chris. Both this week, and against the weekend hacks at your club this offseason.