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If the ease with which the game comes to the world’s best players makes you envious and maybe even a tinge of resentment, this would be a good time to click away from this story.
That’s because the six-time PGA Tour winner Chris Kirk is better than most golfers not only playing right-handed (his dominant side), but also the left side. Kirk started messing around as a lefty when he was a kid. For a week during the winter, he and his golf buddies played left-handed only, throwing in a few bucks on the scores to keep things interesting.
“We were all terrible,” Kirk said earlier this year. “It was just being mean to each other and just having fun joking around.”
But a funny thing happened as Kirk continued to move from the left side: He got really good. Just a few weeks ago, in fact, Kirk said he posted a South Kiss 84, two strokes off his all-time low. He is on a mission, he said, to break 80.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Kirk said earlier this week of playing lefty; he was speaking from Championship tournamentwhere he is making his first appearance since 2014. “But obviously I have a big advantage over a normal beginner golfer. I 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.”
However, playing left is more than just a lark for Kirk. He said he has played so much from that side at his hometown club in Georgia, Athens Country Club, that he asked his teammates about creating “a left-hander. handicapwith the intention of playing in club events “as a left-handed amateur”. Kirk estimated he’s “about 10 to 12 now,” adding, “I’m not really sure how it really works with the rules.”
Neither were we. So we checked in with the visuals at the USGA’s handicapping department, who responded with some sharp news as outlined in Section 6 of the Handicap Rules under Local Rule 1 Instruction:
Handicap index based on dominant hand
A player must create a Handicap Index by playing from the player’s preferred side of the game, known as the dominant hand. For example, if the Handicap Index is established by playing left-handed, the player must continue to play left-handed and post all eligible scores.
A player may not have a Handicap Index while playing both left-handed and right-handed. A basic premise of the Handicap Rules is that a player is trying to make his best score and post any acceptable score. This involves choosing the best play for each stroke, so unless a ball is positioned that requires a deviation from the dominant side of play, the player must try to make the best stroke for each stroke using the dominant side of play.
If a player is forced to stop playing the dominant hand in which the Handicap Index is set due to an injury or changes dominant hand when learning the game and starts playing the opposite hand, the original Handicap Index must be filed, and a new scoring record must be set. The handicap committee should work with the AGA to remove the original handicap index and scoring data from further access.
In short? Yeah, bad news for Kirk. Golfers can only carry one handicap and only through the results of rounds played with their dominant hand.
Still, Kirk can and should look on the bright side: Playing as a lefty, he can still beat most golfers. No shots required.
Don’t have a handicap yet? You can sign up for one here.