Why Chris Kirk occasionally switches sides and plays golf left-handed

KAPALUA, Hawaii – PGA TOUR players understandably have high standards. As masters of their craft, it takes an extraordinary shot to feel that same satisfaction that a beginner feels when he or she gets the ball airborne for the first time.

That’s why Chris Kirk, who won The Sentry on Sunday, enjoys playing left-handed during the offseason. It brings back some of that joy he felt when he first started playing golf.

Kirk did not touch his regular set for several weeks after the FedExCup Playoffs, but did get some reps from the other side of the ball. He’s posted videos of his left-handed swing on social media and they were shown during Sunday’s broadcast of The Sentry, where Kirk held off Jordan Spieth and Sahith Theegala for his sixth PGA TOUR win.

Before he had kids, Kirk and his friends would spend a week each December playing left-handed daily. While some players occasionally take left-handed swings to help strengthen the other side of their body, Kirk said there are no benefits for his regular game. It’s just for fun.

“We were all terrible,” Kirk said about playing left-handed with his friends. “It was just a lot of talking crap to each other and just having fun goofing off. That's mostly what it is now. Like, it's just fun. For me to feel really great about a shot that I hit right-handed, it's got to be something phenomenal, something like on 17 today (where Kirk hit a 5-iron to 2 and a half feet from the hole).

“But … left-handed, if I hit the fairway or if I hit a 7-iron on the green, like, hell, yeah, that's awesome. You make two pars in a row, I mean, that's unbelievable.”

Kirk shot 29 under par to win this week at the Plantation Course at Kapalua. His best score left-handed is 82.

“It brings back a little bit of the kind of childlike nature of the game, 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,” he said.

“It’s really hard left-handed. Really hard.”