NALG
Great news!!
The NALG Board of Directors has approved new tiered membership levels along with additional benefits for NALG members. These benefits can more than compensate for the small cost of membership. For those of you that have been members of the NALG for many years, you will recall that the only benefit of being a member was our Southpaw Newsletter and being able to play in the National Tournament. In more recent years, the hardcopy of the newsletter was discontinued and an email version created. This new version of the newsletter was emailed to all members and those on our contact list. This enabled us to communicate with more lefties but it eliminated the differentiator of being a member. That made some members of the Board wondering, “Why be a member?” – other than wanting to support lefty golf which we all love. Several board members began brainstorming ways to increase membership value. That led to the recommendation and approval of two new membership benefits. The first is that an NALG member will receive a $10 discount to each NALG-sanctioned tournament. So if you play in several different tournaments you more than get your money back. Secondly, any state champion will receive a $100 discount on their entry to the National Tournament. Last year the NALG received it 501c3 non-profit status enabling donations to be deductible. Led by Chairman Sid Miner, the NALG is embarking on an enhanced marketing plan. We hope to raise the awareness and support for lefty golf. I don’t know how many times I have heard “I didn’t know there was a state lefties or a national lefty golf organization or tournaments!” As mentioned earlier, the NALG has new tiered membership levels. Each level comes with more benefits with some portion of the upper membership levels being deductible. Members also receive logoed merchandise based on the level of membership. Check out the membership page on the website for more details. Please consider becoming a member today. We are looking forward to you competing in our fun events!
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If you are a tournament player you will frequently find yourself playing a course that you have not played in a while. The subject of this post is to share a technique for you to rapidly get the feel for greens that you are not accustomed to.
The technique that I use allows me to get a good feel for the greens in only 5 minutes or so. It is more effective than circling around all the holes that may exist on the practice green. The first thing I do is look for the grain. Most courses have grain, even bent grass courses. I have talked to experienced players used to playing bent grass greens and they never thought of grain. No wonder they have a tough time with speed control leaving some putts well short or running them well past. So how do you see the grain? Walk around the green and you will see where the green color looks darker versus lighter and shinier. When it looks lighter green and shiny you are looking down the grain. This means the blades of grass are leaning away from you and will result in much less friction to the golf ball and the putt will be much faster. Where the grass appears the darkest green, that means the blades of grass are pointing toward you and the friction will be the highest slowing down your putt. The difference between the two can be more than 20+ percent so a 15 foot putt could be three feet slower or faster. So what do you do with this information? You better account for it in planning to hit a putt or you will find yourself three-putting a lot. My warm up routine on a new course starts with looking for the grain. Next you want to pick out two practice holes on the green that are about 20-25 feet apart where putting from one to the other is directly with and against the grain. Take two balls and putt from one to the other, and then back to the hole where you started. Keep going back and forth until you can get both putts to consistently stop near the hole. It should only take you five minutes or so. After than you can try other length putts in various directions to see if you have achieved a good feel in your mind. Grain does not only affect putts directly with or against. If the grain is at an angle with or against you will still see the putt be a little faster or slower, respectively. A putt that crosses the grain will also be affected. You could have a level putt where the grain is 30-60 degrees across your line and the putt might move up to six inches on a 20 foot putt. Be sure to include the side grain in your green reading too. You will find that for some courses the grain is not a "strong" as it is on other courses. On some courses it can be very strong making for some VERY slow or VERY fast putts. Bermuda grass greens are similar but you can also look at the grass around the edge of the cup for another clue. You may see one side where the grass is dying or looks brown. If you are putting towards a hole where the brown is around the front edge you are putting against the grain. If the brown edge is behind the hole you are putting with the grain. The brown part is a result of the grass being cut. If the roots are where the hole is that area will be brown. If it is the side where the blades are, they will continue to grow over the edge of the hole with time and won't turn brown. I still find some of the new faster bermuda grass greens more difficult to read the grain. If you have a good technique for these, go ahead and comment. I hope you found this article helpful for you to make more putts and reduce the number of three-putts. It seems like a new lefty star may be emerging. Not on anyone's radar back in July, Matt McCarty has certainly made an impact quickly.
McCarty was playing on the Korn Ferry Tour earlier this year and had a three stroke lead after 54 holes. He did not win. However, it was a temporary setback. He won the next week, three weeks later and then again two weeks later. The three wins in a six week span earned him an immediate promotion to the PGA Tour. It had only happened twelve times in the history of the tour. Instead of immediately playing the PGA Tour McCarty remained on the Korn Ferry Tour hoping to sow up the number one position and the rewards that come with it. Those rewards are a fully exempt status and ability to play in The Players Championship and U.S. Open. Two more events later that goal was reached so he began to play in the Fall Season PGA tour events. Now in only his third PGA Tour start, the 26 year old lefty from Scottsdale has captured his first PGA Tour win. In case you are not counting, that is four wins in three months. McCarty was in the final pairing yesterday with another lefty Joe Highsmith who is starting to show some good form. McCarty used an eagle on the short par-4 14th hole to put some space between him and his chasers. The 3-wood from a little over 300 yards to only three feet and seven inches and succeeding putt gave him some margin to work with. His chasers could not get any closer and after a final hole birdie McCarty found himself a new PGA Tour winner by a margin of three strokes. Not only that, he looked comfortable along the way. It appears he has learned how to win which should make for a great future. Keep your eyes on him next year now that he is able to play in all the best events. Left-handers are looking for their next big star now that Phil Mickelson is no longer prominent. Maybe McCarty might be that star! Have we seen the future of lefty professional golf?
Recently we saw Akshay Bhatia finish runner-up in two consecutive events. Only a three-putt on his last hole kept him from a playoff at the Rocket Mortgage Classic admitting that some nerves affected him. Bhatia has steadily improved his game to where he is a force to contend for a title on a frequent basis. He first showed up on the national golfing scene when he was the runner-up in the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur losing to Michael Thorbjornsen. Thorbjornsen by the way just finished in a tie for second this weekend at the John Deere Classic in his first event as a professional. Thorbjornsen got his PGA Tour card by leading the PGA Tour University points list this past year. But there was another lefty on the scene at the Rocket Mortgage Classis. That would be 15 year-old Miles Russell. Russell is the youngest player to make a cut on the Korn Ferry tour doing so back in April. The high school freshman finished in 20th place! Russell did not make the cut at the Rocket Mortgage but still managed to finish even par. It was his first PGA Tour start. What were you doing as a freshman? We can expect to see lots more of these two players. But they are not the only lefties to keep an eye on. There seems to be more and more lefties appearing on the college golfing scene when I watch on TV. One that comes to mind is David Ford from North Carolina. On the ladies side, it would be great to see Erica Shepherd advance her career. She is now playing on the Epson Tour trying to earn her way onto the LPGA Tour. The 2024 rookie appears to be getting her feet under her. After starting her career with seven missed cuts, Shepherd has now made three cuts of the last four. She even finished 21st in the Otter Creek Championship held in her home state. She showed she has the potential to win as she is the 2017 USGA Girls Junior champion. She is a nice young lady as I met her at an Indiana Golf Hall of Fame dinner a year ago. Also, being from Indiana I have to root for her to join the other Indiana golfers who have gone on to success on the professional tours. Good luck to all the lefties! We have come a long way in the last 50 years! Golf has not had a dominant star since Tiger Woods was in his prime. Now two stars are trying to take over their respective tours.
Scottie Scheffler has been on a tear. He has won four of the last five PGA Tour events and he almost won the other losing in a playoff. Scheffler now has his 10th win in only 50 PGA Tour starts after his first win. That is second only to David Duval 33 starts and right behind Tiger who accomplished that feat in 59 starts. As consistently as he is playing it is hard to see him slowing down. Putting was his weak link but that is much improved. Could he give the Grand Slam a run? While this is certainly not likely someone will need to step up and get hot to beat this golf machine. It is only April and he seems to have locked up Player of the Year! Meanwhile on the LPGA Tour, Nelly Korda is hotter than Scheffler if that is possible. Korda has a swing we would all love to have and has used that beautiful swing to capture 5 straight wins. She is now in the company of greats Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez. How long can these players keep up this high level of play? There is no reason to think that they can't be dominant for another 15 years or more. Scheffler is only 27 and Korda 25. Both players are headed for a Hall of Fame career. Having dominant players like these is good for golf. It certainly beats all the drama associated with LIV. Enjoy it while it lasts! I watched the premier of the Golf Channel special called - Unredeemable - The Alex Fourie Story. Did you see it too?
If you didn't you should. It was a great story of triumph over extreme challenges. You see Alex Fourie was born Ukraine with one arm and a badly cleft palate. This was when the Ukraine was still part of Russia. In that society, handicaps of this sort have no value in society. He grew up in an orphanage and had he not been adopted would have been headed to a mental institution. But for this young child better days were ahead. An American couple was having difficulty having children and decided to adopt. They adopted Alex. Alex had the support he needed to thrive and prove that everyone has value. He tried many sports but golf has become his sandbox that both sends a message and helps others. He passed his PGA Players Aptitude Test or P.A.T. He became the number one ranked one-handed golfer and finished in first place in the 1st Adaptive Open at Pinehurst. Today he raises money to help others. You can go to singlehandgolf.com to learn more or to donate. Their mission statement is to "inspire kids with adaptive needs to love, learn and grow in golf. Providing this opportunity promotes competition, recreation, and physical & emotional rehabilitation." I highly encourage you to watch this 30 minute documentary. It is very uplifting and you may be changed. Sorry for the play on words. But LIV has certainly been a major force in professional golf scene over the last year plus.
There are many on each side of the issue. Some support LIV, but I suspect it is a minority of golfers. Of those that don't support LIV, many would still say that players should be able to pursue whatever monies they want. But my real question is whether LIV is really good for the sport. There are those that like the team concept (why couldn't they add a team element to the regular PGA Tour?). It also appears that the LIV team concept strategy is to organize teams by country over time. Many LIV teams are organized around countries. That is probably good if your looking for patriotic support. There are many that think LIV is more of an exhibition than sport - not to say there isn't competition involved. And then you have the fact that LIV is really a Saudi entity. But my real question is whether LIV is good for golf. My opinion is no. It has only served to fracture players and prevent all the best players from playing against each other. Now we are seeing that PGA Tour sponsors are starting to not renew their sponsorships of tournaments. A big reason is that the PGA Tour increased the prize funds to compete with LIV and the price tag of sponsorship is getting too high. How will this end? Your guess is as good as mine. Some are now saying that eventually players will be able to jump back and forth between the PGA Tour and LIV. Will LIV and the PGA Tour join forces as expected and work out a partnership arrangement? That plan still has not come to fruition. LIV is not the only entity interested in partnering with the PGA Tour. How would a different partnership affect golf? We are talking about billions of dollars. But here is a projection. Since everyone will be looking to make more money from golf, you can be sure where it will come from! YOU! You will be paying more to go to golf events and more to watch them on TV - or heaven-forbid - paid streaming. I hope someone out there is looking out for us that only want to enjoy the game and watch the best players in the world. I hope someone remembers that the customer is US! After this article was written an announcement came out that the Strategic Sports Group has agreed to invest $3B into the PGA Tour's new for-profit entity. It remains to be seen what effect this will have on the PIF and LIV. Lefty golf goes back a lot further than when the NALG was formed in 1936.
While researching to find the past Indiana tournament winners, I obtained temporary Newspapers.com access and found the following articles about left-handed golf that preceded the formation of the NALG. As more newspapers are indexed we will likely find more references. From one of the articles below, it appears that a left-handed tournament was held in Chicago every year from 1910-1921! Fort Wayne Daily News – April 25, 1916 – “What is believed the first tournament for left-handed golfers in the history of the game is to be played this summer at the North Hills Country Club, near here (Philadelphia, PA). All of the southpaws in the eastern district have been invited.” Indianapolis Star – February 3, 1924 – “A southpaw tournament is being arranged at Hollywood, and Sol Meyer, president of the Meyer-Kiser back of Indianapolis; his son Ferd Meyer, vice president of the bank and Joe Kelly of Indianapolis, all of whom are left-handed at golf, are enthusiastic entrants.” Lafayette (Indiana) Journal and Courier – August 9, 1924 – “A Chicago columnist says, in referenc to the left handed golf tourney up there, that the only reason that southpaw golfers do not achieve more fame than they do can be blamed on the prevailing scarcity of left-handed golf links.” Evansville Journal – July 28, 1927 – “Nearly 100 southpaw golfers lined up at Spring Brook Country Club course today for the first left-handed golf tournament ever staged in Ohio. During the two day meet the portsiders will compete for the “state portside championship trophy” awarded by the Lima Daily News, which is sponsoring the tournament.” South Bend Tribune – July 29, 1927 – “Final 36 holes in Ohio Tourney for Portside Golfers gets underway.” “Elkins Brawner, Dayton, and A. A. Wells, East Liverpool, brother of Joe Wells, former state champion, were leading the field of Ohio’s portside golfers when play started today in the final 36 holes of the state amateur left-handed golf tournament.” Brawner and Wells each had cards of 163 at the end of the first 36 holes yesterday. Wells took an 83 for low score in the morning round and followed up with another 83 in the afternoon. Brawner had an 87 in the first round but came back with a brilliant 76 in the second round.” Richmond (Indiana) Palladium-Item – July 30, 1927 – Lima Ohio Associated Press article - “A. A. Wells of East Liverpool today holds the distinction of being Ohio’s best amateur left handed golfer. Wells won the honor here yesterday when his total card of 324 for 72 holes play over the Springbrook course was the lowest of 17 portsiders who competed in the state amateur left-handed golf tourney. Incidentally the tournament was believed to be the first state tournament of its kind ever held.” Munster Times – July 2, 1930 – “Indiana State Golf Title for Left-handers to be Decided” – The event is being held at the Cressmoor Country Club of Gary and is sanctioned by the Western Golf Association. The club plans to sponsor a similar tournament each year. This was a 36 hole event with 18 holes played in the morning and afternoon. Lafayette Journal and Courier – July 4, 1930 - “Two score entries are expected for the first annual left handed amateur golf tournament to be held Sunday at the Cressmoor Country Club. The tournament is sponsored by the Cressmoor Club in the hope that it will become an annual affair. The winner will represent the state in a national tournament for left handers to be held in Chicago.” Lafayette Journal and Courier – August 5, 1930 – “Southpaw golfers will rally in Chicago Thursday for the Midlothian Country Club’s twenty-first annual left-handed championship tournament. Rudy Juran of Minneapolis, will defend his title.” The above article implies that they have held a lefty event since 1910! Indianapolis Star – January 8, 1933 – Miami United Press article – “The southpaw golfer will have his day here this winter and the assurance that for a week at least the season on him will be closed. He is invited to hook or slice from the port side, glare down any stray professionals and conduct his own sport clinic from January 16 to 21 at the first annual winter left-handed golf championship under the auspices of the Florida Year-Round Clubs. It also is the outgrowth of the unique organization formed at Columbus, Ohio, several months ago by Everett G. Livesay, who, after holding state and district titles, organized the American Left-Handers Golf Association on the principle that any man who can perform a manual feat better with one hand than with the other can do the same thing in golf. More than 3,500 Invited. The left-handers have drawn thousands to their banner and the competition will be the first national round-up of the strangest bird in the golf aviary. More than thirty-five hundred left-handers have been invited to take part. The tournament will be a match play event, conducted along the same general lines as last summer’s United States Amateur championship at Five Farms, Baltimore. The American Left-Handers Golf Association, comprising several hundred members, includes Babe Ruth, as honorary president, and many other noted figures of sport and American industry.” The above article was also printed in the Evansville Press. Munster Times – January 31, 1933 – “Freddy Webb, of Shelby, North Carolina, admires the trophy he won along with the national left-handed golf championship in a tournament over the Miami Biltmore Country Club course in Miami, Florida.” Picture included. Indianapolis News – September 26, 1933 – “The opening round of the national championship matches for left-handed golfers found the Ohio southpaws in the favored positions today. E. G. Livesay, of Columbus, Ohio, one of the leaders of the National Left-Handers’ Association and present champion, was regarded as having a good chance to repeat. He won last year’s tournament at White Suphur Springs, Virginia. The tournament is open to players of all classes of ability, and consists of four eighteen-hole rounds on the Acacia Country Club course in Cleveland. Among Livesay’s rivals are Eddie Merkle, of Columbus; Charles Teskey, Cleveland district southpaw champion, and Duncan Thompson, of New York. Frank Page, another Clevelander, is entered on his home course.” Max Gnagy has been playing in left-handed golf tournaments for a long time...a long time. You see, Max is 91 years of age!
But Max doesn't just play. He wins! In this year's Indiana State Championship competing in the Grand Masters Division, Gnagy captured yet another Grand Masters title. After an indifferent first round of 87 in his first round, Gnagy came back in the second round with a more typical round of 79 to win the Grand Masters title by 12 strokes. That round was also 12 strokes below his age. Gnagy shows that golf is a sport that can be enjoyed by all for a lifetime. He can still hit the ball 200 yards. He is a fine example for us all. May we be as lucky as Max to be playing so well into our nineties! NALG President received an inquiry from Jon in the UK regarding who the first lefty was that played on the PGA Tour as well as who was the first to play in the United States Open. Jon indicated that the earliest player he could find was Loddie Kempa. Below is my response back to Jon following a few hours of internet research. I learned some interesting things going back in history. Regarding your first question about the first lefty on tour. I guess it depends on when you say the PGA Tour started. National Association of Left-Handed Golfer (NALG) founder Ben Richter was a very good left-handed professional. Prior to founding the NALG, he played in PGA events. In 1932 he was runner up in the St. Louis Spring Open. This LINK shows all the 1932 PGA events that year. Richter also finished 2nd in the PGA Senior Championship in 1947 and 1948 and 4th in 1946. This LINK indicates that Richter played in the 1936 and 1937 PGA Championship - qualifying and losing in the first match-play round in each - as well as the 1929 and 1933 United States Opens. He shot an 80 in the first round of the US Open in 1929 and withdrew in 1933. I could not find how many other tournaments he might have played. In any case, he would have played earlier and more than Loddie Kempa. Obviously the most successful early lefty was Bob Charles who turned professional in 1960 and played on the PGA Tour shortly thereafter. Here is an interesting anecdote from Anecdotage Online about how Richter got his first professional job. “When Ben Richter, one of the country's leading left-hand golfers, decided to turn professional he took advantage of his peculiarity. Hearing that the Triple-A Club of St Louis needed a pro he wrote to its president, Sidney Maestre, and applied for the job. 'But a left-handed pro!' exclaimed Maestre. 'I'll show you in two minutes why a left-handed instructor is better than a right-handed one,' Richter said. 'Face me and I'll show you something.' Richter took his left-handed stance; Maestre, facing him, took his right-handed position. As Richter swung correctly, Maestre copied him easily. 'It's like looking into a mirror,' he admitted, and Richter was appointed club professional.” As far as the United States Open is concerned, there was a reference in an Al Barkow book (Golf’s All Time Firsts, Mosts, Leasts, and a Few Nevers), about Loddie Kempa being the first lefty to play in the US Open in 1948. My research indicated he did not play in 1948 but did in 1950, 1951, 1953 and 1954. He made the cut in 1950 and 1954. But Kempa did not play the PGA Tour. Barkow must not have been familiar with Ben Richter's earlier play. Here are a few quotes I found in “Miracle at Merion” that you might like. 1950 was the year that Ben Hogan came back from his near fatal car crash to win the United States Open. Barkow’s book may have confused Kempa’s win in the 1948 National Left-handed Championship held at French Lick here in Indiana. See the picture below I found. If you are interested in the Masters, the Barkow book had another error. It stated that Gene Ferrell was the first lefty to play in the Masters in 1956. My research indicates that Bob Charles played in 1958 and missed the cut. Ferrell played as an amateur in 1965 and interestingly was disqualified after the first round. I did not find out why. So Ferrell was the first amateur lefty to play in the Masters but Charles was the first lefty. Interestingly, I found a Golf Digest article from this March about 15 Masters firsts that continued the “1956 error”. Even the a Masters Media guide I found on the internet showed it incorrectly as 1956. Ferrell later played on the PGA Tour from 1968-1971 and died only last year. You can find a TV interview with him HERE.
In another bit of lefty trivia, the NALG created an Lefty Open championship (including professionals) that ran from 1961 to 1965. Sid is going to like this next part - There was a $10,000 sponsorship by the founder and owner of DeSoto Lakes Golf and Country Club in Sarasota, Florida. This is now Palm-Aire where Sid lives and plays! Bob Charles won the event in 1962 over defending champion Loddie Kempa by 21 strokes!! The NALG History publication incorrectly calls it DeSota Lakes. I hope you find this information helpful and interesting. |
AuthorI confess! I am an avid golfer. I also play left-handed. Since I now manage the National Association of Left-handed Golfers website, I thought I would start a Blog...this blog! What will I have to say? Stay tuned and find out. Archives
January 2025
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