Hitting Left Handed

March 28, 2004 I played nine today at my home course and discovered another shot that I need to add to my repertoire: a left handed pitch. It was a gusty day, and throughout the round, I had managed to keep it low enough take the wind out of play. At the par-3 9th, however, I got it up in the air and watched in horror as it drifted away to the left. When I got there, I found my ball nestled snugly against a pine tree, about 15 yards from the green. There simply was no way I could take my normal, right handed stance with the ball in that position. Rather than declare it unplayable, I decided to flip my 6 iron over (that's the lowest iron I was carrying), and hit a pitch left handed. It didn't work. The ball dribbled out and rolled into the intervening sand trap. I ended up taking a 5. Of course, if I had declared it unplayable and dropped, I would have taken at least a 5 anyway. I'm convinced, though, that had I practiced that shot previously, I would have been able to get it up, over and on to the green. Maybe I should have tried another club. I'm going to experiment the next time I'm at the range.