Right- & Left-Eye Dominance

By: Bob Boldt


Almost everyone has a dominant eye, and I check all of my students for right- or left-eye dominance. If you are right-handed you will be right-eye dominant, generally speaking. Left-handed, left-eye dominant, with most people.

Why is this important? Golfers, right- or left-handed, are looking at the target with their non-dominant eye, which distorts the view left or right of the intended line. If a golfer is lined up to the right or left of the target, there is no way to hit the ball on a straight line. This underrated factor is especially important in putting.

To find out if you are right- or left-eye dominant, pick out a target approximately 100-200 yards directly in front of you and put your finger directly on the target with both eyes open. Close your right eye and left eye, one at a time, to find out where your finger moves. With your dominant eye the finger will not move.

My right eye is so dominant that my finger moves approximately 30 yards to the right on a 200-yard target.

Complicating this situation further, the body line is not on the intended line of flight unless an adjustment is made. Depending on the length of the club, the body will be up to 3 to 4 feet from the actual line of flight.

To cite an example of how difficult it is to address the proper line of flight, I couldn't get lined up properly on the first hole at Southern Hills in Tulsa during my practice rounds at the 1977 U.S. Open. I was always left or right of the fairway. The rough was so high that missing a fairway was an automatic bogey.

When I arrived to check in I looked at my pairing, and to my astonishment I was paired with Lee Trevino and Tom Weiskopf. Being that I was a club professional and qualifier, I was puzzled at why I was paired with two major champions. I was told I was put in as a filler, since one of the leading money-winners suddenly withdrew and the USGA couldn't change the pairings.

Fortunately, I knew Lee, and then introduced myself to Weiskopf, who gave me a glance like, "How in the hell did you get in this pairing?" I then told Lee that I was going to do something unusual on the first tee and not to laugh.

I was first to tee off, my name announced in front of thousands of spectators on a hillside. I put my 1-iron on the ground as a visual alignment aid set to my intended line, addressed the ball with a driver with my feet parallel to the 1-iron, had my caddie pick up the club and then I hit the ball right down the middle.

After Lee and Tom teed off a U.S. Open official come running down the fairway stating that I was going to be penalized two strokes. I told the official he'd better check the rule book, as there is no penalty for aligning your feet to a club on the ground as long as the club is picked up before hitting the ball. Two other officials later came out on the back nine and said there was no penalty but that this rule would be changed the following year. It wasn't changed, you can still do it.

It isn't very often that you can "beat" the officials in a major championship when they put their reputations on the line; it's a moment in the sun for them if they can impose a rule infraction.

I missed the cut but went into the USGA tent to confirm the ruling and stated this should be kept in the Rules of Golf to allow amateurs and professionals an effective method of getting themselves lined up. The USGA officials told me that if I had made a mark on the ground after I picked up the club I would have had a two-stroke penalty, but we couldn't find any marks.

It was so nice to beat these officials at their own game, even though I didn't make the cut.

Bob Boldt turned 77 in September 2014. Married for 31 years to Patricia, the father of two - including two sons, Rob and Jason, who are golf professionals and excellent players - played on the PGA and Champions tours for dozens of years, earning multiple victories in his amateur and professional careers.

Boldt, who attended Cal and became the Bears' men's golf coach, is a long-time native of Northern California and currently the director of golf at Vintners Golf Club in Yountville, where he is one of state's most recognized golf instructors. He received the Northern California PGA Section Junior Golf Leader Award in 1999.