Golfers are a peculiar bunch. Stubborn and unorthodox sometimes, too. For one former NHL-player-turned-broadcaster who now happens to be a huge golf fan — Tyson Nash — he might be all of the above.
Nash, now a broadcaster for the Utah Hockey Club after he was previously a Coyotes TV color analyst, was the guest on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar podcast, and during it he discussed an odd previous bag setup he used to us.
“Do you think you are the only person in the history of golf to play with a half left-handed set and half right-handed set?” co-host Colt Knost asked him. “The time we played at Whisper Rock you literally showed up with half and half. How do you decide which ones are going to be left and which ones are going to be right?”
“But how talented is that?” Nash fired back. “It was Pat Perez — Pat was my neighbor in Grayhawk for a long time — and we’d always go out golfing. And his coach or his caddie — I can’t remember who he was, obviously a smart golf guy — and he’s like, ‘Dude, you cannot be this bad right-handed. Like, you are an athlete. You have to be left-handed.'”
He broke it down so Nash could try to understand. Which way do you bat? “Left,” Nash said. Which way do you play hockey? “Left,” he said again. Then you are left. Just do it.
It worked. Kind of.
“So the next day, I got rid of all the clubs and got all lefties, and then gradually moved my way back to right, and now I’m all right-handed,” Nash said.
Although he still hasn’t completely kicked his old habits. He still putts left-handed.
You can listen to the complete interview with Nash here or watch it below. He also talks about his NHL career, meeting Wayne Gretzky, what it was like to live in Japan and more.
As GOLF.com’s managing editor, Berhow handles the day-to-day and long-term planning of one of the sport’s most-read news and service websites. He spends most of his days writing, editing, planning and wondering if he’ll ever break 80. Before joining GOLF.com in 2015, he worked at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., he resides in the Twin Cities with his wife and two kids. You can reach him at joshua_berhow@golf.com.
