The Eye Dominance Lie

Why everything you’ve been told about “your dominant eye” in sports is wrong — and what actually drives elite vision performance.

Over my 30+ years working with professional athletes—from Major League Baseball players to Olympic skiers—I've been asked one question more than any other: "Doc, which is my dominant eye, and how does it affect my game?"

Today, I want to share something that might surprise you: Most of what you've heard about eye dominance is probably wrong. And if you're an athlete, coach, or parent, this misconception might actually be holding you back.

The Great Eye Dominance Myth

Let me start with a confession. Early in my career, I also believed in the traditional concept of eye dominance. It seemed logical—we have a dominant hand, so surely we must have a dominant eye, right? But as I completed my medical training, began testing hundreds of professional baseball players and analyzed their performance data, something simply didn't add up.

The turning point came when I studied 410 Major and Minor League players. We looked at whether having your dominant eye on the same side as your dominant hand (what we call "same dominance") versus opposite sides ("crossed dominance") affected batting performance. The result? Absolutely no difference in batting average, slugging percentage, or on-base percentage.

That's when I realized we've been thinking about this all wrong.

Why Your Eyes Aren't Like Your Hands

Here's the fundamental problem: We've been trying to force the concept of hand dominance onto our eyes, but they're completely different systems. Your hands are designed to work independently—you can write with one while holding coffee with the other. But your eyes? They're specifically engineered to work as a team.

When you use both eyes together, something magical happens—you get stereopsis, or 3D vision (aka HD depth perception). This enhanced depth perception is crucial for virtually every sport, from judging a fastball's trajectory to timing your approach on a ski slope. Having one eye "dominate" the other actually interferes with this superpower.

Think about it: We don't play sports with one eye closed. Every sport I can think of (except for some shooting sports) requires both eyes working in perfect harmony. So why are we so obsessed with identifying which eye is "dominant"?

The Testing Problem

The most common eye dominance test—the one where you make a triangle with your hands and look at a distant object—is particularly problematic. I call this the "hole in the card" test, and it's been around since the 1950s. The issue? It forces you to choose either left or right, with no in-between physically possible.

But here's what my research revealed: When we developed a more sophisticated pointing test that allows for intermediate results, we discovered that most people don't have pure left or right dominance at all. Instead, they show various degrees of eye preference, with many people using both eyes equally—which is exactly what we want for optimal vision!

Even more troubling, different tests give different results. A Swedish eye dominance study found no correlation between forced-choice tests and more nuanced measurements. Canadian researchers discovered that the same eye dominance test could give different results depending on the testing distance. And when we tested children repeatedly, nearly half couldn't achieve consistent results.

If we can't even agree on how to measure eye dominance, or get consistent results from our tests, how can we claim it's important for sports performance?

What Really Matters

So if eye dominance isn't the key to athletic success, what is? After decades of research and working with champions across multiple sports, I've found that the real visual skills that matter are:

1. Visual acuity and contrast sensitivity - Can you see clearly in various lighting conditions?
2. Binocular vision - How well do your eyes work together as a team?
3. Decision Making - How accurately can you make a decision based on vision?
4. Visual-motor coordination - How quickly can you translate what you see into action?
5. Visual attention - Can you focus on relevant information while filtering out distractions?

These are the visual skills that separate good athletes from great ones, not whether your left or right eye is "dominant."

The Exception to the Rule

Now, I should mention there are specific situations where eye preference (I prefer this term to "dominance") does matter. In shooting sports and archery, where you're actually closing one eye or using one eye to sight down a scope, knowing which eye to use is crucial. But these are the exceptions, not the rule.

For the vast majority of sports—baseball, basketball, football/soccer, American football, tennis, golf, skiing—you want both eyes working together optimally. Period.

Moving Forward

Despite the scientific evidence, the myth of eye dominance persists. It's still taught in coaching clinics, promoted by well-meaning eye care professionals, and passed down from generation to generation of athletes. Old ideas die hard, especially when they seem intuitively correct.

But here's my challenge to you: Instead of worrying about which eye is dominant, focus on optimizing how both eyes work together. Get a comprehensive sports vision evaluation that measures the visual skills that actually matter for your sport. Train your visual system as a coordinated unit, not as competing parts.

Remember, you're not trying to favor one eye over the other—you're trying to create a visual system that gives you maximum information about your environment so you can perform at your best.

After three decades in this field, if there's one message I want to leave you with, it's this: Your eyes are partners, not competitors. Treat them that way, and you'll see the difference in your performance.

Train smart, see clearly, and use both eyes!