There’s left handed and right handed. In surfing, there’s goofy and regular. But where did the term “goofy-footed surfer” come from, what does it mean, and is there any association between being left-handed and being goofy-footed?
Goofy vs. Regular Stance
There are two stances in surfing — goofy and regular. A regular-stanced surfer surfs with their left foot closer to the front of their board and their right foot as their dominant leg.
A goofy-footed surfer surfs with their right leg closer to the front of their board, with the back, left leg acting as the dominant leg to steer and control the surfboard.
Where Does the Term “Goofy” Come From?
The term “goofy-footed surfer” is thought to come from Walt Disney’s “Hawaiian Holiday,” an 8-minute animated short complete with Mickey, Goofy, Pluto and more of the Disney tribe. In the movie, Goofy rides with his right foot forward during a surf lesson. Later on, he switches back to regular stance.
Another theory is from Desmond Muirheads 1962 book “Surfing in Hawaii.” Muirhead mentions that surfers with their right foot forward were referred to as goofy — but just where and from whom the term originated on the islands might never be uncovered.
Having a dominant left hand does not mean that a surfer, skater or snowboarder will be goofy-footed. In fact, there is no known scientific correlation between a dominant hand and a surfer’s stance. Therefore, there is no relation between being left-handed and surfing or skating with a dominant back left foot. According to Scientific American, 90% of the world’s population are right handed while an unknown exact percentage of the board-riding population is goofy-footed.
Some information, however, can be gleaned from a recent (2021) poll with 231 goofy-footed respondents.
17.7% of poll respondents indicated that they were both left-handed and also goofy footed. But the other 82.3% were goofy-footed and right-handed. This would seem that left-handed board-riders might have a slight lean toward turning out goofy-footed, however, it would be entirely false to say that most goofy-footed surfers are left-handed.