Winter play adjustments

You could do what they do for winter golf on the Old Course St. Andrews. Carry around a patch of plastic turf and hit all you shots off of it. Depending on your course, handicap committee, and fellow golfers, may not be feasible for you but its an option.

We play year round here in south Jersey. When it's that muddy, lift, clean, and place. Frozen greens call for bump and runs. The course pretty much dictates what our next shot will be. I carry 3 hybrids all winter. That seems to help as well.
Play Well,
Steve S.

Over the winter on my course if you are on the fairway you have to play from one of they rubber matts. They are great for protecting the course, but for me recovering from my shoulder injury, a hitting everything flat the now I struggle and shank a lot from this.
I tend to lift me ball, drop it in the semi rough and play a lot of pitch and run shots the now.

Preferred lies and plenty of pitch and runs also. Most approach shots need extra room to run out. Cold drinks replaced with hot coffee thermos for sure.

I played with a group of guys who have their own "winter rules." Lift, clean, place was the main rule. The other one, which was pretty funny, was "never pull the pin- if you hit the pin, it counts as a 'holed' shot." So if you hit the pin from the fairway, it's in.

Cant play in the winter......... I live in Wisconsin.

We play more games that are not focused on score. This allows us to be more lenient about adjusting lies, cleaning the ball and moving the ball where it's soggy. Also, our course puts the pins in the tee boxes so we play the course backwards (green to tee) which is a change of pace. I didn't think I would like this at first but turns out we have a lot of fun and helps tighten your wedge game up some!

I think the number one thing you need to change for winter golf is your expectations. Unless you live in a place that's truly playable year round (possibly uninhabitable in the summer) you're probably poking the peg in dormant tee boxes and hitting down frozen fairways.

Here in MA we've been lucky enough to hold off the snow, but golf here feels a bit more like playing on a parking lot. Think Augusta fast, concrete hard, and brown. You have to bounce it up on the green if you want a chance at putting, and if you can hit a 4 iron really straight, you might get a 300+ yard 'drive'.

We also have our own winter rules (can't post a score till April anyway), it's up everywhere (one club length but has to stay in the same cut), max is double, and you can take relief from really frozen, muddy or wet spots. We almost always play match play or 4 ball, and sometimes stableford,or skins, but most importantly we have fun.

You can't expect to shoot career low rounds when you're dressed like the little brother from Christmas Story. It's truly bonus time here in New England, and every day without snow is one day closer to the start of the real golf season.

Muddy shots are caused by wet conditions. If you can draw water you can improve your lie. Casual water.

To avoid getting feet wet I wear FJ golf boots. Have been wearing them for about three years. 100% waterproof, have spikes for traction and are lined to keep feet warm when it is chilly. They have best investment I have made for winter conditions. Keep my regular golf shoes for better conditions. Wipe them off with a damp rag.

I forward press in the summer...dont as much in the winter. Simple but helps with fat shots for me.

Extra towels and socks, 3/4 swing each time!

Good suggestions, all. I had a funny experience years ago right after I finished grad school. I was playing a course in the northeast during a late-winter thaw. The hole was a par three. I flubbed my tee shot, and it only went about 100 yards. My approach to the green had to be high to make the elevated green, the front of which was guarded by a mucky area filled with weeds and cattails. I used a wedge, and it looked like it landed at the edge of the green. I got to where I thought it landed, but the ball was nowhere in sight. Finally, I saw what looked like a ball mark on the berm of the green. Using a golf pencil, poked it in the hole. Nothing. Then I took out a toothbrush I kept to clean my clubs and poked it into the hole. At the end of the brush, I hit something solid, presumably my ball. Never had a ball embedded so deep before. Not having a shovel, I left it be, thinking that a golf ball tree might someday sprout from the spot.

Thanks guys all good ideals I guess the best was the expectations part. I guess deep down I was looking for a cure for winter and the sloppy weather and conditions that just happen. Maybe I need a different addiction in the winter like watching paint dry. LOL! Just love playing and don't want to quit in the off seasons would go crazy if I were living in the northern parts of the country like some of you

I agree Dwayne! Can't accept the idea of putting away your clubs for the Winter season. It is a foreign concept to me.

Here in New Hampshire our outside temp was 5 this morning and our golf is indoors on simulators, with one facility near me that has a heated boot area where you hit off matts outside. Pretty funny to watch your ball sailing through falling snow!

A brilliant day of winter golf
Links golf at its best 30mph wind and 9 degrees temp to contend with but A day to make you feel truely alive!
Dunstanburgh Castle Golf Club, Northumberland, England

I live in Michigan, and for the most part winter golf is not much of an option. I usually spend my winters hitting from the heated tee's that different shops will have. My goal is to start playing outside in March, it will be muddy, but by then I'm sick of range balls.

Interested in understsnding the complete spectrum of composites used on the PGA tour.

Rounds are not official here in the Chicago area. We pick, clean, place. The idea is to have fun and stay loose. No sense risking injury or club damage by hitting off frozen turf. The scores may not count, and it may be ugly, but I still play. The goal every year is to play at least once in every month.

Great goal! I was lucky enough to play New Years day. Missed birdie on my first hole on the new year by an inch. Stupid new putter. Baby #2 due Feb 4th, so I might be able to sneak out the weekend before assuming Boston doesn't get hammered with snow by then. After that, all golf is indefinitely suspended.