Playing golf in the winter time is definitely relative to the region of the country or world that you live in. I live in Portland Oregon and winters here are not like the winters in Minnesota and the winters in Minnesota are not like the winters in Texas, I think you get the point.
If you want to learn or get better at hitting golf clubs in cold weather than you are going to have to start practicing in those conditions. That’s really the only way you can feel more confident about your game during the winter season.
Pick Your Battles
There is such a thing as Too Cold To Play, but sometimes you need to experience that before you actually understand what that means.
My birthday is during the winter months and one thing I don’t get to do very often plays golf on that day. One year a buddy of mine decided to take me out for 18 holes and I can remember it like it was yesterday, extremely cold, cold, cold.
If you’re looking for some great golf clothing, check out this Spyder Bandit Half Zip Stryke Fleece. It’s got a comfortable design with modern-day golf look to it. Plus, it will keep you toasty. But you might need more layers if you’re playing in the conditions mentioned below.
A Little Story
The night before the round the temperatures dropped into the teens and we had an early morning tee time because it was a GolfNow Hot Deal. A few things were pretty obvious to me preparing for that round.
- I needed to dress much warmer that day because the temperature was still below freezing when I arrived at the course.
- I needed to bring some warm gloves and those 8-hour hand warmers.
- Toe warmers because if I play in temperatures colder than 45 degrees my toes go numb and it becomes uncomfortable for me.
- A hot beverage in a thermos.
- Earmuffs or a beanie, if my ears get too cold then my entire body is out of whack for some reason so this is a must for me.
- A soft golf ball
Teeing off wasn’t terrible because we had just come from the clubhouse where it was nice a warm so our bodies weren’t stiff.
After I teed off I didn’t expect what I was about to see
It was so cold outside that when I hit the ball it sounded like I was hitting a rock. After I hit the ball, I was watching it fly through the air and when it landed in the fairway, the ball started bouncing like it hit concrete. I managed to get some decent yardage out of a poor golf shot but I couldn’t believe what I just witnessed.
The approach shots were nothing like a traditional approach shot, anything 50 yards in were extremely long putts. Anything beyond 50 yards I was picking targets half the distance to the flag and letting the ball run up.
Putts were similar to putting on a slightly bumpy concrete slab because every minor bump in the green would make the ball bounce.
I would say the cold conditions mentioned above are the times you might want to pass on the round.
Thankfully, I was prepared for the things that I could control like the six things listed above because that was extremely cold conditions for sure. Now that I think about it, how miserable would I have been if I didn’t plan appropriately for this round, I don’t know if I would have finished, to tell the truth.
Wet and Cold Conditions
If you decide to go play golf on a day that you know is going to be raining and the temperature is around 35 – 45 degrees, you might be the type of person that would enjoy the frozen course.
Wet and cold isn’t any fun for me and I don’t think I have ever booked a round of golf when I knew it was going to rain during the round. There was always the possibility of rain but never guaranteed.
Same tips for playing in the extreme cold apply to this but you need to have a rain suit if you want to enjoy playing in the rain. An umbrella would be nice but as long as your body is covered and protected than that should be enough.
Rainsuits aren’t comfortable to wear because I feel like they restrict mobility and the backswing always feels funny.
I remember playing when there was a good chance that we would get some rain but we weren’t sure if it would be a sprinkle or a torrential downpour. Well, it was the latter but thankfully I had my rain suit ready to go on the side pocket and an umbrella. I think it ended up raining off and on that entire round so I couldn’t take the rain suit off : (
Just Wet Condition
Wet conditions can be okay sometimes, I say okay because if you were playing in Hawaii and it started pouring down rain, you probably wouldn’t care that much. It’s definitely relative to the location you are playing.
I will generally get annoyed because it can mess with my game pretty bad. So many things matter when it starts raining that you need to adjust appropriately. When it rains where I live, it could last for thirty minutes to a few hours or days. The temperature can drop 10 degrees in that time frame too which makes it a bit more difficult to play.
Just Wind
This can be as frustrating as really cold temps or be pouring down rain. I say this because you may think you figured out how the wind will affect your ball after hitting it. But you come to find out when the ball ends up 30 yards off target, you underestimated the wind.
I have an entire post on How To Play Golf On A Windy Day that you should check out.
Snow
I have never played golf in the snow, mostly because when it snows here we like to go out and enjoy it by doing other activities. Sledding, snowmen, walking around, things like that. I don’t think I have even thought about playing in the snow but I know some people have.
The people that try to play in the snow are probably itching to hit the ball, I can understand the feeling but there has to be a limit. My limit is not playing in temperatures below 40 degrees, only because it’s just not fun for me. But it took a really cold day for me to realize this so if it takes a really snowy day for you to realize it is not worth it, so be it.
Just Remember
Dress for the occasion, don’t assume that the weatherman knows everything. If you don’t dress for the occasion than at least prepare for the occasion by stuffing your golf bag with the essentials.
Most of those essentials you can find on amazon
I want to thank you for reading this post and I hope you enjoyed it, feel free to share if you think someone could get some good use out of it.