Winter golf

This year for the first time I have entered the winter league at my club. But in the winter my shortgame goes from bad to worse. I can't get used to the bunkers being hard and compacted and the fairway greens!!

any advice???

I'v got my first fourball tie this weekend! The other day I shot 81, par 67 winter course. It would have been 75 if I had known how far forward the greens were. I kept on over shooting them by at least 10 yards! I couldn't putt or chip either!

I take it you are looking for a better answer than dont hit it in the bunkers???

For compacted bunkers use a wedge with less bounce and chip it rather than splash it out. High bounce wedges just skid over the compacted sand and make you thin the ball. using a wedge like you would off the fairway is easier, just remember to compensate for less distance out the sand.

When playing to winter greens the basic rule of thumb is to get as close as you can first of all. Its usually better to use lower clubs to chip to them letting the ball travel longer along the ground. The main problem with winter greens is that they are fairways and chips need to run slightly hotter to compensate for the longer grass.

As for the overshooting greens in the first place, get a planner and try your best to work out the distances from that.

D.

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thanks mizunoman,

the bunkers aren't a major problem as they're not really near the winter greens but when I was playing to the normal greens a few weeks ago and the sand was hard and compacted I was terrible and bunkers have been 1 of my strong points.

Also how much less further will the ball carry due to the colder conditions?

Use a Precept Laddie, the cold doesn't seem to affect it. I use 60 degree lob wedge with the face wide open out of hard, compacted bunkers. When the ground becomes really firm, you must start bouncing the ball on the green. I love winter golf. Course isn't crowded and you can have a lot of fun. No water hazards to worry about either, once they freeze over.

Craig - i love winter golf but treat it as a completely different game and don't take my scores so seriously in the winter. On the fairway greens i often add a bit of wrist too the stroke just to get the ball to the hole. The distances are hilarious in difference. On my course, which is very windy, the cold can make as much as three club difference on a par three. An example of how it affects my game is on a 460 yard par 4 we have. In summer its often drive 8,9,w for me, last week, into a cold gale it was nailed driver, rescue and 20 yard pitch!! Just got to enjoy it and be grateful to play!

Oh and for hard bunkers i make sure i have more weight on the front foot and really break my wrists in the backswing. If the sand is really hard i will even treat it like fairway and take the ball first. It comes out lower but has a lot of spin.

nick

Great advice Nick,

Just treat it as a bit of fun and keeping your swing going, as for bunkers, use them to practice your chipping, anything fat the ball stays in, hit the ball first and your away.

We use wedges for putting to practice the bladed wedge from the edge of the green used in summer.

And finally we have a comp to see who can name the ball flight into the green and generate the most backspin.


All good fun


Ian.

I can offer one tip, take 6 balls and plunge them in hot water for about halve an hour or so ,change at each hole. You should find distance to be appreciably longer. If bunkers are hard packed try using 9 iron, sand wedge has too much bounce.

Balls always fly lower and shorter in the cold air cos it's more dense than warm air. I usually club up one in the winter, except when its rock hard underfoot of course

D.

Had my first winter league tie today. We won 3&2. My partner shot 79 (off 16) while I shot 80 (off 15). par 69.

I played well but I kept on forgetting to club up one due to the cold and lack of run. My putting was poor. I allowed for too much break. my chipping was always skidding past the flag.

stats:

GIR: 4/18 (missed 2 short, 2 missed due to winter greens being smaller)
Fairways: 3/13
Putts per GIR: 2
putts: 32
scrambles: 29%

Ah well to next weeks match and hopefully another 2 points.

__________________
Craig

My bag:

Taylormade r7 9.5* Stiff stock shaft
Sonartec SS2.5 3+ 13* Stiff Fujikura Tour Platform shaft
Taylormade Utility 2 16* XS Fujikura TP stock shaft
Titleist 904F 4 wood 17* Stiff Aldila NV85 shaft
Mizuno MP67 3-PW S300 shafts
Cleveland 588 47*, 53*, 56* DSG, 60*
Odyssey White Hot #4 putter