Wet Grass, Loss of distance?

We had some substantial rains on Friday Night. Saturday Morning I had an 8 am tee time. The ground was sloppy and substantially wet. I noticed almost a full club length of distance loss it this due to the wetness or my swing. thanx great site.

My first guess would be that the weather contributed to your distance issue. A wet grass/ground condition will magnify the slightest problem with impacting the ball. Also, the air will be heavier with humidity after a heavy rain. Greens will be slower due to the increased wetness, so it stands to reason that a ball flying through wetter air will not travel as far as it normally would.

What I do when golfing in damp conditions it to take a longer club, and choke down to help with any distance issue. Choking down helps with swing control with the longer club, since I like to make the extra effort to pick the ball a little cleaner off the wet turf, with a slower, more controlled swing. I also never ground my club in wet conditions.

Hope this helps. GJS

Hi golfjunkiesr,

Just wondered if you could explain to me why you dont ground your club in wet conditions.

Cheers

Mark

It is just a personal preference for me. I feel that I can get away with a mis-hit easier on on dry turf than I can on wet turf. The wet turf just compunds the problem(s) associated with a mis-hit. I am speaking about a sclaffed (fat) shot here. The wet turf (mud) just makes things worse. If you have ever played a ball out of real damp, thin lie you know what I am speaking of. In reality, I don't normally ground my club at any time, as I would rather be a little bit thin, than to take a chance of being a little bit fat. Like they say "thin to win". GJS

When you get moisture between yhe ball and the clubface it creates what is known as a flier, that is not unlike a bald tyre on a wet road.....no traction! Technically this would make the ball fly further given reduction in drag or backspin. However if your approach was too steep you could create more dig or mishit. Playing in the early morning does have other issues such as your stiffness denser atmosphere and therefore a greater drag coefficient on the ball through the air. Couple with that cold steel shafts and things dramatically slow down. My advice is to thoroughly warm up prior to play, keep a ball in your pocket and rotate each hole( even though the modern ball is less likely to be affected by temp.) use a lower compression ball, and the night before play keep your clubs inside the house to ensure shafts do not "freeze".Good luck!