Bad Weather

[thomas1981]

Just wondering how bad does it have to get before you call it a day and head for the clubhouse?

I've just started playing and so keen at the moment i would play until i got dragged off the course.

And if any tips going on how to cope with our wet soggy winter months would be appreciated.

 

[Imurg]

Well.

Today at 7.30 we were all set for one of our number to go home and get his Wii - we were going to play that instead. But then we thought - its only a drop of rain lets go.

By the 3rd we were completely drenched but we kept going and eventually it stopped. The waterproofs worked a treat.

My advise is :- as long as it is safe, get out and play.

 

[johng]

If you have the right waterproofs I would pretty much play in anything that didn't close the course or wasn't safe, i.e lightning.

Slightly different setting out in the wind and rain to it coming on halfway round I admit. Can't recollect ever walking off the course due to bad weather. Hardest thing is trying to make sure your grips don't become, well, ungrippable due to the rain. Other than that go play!

John.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

There is a competition at my club over one of the bank holidays whereby you put two cards in over any three days of the weekend. We put our first cards in on the Saturday but had to play on the Monday as my partners had other committments. It had rained on the Sunday but it was pouring down as we teed off and the wind was getting up nicely.

We were the only ones on the course (at 9.00am) and by the time we had played the 2nd everything was soaked and even the Footjoy rain glove was showing signs of giving up the ghost. We ploughed on up the 3rd and by the time I got to the 4th tee I was on 7 points and playing nicely. However when we got to the 4th green it was a different story. Whilst all the others had puddles on this was completely sodden. I only had a 10 foot birdie putt and hit it as hard as I could and still had a 6 footer for par!!

We decided the course was unplayable and walked back in. The pro called the greenkeeper who drove to the 4th and promptly shut the course. Whilst I had been happy to carry on it was the right decision as it had become farcical. I think its the only time I've actually given up due to the weather and walked in other than for lightning or fog coming down

 

[Cernunnos]

In Wales it was bassically I'd have played on through gale force winds & horizontal rain, yet bassically it was my playing partners who essentially wanted to head back to the clubhouse & call it a day.

I've never yet come off the course due to weather, considered comming off when I could hear thunder & counting the seconds between flashes & rumbles whilst playing, essentially waiting to see if the claxon would or wouldn't call us in, but whilst there was numerous seconds between flashes & rumbles I was happy to carry on. Had the gap fallen to 5 seconds, then I probably & I say probably would have come in unless called in.

Wind, rain, frost & snow doesn't bother me.Normally I'd not think twice when its either wind or rain, though I'd think twice before going out in wind & rain, but would still go out anyway even after thinking twice.

Oh btw... I've also played in thisck fog on the eascoast. I must mention, by the time I finished the round it turned into one of my favorite rounds of that year & also a lovely sunny day by the time I came off the course after 18 holes... great fun.

 

[USER1999]

I have walked off after 3 holes. No waterproofs, no hat, no umbrella, biblical rain. Not fun. Now, I will play til the greens flood (if correctly dressed), afterwhich there is no point. Not a big fan of horizontal rain though, especially combined with poor visibility. Crowborough any one?

 

[Cernunnos]

"murph", you've pointed out the only thing that would remove many of us from a course & that's the course itself & if we choose to play a course that in itelf does not cope well with bad weather. Its not the weather itself but the ground conditions that are the deciding factor.

For instance when turning up at a course only to find the fairway under 6ft of water due to the river bank having broken & half the River Trent occupying 18 holes. Extreme I know, but as an example it means any form of golf would be impossible even with flippers, wetsuit & a snorkle.

I played a lovely course near chester recently that on a lovely sunny day I considered damn near unplayable due to the soft going, infact I considered it considerably more unplayable than Nefyn in a force 10 & horizontal rain, as at least at Nefyn the ground conditions were great, even with all the wet stuff falling out of a darkening sqawly sky.

Infact if I'd have decided to walk off any course it would have been Carden Park on that hot sunny October day, but I'd have been outvoted 2 to 1. As opposed to Nefyn where I was all for carrying on, but I lost 2 votes to 1 & one undecided.

 

[baldy]

We played yesterday it was tipping down ,the greens had a few puddles the wind was howling but we were well wrapped up in our waterproofs, wooly hats and brollies.As we came off the 18th glad to be heading home the junior medal was about to start and not one of them had so much as a jacket on a few were in polo shirts the strangest thing was all the poulter hair styles were still perfectly in place .OH TO BE YOUNG AGAIN.

 

[Smiffy]

Worst rain I think I have ever played in was a few years ago during a society meet at St Mellion. Large field and I was about 5 or 6 groups from the back. Teed off the first in light drizzle, which stayed with us for the first 10 or 11 holes, but on the 12th it started raining like I have never seen rain before. No wind at all, but the heaviest rain I have ever been out in. One of the guys in the group behind didn't have waterproofs on and was absolutely soaked as you can imagine. We got to about the 14th and it was impossible to carry on. The greens were flooded, so we trooped back to the clubhouse. By the time we got down to the 18th it was almost impossible to tell the green from the pond that sits in front of it! The giveaway was the flag.
The final six or seven groups were awarded "special" prizes for staying out as long as they did...

When I first started playing I would go out in any weather, and have played courses before where the greens were so frozen that I could get more stop on the ball if I played into my patio. But we carried on playing, enjoying every minute.
Not now though..

 

[Imurg]

Going to need to wrap up warm this week Guys

Those nasty Weathermen (not the Weathergirls - they're alright!) tell me its going to be frosty.....

 

[bernix]

I've also played in thisck fog on the eascoast.

Isn't that dangerous?
You have to shout "fore" after each and every shot - perhaps even before you hit the ball - dont you

 

[Parmo]

Until the grips give way, wasnt a problem with the new decade but standard tour might be another problem, I tend not to play when rain is forcast, but having said that Wind is the most dangerous I think.

 

[birdieman]

As some enlightened person once said -

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing"

I think they were from Fort William!

The older you get the more of a fair weather golfer you become I reckon. At 17 I'd have played in any weather, now in late 30's I have other things to do on a crappy day.
However if you can march round at high speed in a 2 ball bounce game and get some decent exercise it's ok but if you are in a club comp 3ball for example it can be desperate in poor weather particularly if your scorecard is gone by the 5th or 6th and play is slow.

 

[viscount17]

I've also played in thisck fog on the eascoast.

Isn't that dangerous?
You have to shout "fore" after each and every shot - perhaps even before you hit the ball - dont you

depends how many other lunatics escaped from the asylum

 

[Herbie]

I am happy to complete a game in any weather conditions that occur during a round, however, if its lousy to begin with I dont start unless its necessary for a registered comp.

 

[RGuk]

I played today knowing it was going to be windy with freakish short downpours.

What I has lern'd?

No.1 Goodbye trolley, welcome back carry bag....starting tomorrow.
No.2 Goodbye some clubs.....which ones, I can't quite work out, but the course is playing way longer.
No.3 Take more gloves.....used all 3 and immediately got two more from Sports World after shopping for supper.
No.4 In just a few weeks, Golf at mine has become some sort of hobby for Hippos....mud, mud, horrible mud.

Squidgy fairways, compacted bunkers, muddy lies around the green......arrghhh.....the horror of winter golf.

 

[Cernunnos]

Played today. had a bit of rain first thing & it had over night gotten the course the wettest I've so far seen it, yet, general ground conditions were very good, in most the positions my ball was in all day. breezy, but nothing too bad.

 

[vig]

Managed to get 18 holes in today, in short sleeves, breezy but dry. Course in good nick although no run on the fairways, shot a gross 80 and missed 3 shortish putts.

 

[Imurg]

Guess what!

They're forcasting snow tomorrow around here.

 

[forefortheday]

Played Saturday at a course in Lancs that climbs up to the highest point for miles around the walk up the 17th fairway as the wind drove the rain sideways into your face was delightful!

If you hit it in the air the wind grabbed it and pushed it all over, if you tried to run it up to the green the ball got stuck on soggy muddy ground

Doing it all again on Thursday