Distances effected by ball construction or temps?

[Oddsocks]

Today I had some strange distance changes compared with the game I played on Thursday and I can only associate it to one thing, ball compression vs temperature.

On Thursday it was around 8* and as I was out of DX3 i was using a couple of PTS Carry's that were knocking around in the bag. Now im not totally sure of the construction of the PTS's but im 90% its a 2 piece ball and it generally felt a tad harder than the normal DX3, which wasnt an issue as the greens were super soft anyway. I had a pretty good game and noticed my old distances were back to where I was used to them being:

6I - 165
7I - 150
8I - 140
9I - 125
PW/46* - 100

Today I was back using DX3 which are a slightly softer 3 piece ball and my distances had dropped dramatically.

6I 145/150
7I 145/140
8I 125/130
9i 105/110
pw/46* 85/90

Today the weather sat at around 2/3* most of the day, and what was even more strange is the ground was harder due to a slight frost which logically should have given me a bit more run/roll where as Thursday was warm with no frost so the ground was pretty soft with little or no run.

So, my question is was todays loss of distance due to the colder temps, the soft ball or a mix of the 2.

In my opinion I was swinging and striking the ball the same as I did thursday, yet today I was constantly short on every shot even if I struck the ball super sweet.

Is it a case that im not compressing the dx3 enough in the colder temps for it to perform to its best, and would I be better better off on the colder days using a 2 piece ball.

Many thanks.
Confused Socks

 

[Imurg]

Temperature does make a difference.
All balls are optimized to perform at their best at 70 degrees F.
For every 3 degrees F below that you lose 1 yard of distance purely down to the temperature.
Thursday was 8C = 46F
Today was 2C = 35F
11F difference therefore about 4 yards less distance due to temperature.
The rest comes from the different ball construction

 

[brendy]

Probably temperature. I used a provisional pts carry ball while playing a prov1x as my main ball. The pts carry was no longer than the prov. I put any lack of distance down to ground conditions while striking the ball and air temperature.

That, and being inconsistent handicap golfers wont help.

 

[Oddsocks]

Hmmmmmm didn't think 5* weather drop would rob me of almost 20 yards on each iron. Maybe I was just swinging smoother and not crunching the ball as hard

 

[Oddsocks]

Temperature does make a difference.
All balls are optimized to perform at their best at 70 degrees F.
For every 3 degrees F below that you lose 1 yard of distance purely down to the temperature.
Thursday was 8C = 46F
Today was 2C = 35F
11F difference therefore about 4 yards less distance due to temperature.
The rest comes from the different ball construction

So with this in mind would I be better using a 2 piece harder ball in colder conditions ?

 

[brendy]

Nah, just a saucepan and primus stove

 

[JustOne]

I think it must be down to temperature, it was cold today and I didn't manage to hit any drives over 300yds

 

[Oddsocks]

Heaven forbid Justone, you mean poor old leftie carried you all day

 

[JustOne]

Leftie and I are golf relatives (like Father/Son)

...we can both duff it round close to our h/caps

 

[Region3]

Would the temperature drop affect how stiff the shaft plays at all, ie less flexible in colder conditions?

 

[Oddsocks]

A factor I hadn't taken into account or thought about. Can see some testing going on Saturday morning on our little 9 hole

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Funnily enough I had a similar problem yesterday. Hit the club I would usually take based on SC5's yardage and seemed to be coming up 5-10 yards short even with perfect strikes. After about 5 holes I twigged and just took one more club. It was funny how on Friday in 8 degrees the ball seemed to fly that much better than yesterday (2 degrees) and with no wind influencing the outcomes

 

[Oddsocks]

It was crazy how much the distances were effected. The worst bit was just as you had the one club more thing sorted, the temps dropped again and so did the distances.

I gps tracked what was an absolute peach of a drive, right out ghe middle of the club and guess what 235 yards total

 

[Smiffy]

Roll on the Summer and higher temperatures.
Just thinking of the number of 300 yard drive threads to come fills me with glee

 

[Oddsocks]

It was cold, that's my excuse .

 

[patricks148]

I tend to lose about 20 yards on iron shots over the winter. I just use any old ball thats in my carry bag and they are balls found while walking the dog. She only likes the smell of top sh*te & Pinnicle blue circle.

 

[jeardley]

I dont think that 1 yard for every 3 degrees is a straight line graph either.

The colder it gets it has even more of an effect on distance i'm sure.

The air gets very dense around 0 - 2 degrees.

Anybody drive a turbo-ed car and notice how it feels nippier / more responsive in cold temps around freezing?? its because the air is that much denser.

 

[Oddsocks]

so the answer is " use the old toilet balls you find all year on the cold days "

 

[USER1999]

No, the main answer is don't play when it is that cold. Do something more sensible instead, like sitting by a fire, with a blanket wrapped around your legs and a nice glass of whisky in your hands.

 

[Oddsocks]

wrong murph, ill have to engage in a coversation with HID then..... what a silly answer!