Golf on Frozen Fairways

[DrGolfer]

I played today in the morning in -2 and it was a pretty miserable experience because of the course conditions. However, I’m trying to figure out what went wrong before I go out again.

Today I was hitting bad approach shots that were not the typical sort for me. Normally my issue is hitting short (thinning the ball) but today I was hitting slices/borderline shanks with mid irons and hybrids which I haven’t done in months.

It was freezing and the fairways, rough, tee boxes were all rock hard. My setup was the same as for any other day but I’m wondering if the club might be bouncing a little off the ground causing club face changes or whether I need to change something with ball placement in these types of conditions.

Any thoughts on frozen golf would be appreciated!

 

[Imurg]

Stay at home..
It's Golf, Jim, but not as we know it...

 

[patricks148]

It's fun ... sometimes. But just that for me a laugh with mates.
As for the shermans might just be not be turning for fear of losing your footing. The ground shouldn't make that much difference if you are getting ball first. I wouldn't worry about it, everyone will be having the same issues with the hard ground.

 

[jim8flog]

I remember quite a few years ago playing in these sort of temperatures (about 1 degree here) and walking after finding my ball on the 4th fairway. I was playing Titleist Surlyn wound balls and had cracked 3 of them open in the 4 holes.

Interesting point from yesterday's DP world coverage, Tommy Fleetwood was hitting off a concrete path. One of the comments made was that you have to be careful that the bounce part of the sole does not make contact with the concrete or else it can make the ball go right.

 

[DrGolfer]

I remember quite a few years ago playing in these sort of temperatures (about 1 degree here) and walking after finding my ball on the 4th fairway. I was playing Titleist Surlyn wound balls and had cracked 3 of them open in the 4 holes.

Interesting point from yesterday's DP world coverage, Tommy Fleetwood was hitting off a concrete path. One of the comments made was that you have to be careful that the bounce part of the sole does not make contact with the concrete or else it can make the ball go right.

That’s interesting about exposing the bounce. Out of curiosity do you recall what club they were referring to (short vs mid irons)?

 

[DrGolfer]

It's fun ... sometimes. But just that for me a laugh with mates.
As for the shermans might just be not be turning for fear of losing your footing. The ground shouldn't make that much difference if you are getting ball first. I wouldn't worry about it, everyone will be having the same issues with the hard ground.

You’re right tbh. I think what happened was I was so focused on maintaining my stock swing and not hitting the ground in the cold I lost all discipline with my grip at setup and it caused the funny wayward shots with face angle etc.

Recently, the big thing I’ve been working on has been ball first contact and taking divots after that if at all (hence hitting some thin shots as my bad shot). I think my brain can still only retain one golf concept to work on at a time so it’s back to grip again haha

 

[Jason.H]

I know many don’t like fairway matts but in these conditions it really makes sense. We played this morning and really enjoyed our golf, despite some dodgy bounces.

 

[jim8flog]

That’s interesting about exposing the bounce. Out of curiosity do you recall what club they were referring to (short vs mid irons)?

he was playing a wedge but from the sound of what was said it sounded like a generalisation.

 

[Smoj]

played a frozen course on friday, anything in the air was useless, unless i wanted a ball 200 yard past the green due to the almighty bouce.. on par 3's I just used my 3 wood and 'putted' the ball on to the temp greens. got huge yardages on my drives due to the bounce, but any iron shot I used low lofted irons with a 1/2 swing. not ideal, but only 4 holes out of 18 was in the shade and frozen. still had a decent outing dispite that.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Played a few times this week past with ground frozen. I don’t play to score, for me that way of thinking leads to insanity. I go out for the walk in lovely countryside and, golf-wise, to focus on working on my strike and process, without bothering what happens to it when it hits the ground. Indeed my 7i is the longest iron I have in the half set I take out.

 

[DrGolfer]

Played a few times this week past with ground frozen. I don’t play to score, for me that way of thinking leads to insanity. I go out for the walk in lovely countryside and, golf-wise, to focus on working on my strike and process, without bothering what happens to it when it hits the ground. Indeed my 7i is the longest iron I have in the half set I take out.

I’m taking the same approach. It’s my first winter playing golf so I’m focusing on setup and impact rather than scoring. It was just frustrating because I’ve made a lot of progress and it felt like a lot of it disappeared yesterday!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I’m taking the same approach. It’s my first winter playing golf so I’m focusing on setup and impact rather than scoring. It was just frustrating because I’ve made a lot of progress and it felt like a lot of it disappeared yesterday!

Sounds like you’re a relative newbie to the game, and so you will come to understand that your game, your ball strike, and your scoring will fluctuate hugely. Indeed the same thing happens at all levels of the game. Perhaps to a less extent scoring wise for the top Ams and Pros but they still have the same mental ‘anguish’ to cope with when ‘it goes’.

Thing is that even when I think I am hitting the ball well, a shot might well look to be the result of a good swing and great strike, however I have come to understand that my ‘great’ strike might in fact be only a matter of 10mm or less from a Sherman and a triple or quad. So at the moment I am really working hard on trying to hit the ball toe side of centre, it can result in an awful shot, but I don’t care if the strike is a ‘toe-sider’. ?

 

[Jason.H]

Played Saturday and today both days frozen. Thoroughly enjoyed it scored 35 points both stablefords and a 2 in each round. The course plays very short but the test is around the temp greens.

 

[patricks148]

Sounds like you’re a relative newbie to the game, and so you will come to understand that your game, your ball strike, and your scoring will fluctuate hugely. Indeed the same thing happens at all levels of the game. Perhaps to a less extent scoring wise for the top Ams and Pros but they still have the same mental ‘anguish’ to cope with when ‘it goes’.

Thing is that even when I think I am hitting the ball well, a shot might well look to be the result of a good swing and great strike, however I have come to understand that my ‘great’ strike might in fact be only a matter of 10mm or less from a Sherman and a triple or quad. So at the moment I am really working hard on trying to hit the ball toe side of centre, it can result in an awful shot, but I don’t care if the strike is a ‘toe-sider’. ?

It never ceases to amaze me how one day i can hit it pretty well and the next like I've never touched a club before in my life?

 

[SocketRocket]

In frozen conditions I play punchy shots that keep the ball low and try not to hit into greens as the ball bounces too much. I like to get the ball stopping just short and either putt the ball on or chip with a mid iron/hybrid. Works well.