Winter golf = 10% Less Distance?

[Imurg]

Golf balls are tested, and manufactured, to perform at their optimum at 70 degrees fahrenheit. There is NO increase in distance above 70 degrees BUT for every three degrees UNDER 70 there is a one yard loss.

So if you hit 250 yards on a summer day, the same shot 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) will travel 12.6 yards less.

Add in the effect of extra layers that hinder the swing and extra wind etc etc

 

[HTL]

Talking of balls..... there are some black ones available that are supposed to be better in winter as they absorb more heat.

NNNNOOOOOO!!!!! Don't believe a word of this, the difference would be so small it would make absolutely no difference.

 

[USER1999]

Played my 3i equivalent hybrid today, in summer 200+, today 170, and it just about crept out of the pitch mark. That's winnter golf for you.

 

[Herbie]

Golf balls are tested, and manufactured, to perform at their optimum at 70 degrees fahrenheit. There is NO increase in distance above 70 degrees BUT for every three degrees UNDER 70 there is a one yard loss.

So if you hit 250 yards on a summer day, the same shot 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) will travel 12.6 yards less.

Add in the effect of extra layers that hinder the swing and extra wind etc etc

I dont dispute the science theory or studies carried out but I do dispute the accuracy of distance loss as it just didnt fit my round today. I hit between 260 and 270 (when not spanking) in summer, today I hit most drives 240/50 with little or no run. Could this be a psychological thing where Im seeing the conditions and compensating a little by spanking it I wonder?

 

[madandra]

Here is a thought. Could a contributing factor to our loss of distance be a consequence of having 4 or 5 layers of clothing on our upper half? I usually wear thermal vest then under armour then long sleave polo then jumper and jacket. I am a proverbial onion. This must have an effect on my shoulder turn and reduce my swing speed.

 

[TonyN]

I bet most of dont swing at the same speed each round anyway so it wouldn't really be a fair test to say 'summer I was 270 and winter I am 260 so there is a difference'

So many variables to be taken into consideration from a human being it is 99% impossible to carry out a fair test from one winter to the next summer.

Things as simple as you not coiling the same as you did in the summer are going to affect your distance so the results may look wrong to you straight away, before you have even factored in simple differences such as the wind, roll, temp etc.

 

[Dodger]

-3 this morning so was more like 20% diff,hit one drive out the screws and it went 215 and that was with a frosted fairway!!

 

[Sam]

I bet most of dont swing at the same speed each round anyway so it wouldn't really be a fair test to say 'summer I was 270 and winter I am 260 so there is a difference'

So many variables to be taken into consideration from a human being it is 99% impossible to carry out a fair test from one winter to the next summer.

Things as simple as you not coiling the same as you did in the summer are going to affect your distance so the results may look wrong to you straight away, before you have even factored in simple differences such as the wind, roll, temp etc.

Tony
That's fair enough but I suppose the acid test is 'Do you deliberately take a 5 iron in winter when you know it would normally be 6 iron length?'

 

[USER1999]

At least a club up. The ball stops where it pitches in winter, sometimes worse. It is all carry, and the cold air is denser, and while I would like to think I screw my 7i back in the summer, or even stop it, I don't consistently. My mate got 2 yards of back spin from a 3w today, which you certainly don't get in summer.

 

[TonyN]

Sam, yes. I am not disputing for 1 second the ball doesnt travel less in winter. I was just pointing out it would be impossible to test how much less using a human.

 

[Smiffy]

I can't remember exactly who said it, although I think it may have been Jack Nicklaus.
"The biggest error most amatuer golfers make is not hitting enough club into the greens"...
And when you think about it, he is right. I "come up short" many more times than I carry the full distance (unless I get a flier out of the semi).
I always take one club more during the colder weather and find (generally) that I end up closer to the pin than I do during the warmer months.
Maybe I was hitting the wrong club in the first place?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I was coming up short regularly but knowing my winter and summer distances and using SC I am gettin much closer to pins especially ones at the back where I would have landed fronth third, possibly middle and been in definite 3 putt territory

 

[Herbie]

This game is great....drives me f****** nuts

 

[Cernunnos]

Yep Herb its that challenge that brings us coming back every time.

 

[Tommo21]

Okay, I think we have most of the reasons why the ball goes less in the winter. One or two of my own thoughts. If you inflate your car tyres on a hot day and if the following day it’s really cold then the pressure will be less. I think it’s all got to do with the density of the molecules and with it being more dense in the winter then the ball has more resistance. Another way of putting it would be altitude, the air is thinner so the ball will travel further. The longer club you take the more the yardage is lost in real terms. In other word if a drive is cutting the air for 230 yards then it has that distance of cold denser air to cut through with little help from gravity. On the other hand if you hit a PW the percentage distance lost will be much less as a fair amount of the flight is dropping back down to earth after the initial height gained. The density of the air would not effect the dropping to earth as much because gravity obviously plays a bigger part with a higher shot. A driver has to cut through much more air before the descending help from gravity.

How’s that for a load of useless information.

 

[billyg]

FWIW I think it's a bit of everything

Inclement weather doesn't make for the best levels of comfort or concentration.

Soft contacts through wet grass must absorb some of the potential power at the point of contact.

I'll buy 'the ball doesn't travel through the air as much' theory as at a driving range I seem to be about a club short when clearly everything else remains the same as in summer.(although goodness knows why apart from rain which perhaps batters down on the ball in flight)

Many layers must have a bearing on the swing at some level

Travel along the ground is curtailed.

Soft ground makes for difficulties with balance, shoe grip and stance.

Im sure I pay less attention to the little details before a shot and therefore am not as well prepared when I take a shot.


On the other side......


The Scots that invented this blasted game would have spent most of their time playing in windy, rainy and cold conditions,no 'USPGA greens' with inferior equipment and no waterproofs and barely a murmur yet here we all are analysing it.

When I find myself heading out to the first tee in conditions I wouldn't be willing to nip out for a newspaper in I look around at my playing partners then back at myself and wonder if we're all not just the slightest bit unhinged and that winter golf is some sort of complicit act of collective and unspoken lunacy.

bill