Winter golf handicap

[Vikingman]

Currently still playing qualifiers for the first time ever at this time of year. Today I lost an 82 off my record, it will be replaced by a 90, probably go up by a full shot. Anyone else notice a rapid rise in handicap playing in winter conditions?

 

[Orikoru]

Last winter I didn't have any cards in from December til April. If I had've done, I almost certainly would have gone up. Ended up wishing I had, as I was playing terribly for a while after that.

 

[MACM85]

I have gone down 3 shots since the start of October. Winter golf is easier in my opinion for my game

 

[jim8flog]

As said before there was a time in my life when all my downs came in winter and all my ups in summer.

Golf in winter is easier because distance control is so much better, fewer weird bounces and perfect lies when your on the short grass with lift clean and place.

We have always played qualifiers through the whole year. Our winter tees are not much different to the normal ones but one hole becomes a par 4 instead of 5 and another 3 instead of 4 (measured and rated).

 

[Lord Tyrion]

My club have decided to keep qualifiers going. That would be fine except they are doing it on pretty much our regular course, which is already long.

I will play but not enter the comps. Not to protect my handicap but because I don't want the slogfest that they have decided upon. I'll miss the worst hole, play the par 3's off the forward mats rather than the tee box and throw the ball away from the muddy areas. If I did enter the comps then I suspect it would add 3-4 shots to my handicap by spring, easily.

In previous years we didn't have qualifiers at all during this period.

 

[Imurg]

I think it's very course dependent..
Mine plays similarly for most of the year - the only real change is that the greens are softer and there's, maybe, 75-80% of the run you'd normally get.
The soft greens make approaches easier and the slightly less run means you don't go careering off into the rough so you get a slightly longer but more playable 2nd shot.
Extra wind strength at this time of year has an effect tok but we can have 20-30 mph winds in the middle of summer.
I expect to stay relatively static over winter but you never know....

 

[Backache]

Our course isn't currently measured for winter tees.

 

[D-S]

As raters, stat guys and players will all tell you, the longer the course the more shots you will take teh higher the CR will be. Any parkland course will be considerably longer in mid winter than in mid summer. A golf ball flies a lot less in 5 degrees than in 20 degrees and it will, on a flat fairway, run out a lot less. There will be a lot closer to 5 yards roll than the 20 yards that ratings are based on. Greens are typically a not as true.

Simply put courses are rated for summer conditions, if they were rated in midwinter the ratings of parkland courses would be a lot higher due to the ball not flying as far (which would have to be taken into account) and considerably less roll would make them substantially longer. So all other things being equal if you are at a parkland course that runs qualifiers in the winter your handicap should go up, if your course doesn’t you are likely to be uncompetitive in an Open in April or May.

 

[nickjdavis]

We play qualifiers throughout the winter....usually, as long as there is no excessive rainfall, the course holds up pretty well through the winter...over the last couple of years though it has been pretty wet and last year we suspended qualifiers in January and February.

This year we are in the process of installing artificial teeing areas that are embedded into the main teeing area, to allow respite to the tees over the winter period, whilst maintaining a yellow tee qualifying course distance.

Being where we are November and December are generally pretty decent months weatherwise....it is only in Jan and Feb when the cold winds from the Russian Steppe whip across the North Sea and hit the warm East Anglian landmass, and deposit a couple of inches of snow, that things get heavy going. We only have a couple of qualifying comps each in December, January and February so other than the folks who are resolutely putting in general play scores there isn't much scope for significant handicap movement.

 

[Skytot]

We play off our winter tees (Black course) from Monday .All our Saturday comps are team of 4 or partners events so a little bit difficult to have handicap scores.But you could play social on Sunday & rest of the week and put a card in .

 

[BunkerPlayer]

I'm definitely in the winter is easier camp (unless you're playing in extreme weather). I can understand why for some players the loss of distance causes issues but for me I am able to play carry distance only, get away with wayward shots not going far into the rough etc.

I'd take 20+ degree's and rock hard fairways every day of the week though.

 

[BTatHome]

Currently still playing qualifiers for the first time ever at this time of year. Today I lost an 82 off my record, it will be replaced by a 90, probably go up by a full shot. Anyone else notice a rapid rise in handicap playing in winter conditions?

if your next lowest is a 90 then I'd say you are more than likely much higher than the 82 was making it seem

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Well, that is timing. My club have sent an email rescinding the comps being qualifiers. After a week's trial the feedback 'was very mixed' and the tee boxes were getting trashed. I'm pleased they have reacted quickly.

It will be interesting tomorrow to see how many tees will have been moved forward and by how far

 

[2blue]

My club have decided to keep qualifiers going. That would be fine except they are doing it on pretty much our regular course, which is already long.

I will play but not enter the comps. Not to protect my handicap but because I don't want the slogfest that they have decided upon. I'll miss the worst hole, play the par 3's off the forward mats rather than the tee box and throw the ball away from the muddy areas. If I did enter the comps then I suspect it would add 3-4 shots to my handicap by spring, easily.

In previous years we didn't have qualifiers at all during this period.

Oh sheeesh .... thats terrible. With no run the winter course just has to be a lot shorter.
Ours off the measured Reds is a superb challenge in that we have quality all-weather tee mats with fairway mats in use & pick-clean-&-replace allowing Q conditions which should only cease when fairways are difficult to define. However should still be good fun, which is not always easy in winter.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Oh sheeesh .... thats terrible. With no run the winter course just has to be a lot shorter.
Ours off the measured Reds is a superb challenge in that we have quality all-weather tee mats with fairway mats in use & pick-clean-&-replace allowing Q conditions which should only cease when fairways are difficult to define. However should still be good fun, which is not always easy in winter.

We had it shorter for 2 weeks and it was a great set up, a really good winter course. Then the big boys moaned and unfortunately they listened to them.

Your place sounds as though they have it right .

 

[jim8flog]

Well, that is timing. My club have sent an email rescinding the comps being qualifiers. After a week's trial the feedback 'was very mixed' and the tee boxes were getting trashed. I'm pleased they have reacted quickly.

It will be interesting tomorrow to see how many tees will have been moved forward and by how far

Such a pity

I would not like to play at a club that does not run qualifying comps in winter just because some think it is harder.

We make ours optional so those that want to play in them can and tise that do not can chose which tee they ant to play from.

Many years ago we built winter tees to avoid the main tees getting trashed and had them rated so comps could be qualifiers. These days we have bought big mats that get moved around on the tees to avoid the grass going yellow and a LR which makes playing off them compulsory including stance.

 

[Vikingman]

if your next lowest is a 90 then I'd say you are more than likely much higher than the 82 was making it seem

My next lowest is another 82 which comes off in two games, then there's another 3 or 4 around the 85 to 88 zone. My lowest index over the last 20 games is 12.0. It was 13.6 before I played today. Under the old system I always tended to be around 13. I tend to have a decent streak at some point in the summer where I put in (by my standards) lower scores. Because we've never played qualifiers this late before I've probably never really took much notice of what I've been shooting. I'm now finding out.

 

[Vikingman]

As raters, stat guys and players will all tell you, the longer the course the more shots you will take teh higher the CR will be. Any parkland course will be considerably longer in mid winter than in mid summer. A golf ball flies a lot less in 5 degrees than in 20 degrees and it will, on a flat fairway, run out a lot less. There will be a lot closer to 5 yards roll than the 20 yards that ratings are based on. Greens are typically a not as true.

Simply put courses are rated for summer conditions, if they were rated in midwinter the ratings of parkland courses would be a lot higher due to the ball not flying as far (which would have to be taken into account) and considerably less roll would make them substantially longer. So all other things being equal if you are at a parkland course that runs qualifiers in the winter your handicap should go up, if your course doesn’t you are likely to be uncompetitive in an Open in April or May.

This is exactly it. We are playing the same full course but with less flight and bounce. I'm reasonably tidy but not long and it's a struggle.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Such a pity

I would not like to play at a club that does not run qualifying comps in winter just because some think it is harder.

Golf is meant to be fun

It isn't the fact that it's harder in winter, that's obvious. It's that the club didn't take into account the distance impact that winter brings. No problem playing qualifiers in winter. More of a problem that the course was set up as a slog. Set it up properly, all would be good. Unless of course you enjoy slogging around a wet course in winter with minimal fun involved.

 

[Vikingman]

As raters, stat guys and players will all tell you, the longer the course the more shots you will take teh higher the CR will be. Any parkland course will be considerably longer in mid winter than in mid summer. A golf ball flies a lot less in 5 degrees than in 20 degrees and it will, on a flat fairway, run out a lot less. There will be a lot closer to 5 yards roll than the 20 yards that ratings are based on. Greens are typically a not as true.

Simply put courses are rated for summer conditions, if they were rated in midwinter the ratings of parkland courses would be a lot higher due to the ball not flying as far (which would have to be taken into account) and considerably less roll would make them substantially longer. So all other things being equal if you are at a parkland course that runs qualifiers in the winter your handicap should go up, if your course doesn’t you are likely to be uncompetitive in an Open in April or May.

This is exactly it. We are playing the same full course but with less flight and bounce. I'm reasonably tidy but not long and it's a struggle