We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Winter yardages....how much

Johnboy12.5

Johnboy12.5

New member
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
1,041
Reaction score
0
Location
Richmond, VA
Handicap
Ghin 9.1
Just curious how much the typical thp hacker loses in distance with the cooler temps!
Typically I'm about 10 yards shorter with my irons & wedges. Maybe up to 15 with fairway woods and driver.
 
I would say I loose about 10 yards off of everything in my bag- so I just club up a little more than I normally would. Depending on how the conditions are I can sometimes get MORE distance if the ground is hard and I am picking up large amounts of roll. Just depends on the day.

The one thing I do notice with my driver is that it doesn't seem to be as forgiving. I don't loose that much distance when I catch it on the screws... but I seem to loose a little more distance on mishits.
 
10 yards or one club although today I absolutely nutted a drive (for me) and reached 270 yards.
 
I think at least a club or two depending on the wind. I find when it starts to get cold out the dense air makes the wind have more of an effect on my ball as well. Man I miss golf. Have fun!.
 
It's hard to say for me. I played my new irons yesterday for the first time. I would guess that I'm losing 10 yards because I'm still hitting the same iron selection that I did with my old clubs. I was a bit surprised by that until I realized that the colder temps played a role.
 
10-15 yards across the board.

Edit to say: Gus is right concerning roll out, though. I'm talking carry distance.
 
Last edited:
Welcome to my all year round game! :D
 
the_paulo said:
Welcome to my all year round game! :D
Click to expand...

Yep, same here. Apart from the 1 week a year where it reaches 30 degrees. lol

I'm losing about 10-15 yards per club too...however, if I compare it to the distances I was hitting whilst out in Vegas I'm losing about 20-30 yards with the irons and 40 yards with the driver.
 
I learned something this weekend. Don't leave your equipment in the car when it is cold. My golf balls were like ROCKS this weekend. Even the e6, which is a very soft ball felt hard off the driver.
 
Hawk said:
I learned something this weekend. Don't leave your equipment in the car when it is cold. My golf balls were like ROCKS this weekend. Even the e6, which is a very soft ball felt hard off the driver.
Click to expand...

hahaha, dude, I could have told you that! and dont forget the shoes in there either, makes for not a fun round
 
Part of me wonders if my horrible driving performance was related to the frozen golf balls. As OEM says, it's always the equipment.
 
Dazinkster said:
Yep, same here. Apart from the 1 week a year where it reaches 30 degrees. lol

I'm losing about 10-15 yards per club too...however, if I compare it to the distances I was hitting whilst out in Vegas I'm losing about 20-30 yards with the irons and 40 yards with the driver.
Click to expand...

Daz, courses around Vegas and other drier, higher elevations are a lot of fun.....until you get back home and realize you can't hit the ball that far any longer!!!!!
 
Whether warm or cold it does not do the clubs miuch good to keep them in the car for extended periods of time and through a number of temp cycles. I know we don't want to hear that because moving them around is a royal pain in the you know what.
 
All my "standard yardages" are based on carry in approximately 80 degree weather. I take 3 yards off of carry for every 10 degrees cooler. Don't know how accurate it is, but it is what I do.
 
Anybody in the know about why this happens? Is it basically the ball does not compress like they do in warm weather? Air density? Possibly the steel in your clubs react differently in lower temps. For instance if I had my golf ball and golf club inside at room temps and then walked outside to hit a shot are we still talking loss of yardage?
 
Jimbud said:
Anybody in the know about why this happens? Is it basically the ball does not compress like they do in warm weather? Air density? Possibly the steel in your clubs react differently in lower temps. For instance if I had my golf ball and golf club inside at room temps and then walked outside to hit a shot are we still talking loss of yardage?
Click to expand...

I am certainly not "in the know", but I would guees it would take a couple holes at least for the balls to chill to the point of losing distance. I hate chillly balls.:laughing:
 
Jimbud said:
Anybody in the know about why this happens? Is it basically the ball does not compress like they do in warm weather? Air density? Possibly the steel in your clubs react differently in lower temps. For instance if I had my golf ball and golf club inside at room temps and then walked outside to hit a shot are we still talking loss of yardage?
Click to expand...

It has a fair bit to do with the density of the air as well. Hot air rises because it is less dense and cold air sinks because it is more dense. Independent of the temp of your equipment you will loose distance. This is also one reason that high altitudes and on warm days the ball travels further. Less dense air = less air resistance = longer drives. The opposite is true with cold air.

To the point about taking a couple holes for the balls to chill, I'll respectfully disagree. They will be cold after their very first hit. A well hit drive travels at 150 mph through the air. Regardless of temp that will be a VERY low windchill factor. Even if it is only for a few second flight that ball will reach ambient temps by the time you get to and play your second shot. It does not take much energy (or time) to cool a solid object that small.
 
RxGus said:
It has a fair bit to do with the density of the air as well. Hot air rises because it is less dense and cold air sinks because it is more dense. Independent of the temp of your equipment you will loose distance. This is also one reason that high altitudes and on warm days the ball travels further. Less dense air = less air resistance = longer drives. The opposite is true with cold air.

To the point about taking a couple holes for the balls to chill, I'll respectfully disagree. They will be cold after their very first hit. A well hit drive travels at 150 mph through the air. Regardless of temp that will be a VERY low windchill factor. Even if it is only for a few second flight that ball will reach ambient temps by the time you get to and play your second shot. It does not take much energy to cool a solid object that small.
Click to expand...

Didn't think about the whole wind chill aspect of things. Like I said, I am certainly NOT in the know.
 
I was loosing at least 5% of my normal distance until I changed to a softer ball. After trying the Bridgestone e6 (from my usual Callaway tour i(z)), I got the distance back.
 
Good topic guys. This is something I tend to not think about enough when I play in colder temperatures for some reason. I end up short on almost every shot as a result.
 
For your winter yardages with the 2.0's, hit what you would've hit with the 22's in summer conditions.

adwillingham said:
Good topic guys. This is something I tend to not think about enough when I play in colder temperatures for some reason. I end up short on almost every shot as a result.
Click to expand...
 
adwillingham said:
Good topic guys. This is something I tend to not think about enough when I play in colder temperatures for some reason. I end up short on almost every shot as a result.
Click to expand...

I agree, The last couple rounds I played were in mid to upper 50's and I came up short on a few shots. At that point I started to choose a club based on my Skycaddie's yardage to the back of each green instead of the front. Got me through my round with a good score. Great thread! learned something here that I can actually take to the course in the future.
 
I hit the ball in cold today better than I have any day so far this fall/winter. I am finally getting used to what the cold does to the ball and having all of this stuff on and what that does to your golf swing.

For example I have been chicken arming a little bit. Fortunately it is not the worst thing you can do in golf at least according to something I was reading from one of the teaching pros. Nobody is recommending that you aim to chicken arm the thing but you can get away with it. In fact I have just stopped obsessing over it as it is just darned difficult to swing with all this junk on your back. Hitting the ball much better since I stopped obsessing over it.

Then even if you groove it, you lose yardage as so many of you have pointed out. Until I started to get used to this, I was also having trouble getting the ball up on the usual high trajectory iron shot that I play. So I was losing yardage due to the difference in compression for the cold golf ball and I was not able to get the thing in the air either. Finally have hit it enough to at least be respectable.
 
In the low 60's, only a few yards. If it's 50 or lower, 15 or more depending how windy it gets on top of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top