tomahawk18
Waiting for some sun!?
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2011
- Messages
- 3,100
- Reaction score
- 16
- Location
- Bothell, Washington, United States
- Handicap
- GHIN 6.6
I was out playing golf Saturday in the 52 degree drizzle and started thinking about golf in the NW vs nicer areas, and how it effects handicaps or scores.
I have played 3 rounds this month and the conditions have all been the similar. Saturday, the course was wet, and playing crazy long. There was no roll or bounce on drives, and the ball buried on nearly every shot, or had a ton of mud on it. I lost 2 balls that looked to be in the fairway or just off, but plugged in the mud somewhere. I was playing 2 clubs longer on approaches, as the ball wasn't flying at all in the cold drizzle. You have to hit the ball absolutely pure every time as the grass and ground is so wet that if you hit it barely fat you lose tons of distance. Hands are cold and wet which effect feel. The greens are mushy and footprints and spike marks galore. I know this sounds like a whine session, but I am just trying to give you a feel for the conditions.
Golf for us in the NW will be this way for at least another 6 weeks, (probably longer), as we usually don't get great conditions until June and sometimes that is iffy, then it should be nice through September. Our hadicaps are active from March 1 to Nov 15, and out of that time frame we here in the NW may have 3 months of good conditions to play in. The avid player golfs throughout the handicap period and posts scores the entire time, generally playing in less than optimal to bad conditions in spring and fall. Handicaps are based on rating and slope of courses. I'm here to tell you that the courses we play up here are playing far tougher than their ratings a lot of the time during handicap posting season due to sloppy conditions. Saturday, we had to lift clean and place almost every drive and iron shot that missed the green as most of them looked like fried eggs in the grass. If you want to play golf here, you have to deal with these conditions more often than you would like to admit.
Most of you who live in the South seem to have great conditions for golf nearly year round. I saw that it was 90 on Sunday in Orlando. 90 in March?...SWEET!! We just had our first 60 degree day in over 5 months. LAME!! I know wind is a factor everywhere, (we have it too), so take that out of the equation. I wonder how much the guys in Florida, Arizona, So. Cal, etc have to play in this type of weather? My guess is pretty rarely?
Am I making too much of this? I always post better scores in the summer, is weather that big of a reason? Small reason? I always forget how much better I feel playing in warm weather. The fairway lies are much better. The greens roll true. I don't stiffen up as much when it's warm. The ball flies 15% further. To me all big factors. I started thinking to myself that my handicap would improve if I simply lived in a warmer weather area. Is that true? Is it fair? Anyone else ever think about this?
I have played 3 rounds this month and the conditions have all been the similar. Saturday, the course was wet, and playing crazy long. There was no roll or bounce on drives, and the ball buried on nearly every shot, or had a ton of mud on it. I lost 2 balls that looked to be in the fairway or just off, but plugged in the mud somewhere. I was playing 2 clubs longer on approaches, as the ball wasn't flying at all in the cold drizzle. You have to hit the ball absolutely pure every time as the grass and ground is so wet that if you hit it barely fat you lose tons of distance. Hands are cold and wet which effect feel. The greens are mushy and footprints and spike marks galore. I know this sounds like a whine session, but I am just trying to give you a feel for the conditions.
Golf for us in the NW will be this way for at least another 6 weeks, (probably longer), as we usually don't get great conditions until June and sometimes that is iffy, then it should be nice through September. Our hadicaps are active from March 1 to Nov 15, and out of that time frame we here in the NW may have 3 months of good conditions to play in. The avid player golfs throughout the handicap period and posts scores the entire time, generally playing in less than optimal to bad conditions in spring and fall. Handicaps are based on rating and slope of courses. I'm here to tell you that the courses we play up here are playing far tougher than their ratings a lot of the time during handicap posting season due to sloppy conditions. Saturday, we had to lift clean and place almost every drive and iron shot that missed the green as most of them looked like fried eggs in the grass. If you want to play golf here, you have to deal with these conditions more often than you would like to admit.
Most of you who live in the South seem to have great conditions for golf nearly year round. I saw that it was 90 on Sunday in Orlando. 90 in March?...SWEET!! We just had our first 60 degree day in over 5 months. LAME!! I know wind is a factor everywhere, (we have it too), so take that out of the equation. I wonder how much the guys in Florida, Arizona, So. Cal, etc have to play in this type of weather? My guess is pretty rarely?
Am I making too much of this? I always post better scores in the summer, is weather that big of a reason? Small reason? I always forget how much better I feel playing in warm weather. The fairway lies are much better. The greens roll true. I don't stiffen up as much when it's warm. The ball flies 15% further. To me all big factors. I started thinking to myself that my handicap would improve if I simply lived in a warmer weather area. Is that true? Is it fair? Anyone else ever think about this?
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