Joys of Winter Golf

dvemail

Interested to see what everyone does during the Winter months.
Do ye still power on and play every week despite the weather or are ye bit more like myself and just hang everything up until the sun comes back in the new year.
I've tried to play this time of the year a few times before, but i find its more hassle than its worth. Plus loosing balls every time a fairway is missed is a big factor in the home course when wet. Would be an expensive couple of months with the way i hit it off the tee.

brianrcarney

I play anyway, can be very sloppy conditions but better than sitting at home or what not!

Have to say I love a nice crisp winter morning wrapped up heading to the tee, getting game in, dinner, pint and home to mull over what went wrong..

gymman39

played today after the frost cleared..nicer than a lot of the days in the summer let me tell you

PARlance

It's like the guy with the hangover vs the non drinker.
I'm the guy with the hangover.
I enjoy it at the start, then begin to question it...as my hands are numb and I'm soaked to the bone...playing nowhere near the level I "think" I can play!
I get off the course and realise... I've had a bit of fun, I've suffered for it, and at least I can look forward to my day improving from here on

dvemail

Yeah, can be nice to get one more round to keep the juices flowing. This year i am just heading out to the range most weekends just so i don't forget how to swing the club. Haven't played a round of golf since September myself, can't face all the washing of the muddy shoes, pants, bag etc.

padzer

Yeah il keep it lit through the winter. Sure it gets me out of the house for a while. Couple of handwarmers, flask of tea, thermal layer and im laughing. Last winter we kept it up and played well when the society started back. Think it was the year before when we had the snow that the tools were downed for a few months.

GreeBo

I play every week of the year, as brian said, some of those crisp, dry, sunny mornings are wonderful to play golf in. No wind, dry and only out for 12 holes, cant beat it!

I imagine that if I ever stopped playing during winter the summer would be half over before I had any semblance of a swing to use.

Senna

As long as its dry I'll play, as said above, those bright crisp dry winter mornings are a dream. Hate playing in rain and most of the time i wont play in rain even if its summer. There's no enjoyment with rain, especially on a links were there is never rain without wind.

rambojon

i wouldnt like to be your shoes senna... think if you dont play in wet conditions in ire you will play very little indeed...need a new sport asap....U prob wouldnt be interested in bog snorkling in west mayo for a few months by any chance........

hades

I try to play every week. I normally get out at first tee off at 7:30 during the normal months, but in the winter a few of us play the club 9 hole competition that starts around noon. That way you're not getting up early to find the course frozen over, or too wet and windy to get out. We always have our own competition aswell between the 9 to 15 of us at €2 a pop. The winner gets a donated bottle of wine while the €2's are used to buy a lotto ticket for that evenings draw. There is of course plenty room for pints and grub afterwards.

Long live the "9, dine and wine"

opinionated3

I try to play every week but the weather is playing havoc. Was supposed to play last Sunday morning but club was closed due to frost. Same story this morning......my game will turn to mush

thewobbler

opinionated3 wrote: »

I try to play every week but the weather is playing havoc. Was supposed to play last Sunday morning but club was closed due to frost. Same story this morning......my game will turn to mush

The only time of day it really suits me to play golf (3 kids under 2) is at first light. Frost can put me in awfully bad form at the weekends.

Apart from that, every once in a while you get those most crisp of clear blue mornings, cold enough to keep you moving at all times, but warm enough to take off the top layer. Those are my favourite days on a golf course.

Peterdalkey

I try play twice week all year round and some of the nicest days are in our winter, October to April. In general, a nice bright frosty morning is the time to really enjoy links golf, especially for the less gifted golfer, as there is rarely any wind with frost. Links courses suffer little from frost closures/delays due to the sea salty air.
The European Club on a beautiful bright frosty morning is one of the greatest joys I can think of in golf. It is way beyond my talents on a windy day. Today would have been just perfect.
There are still plenty of really nice days in the winter here that are perfect for golf, the more you get out, the more likely you are to get one!

Cheers

Peter

Rikand

I play at least twice a week during the winter but its more for getting my game in shape for the year ahead, making changes and working on different things in preparation for the summer than anything serious or competitive ( apart from the fiver on the fourball on a sunday )

Today was a gorgeous day to get out and even the course was closed with the frost, I managed to sneak away for a couple of hours down to the practice ground to work on my game all by myself. It was perfect

Danny dyers double

I hope to play all winter myself . Last Saturday for instance it was like playing in a swamp but I still enjoyed every hole .

I'm quite new to the game since I only start playing in March so the taught of stoping playing during the winter would kill me .

Kace

I don't really play a whole lot more during Summer than Winter - it's Sunday mornings week in week out for me.

Pacly

I love winter golf too, except when we have to wait for ages in the morning for the course to thaw and the fog to clear.

I love the rain too, because I know everyone else hates it heheh. Adapting to the conditions in winter is a fun challenge and a good way to get ahead of others!

sodbuster77

Once the wether is half decent and there's no temporary greens I'll be out. As a previous poster said, some of the nicest days you will get are in winter. Last Saturday week was glorious.

soundsham

December Jan & Feb are a great time to get re aquatinted with the family .....

Boskowski

It's grand if dry and not too cold. But recent weather is just not for me. 5 degrees with a stiff northerly windchill, no thank you.

I'd make allowances for Sunday comps but my club stopped all single comps for the winter since last year and I don't see the point playin silly 3 man team things for months on end.

The odd 9 casual holes on a Saturday or Sunday providing its not too cold or else no wind/rain is all I do these days. Last golf ball was hit 3 weeks ago.

I do keep up the chipping and puttin practice though.

GreeBo

i love the cold 12 holes this time of year, as long as ours not raining i love it.
every shot is green light, go for it.
frosty temps annoy me, but other than frost we are always on so easy to keep the short game ticking over.

Benicetomonty

Peterdalkey wrote: »

I try play twice week all year round and some of the nicest days are in our winter, October to April. In general, a nice bright frosty morning is the time to really enjoy links golf, especially for the less gifted golfer, as there is rarely any wind with frost. Links courses suffer little from frost closures/delays due to the sea salty air.
The European Club on a beautiful bright frosty morning is one of the greatest joys I can think of in golf. It is way beyond my talents on a windy day. Today would have been just perfect.
There are still plenty of really nice days in the winter here that are perfect for golf, the more you get out, the more likely you are to get one!

Cheers

Peter

This will be me on Sunday Praying the weather holds till that evening as forecast and that Saturday night isn't too frosty. The European is something of a yearly Mecca for me; it has to be played at least once, even though I haven't shot anything worth a s**t around the place!

Peterdalkey

Benicetomonty wrote: »

This will be me on Sunday Praying the weather holds till that evening as forecast and that Saturday night isn't too frosty. The European is something of a yearly Mecca for me; it has to be played at least once, even though I haven't shot anything worth a s**t around the place!

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! I hope you get a cracking sunny and still if slightly frosty morning.

Heaven on earth

Peter

Benicetomonty

Peterdalkey wrote: »

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! I hope you get a cracking sunny and still if slightly frosty morning.

Heaven on earth

Peter

Well, we got a miserable day in the end, persistent, if not driving, rain that never really let up. Cold as well, and, as usual, got beaten up by the place, even off the forward tees . Weather forecasting in this country drives me nuts, got increasingly worse as the week went on but seemed like it was only Saturday morning they decided there'd be rain today. As much as I don't have a clue what I'm doing on the course, I look down upon Met Eireann in that regard :mad:

One shining moment of retribution came on number 2, our 11th having started on the back nine. 9 iron that kissed the flag and finished stone dead. Commentary provided by younger bro

Dr_Colossus

Not much joys in playing winter golf yesterday alright. Supposed to be playing the club Christmas Scramble which had a shotgun start at 09:30. Text message that morning saying there was a frost delay and next course inspection at 10:30. Some time later another text message to say the scramble was cancelled. Since I was up and ready for golf the news was a bit of a blow so decided to head down anyway and get in a game. Arrived at the club at 11:00 after it had started raining and never stopped for the rest of the day, pure misery after such a nice sunny frosty morning.

Generally I play year round but more in terms of practice and developing/maintaining my game than competition golf. If anything find it dryer over the winter months than during the heights of the Irish summer. The only problem is that being wet and cold make a nasty combination and given the lack of drying the course maintains the moisture so much easier in winter making things that bit softer. One big advantage with soft ground however is that it really improves ball striking, any sort of slightly heavy shot really gets punished with the ball barely getting out of your way so there's always something to work on.

Peterdalkey

Benicetomonty wrote: »

Well, we got a miserable day in the end, persistent, if not driving, rain that never really let up. Cold as well, and, as usual, got beaten up by the place, even off the forward tees . Weather forecasting in this country drives me nuts, got increasingly worse as the week went on but seemed like it was only Saturday morning they decided there'd be rain today. As much as I don't have a clue what I'm doing on the course, I look down upon Met Eireann in that regard :mad:

One shining moment of retribution came on number 2, our 11th having started on the back nine. 9 iron that kissed the flag and finished stone dead. Commentary provided by younger bro

What a pity, Saturday was perfect and Friday even better. Nice shot/swing in the vid!


cheers

Peter

spacecoyote

Benicetomonty wrote: »

Well, we got a miserable day in the end, persistent, if not driving, rain that never really let up. Cold as well, and, as usual, got beaten up by the place, even off the forward tees . Weather forecasting in this country drives me nuts, got increasingly worse as the week went on but seemed like it was only Saturday morning they decided there'd be rain today. As much as I don't have a clue what I'm doing on the course, I look down upon Met Eireann in that regard :mad:

I was looking at heading out there myself on Sunday and was keeping an eye on the forecast all week.

I use this site: http://www.accuweather.com/en/ie/dublin/207931/weather-forecast/207931

It was giving rubbish weather in Arklow for Sunday from about Wednesday on & stayed the same through Friday which made me settle on a day on the sofa instead.

Was a pity given Saturday was such a cracking day!

Benicetomonty

spacecoyote wrote: »

I was looking at heading out there myself on Sunday and was keeping an eye on the forecast all week.

I use this site: http://www.accuweather.com/en/ie/dublin/207931/weather-forecast/207931

It was giving rubbish weather in Arklow for Sunday from about Wednesday on & stayed the same through Friday which made me settle on a day on the sofa instead.

Was a pity given Saturday was such a cracking day!

Yeah, I always check accuweather as well - it had cloudy but dry weather between 10am and 1pm on its hourly forecast on Saturday night but we didn't even get that. So they don't have a clue either as far as I'm concerned

Not that that'll stop me from another tail-between-legs, fever-pitched consulting session between Wednesday and Friday in a wasted effort to determine what the weather will be like Saturday morning. I am the battered housewife of weather forecasting websites, I always come back for more despite all the lies :cool: