With the leaves changing and daylight dwindling, another golf season is coming to a close. But for the true grinders among us, the fun is only beginning. For many, winter golf is on the horizon.
How to win at winter golf: 7 keys to mastering playing in the cold
Playing winter golf can present some unique challenges. Courses play longer as you lose distance in the cold, and keeping feeling in your hands can be a real battle. You’ll also deal with some less-than-ideal lies featuring wet grass and squishy terrain.
These wintery lies will tempt you to pull out your lob wedge to try and lift the ball out of the soppy mess, but often times, you’ll catch it heavy and lay the sod over it. That’s why you should leave the wedge in the bag and opt to use a hybrid instead.
As GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jonathan Yarwood explained in a recent video, you’ve got to “build in an insurance policy” when you encounter one of these lies. That means using a wide-soled hybrid instead of a wedge.
“You can’t mishit it,” Yarwood says. “The club is going to skid.”
With the more forgiving hybrid selected, you’ll want to choke down on the club a bit for extra control. Stand a little closer to the ball and then use your putting stroke to hit the ball off the wet lie.
“Make life really simple for yourself,” Yarwood says. “The thing just skips and hops — I’m not going to mishit it out of this horrible lie.”
If you can make a simple putting stroke to hit the ball, your chances of mishitting the shot are drastically lowered.
Try this shot next time you find yourself with a wonky winter lie. Your scorecard will thank you.