For many of us, half our year is spent playing winter golf. With most guides out there assuming perfect weather, we don’t find many winter golf specific tips.
However this guide is going to focus on how to play your best golf during the winter.
The format for this post will be as follows… each tip is a larger idea consisting of several actions.
Here are the five tips:
- Removing Ego
- Damage Limitation
- Preparation
- Macro, macro, macro
- Bringing it together
- Bonus!
You’ll find that these tips build off each other. (More on that in tip #5)
So while I said 5 tips in the title, you are actually getting 12-15 actions that you can implement right away.
*Quick Note: The ideas below include actions for on course play targeted at lowering scores. For advice on simply surviving winter golf check out this article.
#1 Removing Ego
First off, 80% of course mindset/strategy is about not doing dumb stuff.
Obviously this is easier said than done, but fully buying into this idea will pay off. Most of our dropped shots are from hitting shots we aren’t capable of.
For example, while a perfectly struck 8 iron may be perfect, maybe go for the 7 iron and play for a slight mishit. If you find yourself saying “this club should get there”, this is sign that you are playing beyond your capabilities.
In winter golf, this is even more important. Often, the consistency of strike drops in winter leading to more mishits and less perfectly struck shots.
Notice how only a perfectly struck 8 iron will reach the flag/green. Notice how a wide variety of shots with a 7 iron will hit the green. Over the course of a round, errors like this can lead to 4-5 dropped shots.
A properly strategized round of golf is often more boring than a careless one. At a tour event, you’ll find most players won’t hit any spectacular shots and come out consistently under par. Apply this to your game, by playing within your abilities, taking an extra club, and being patient. You may want to hit the flop shot, but when’s the last time you’ve practiced it?
#2 Damage limitation
Focusing on reducing bad holes is better than trying to increase good holes. It is much easier to intentionally save strokes than it is to intentionally gain strokes.
In practice, this means trying to reduce bogeys (and higher) versus trying to make birdies (or force a par).
Check out this great chart from Jon Sherman illustrating this point.
In winter golf, this is more important as your birdie rate drops while your bogey and D-bogey rate rises. Though, this will depend on your skill level. A scratch golfer shouldn’t focus on reducing triple bogeys while a 25 handicap shouldn’t focus on reducing bogeys. Here is what I would advise you to do based on handicap:
- +5 – 4 handicap: reducing bogeys
- 4-10 handicap: reducing double bogeys & bogeys
- 10-20 handicap: reducing double bogeys & higher
- 20-40 handicap: reducing triple bogeys & higher
To shoot consistently good rounds, you have to hit a bunch of average shots (for your skill level of course) and limit the major errors.
#3 Preparation
You start on the back foot when playing winter golf. You might be cold, hungry, or wet on the golf course. This means we must maximize our time before our round to be adequately prepared. This allows us to be in the driver’s seat for the round, knowing we are ready for whatever comes out way.
Here are a few tips to be more prepared:
- Bring more food than you need: the last thing you want is to be hungry
- Bring rain gear: this means a jacket, pants, hat (if you have), gloves and electronic hand warmers!!
- Bring more warm clothing than you think: you would rather over pack then under pack
- Extra towels and gloves
- Proper meal before round
- Enough rest
Putting in the extra time before a round is an easy way to improve your results.
#4 Macro, Macro, Macro
You must have perspective during your round. It’s easy to get sucked into the score and make poor choices. Instead you should completely ignore everything other than the shot at hand.
Remember, a good round is 60-100 shots depending on your level. This means you will naturally have many chances to gain shots but will also have chances where you can lose shots.
Don’t sacrifice the entire round because of an ego-driven error on one shot. There is a slim difference between a par and a bogey. Don’t take excess risk for a par bringing double + into play.
So often, we feel as if we must play “perfect” golf to play well. However, simply reducing your blow up holes (damage limitation) is often the solution. Next time you are faced with a tricky decision, choose the one that will remove the big number. More importantly, remove the big number for you. A big number for a scratch golfer may be a bogey, but for an 18 handicappeer this could be a triple.
The key is to keep yourself in the round. Don’t care so much about “saving par”, hit consistently average shots.
#5 Bringing It All Together
I tried to structure these tips so that combined, they form a single mindset. All of these tips are different ways of saying a similar thing: don’t hit dumb shots
Obviously this is much harder to do on the course. It can take months of diligent practice to remove these ego-driven errors. Personally, I still struggle to apply this in tournament play even though I have a good grasp in practice rounds.
While this may be disheartening to hear, I will say: you have the physical skills to shoot the scores you deserve
For years, I was putting hours and hours into my technical game, perfecting my putting stroke, my swing, and my chipping without much progress. It was only until I spent time on this mindset that I really started shooting the scores I deserve. And this was during the winter.
So hopefully these tips give you a rough idea of how to shoot a good score: don’t need spectacular shots but don’t make any major mistakes.
That’s really it.
#6 Bonus Tip!
90% rule & Practice Only Rule
If you are struggling to apply this mindset to your rounds, then these two rules may help.
90% Rule: only hit shots where you have a 90% + chance of execution. For example, if you are in the trees, hit a shot which you can execute 90% of the time. There may be a gap, but can you hit it 90% of the time??? (the answer is no…)
Practice Only Rule: only hit shots which you vividly remember practicing. If you have the option between a standard chip or a flop, choose the one which you have practiced.
But what if I haven’t practiced either shot?? Then go back to the 90% rule and work it out from there.
Conclusion
These tips will bring you results.
You should constantly remind yourself of these tips if you want the best results. For example, write a note on the scorecard “Macro, 90% Rule” or in your yardage book, on your phone, range finder, and glove.
Putting this into practice will bring immediate results. However its a lifelong journey reflecting on your mistakes and errors.
No one is better at this than Tiger Woods. You may say “Wait, but Tiger has hit some spectacular shots”.
Yes but think of how many spectacular shots he has hit and how many tournaments he has won. He has won over 80 events and I can’t remember 80 spectacular shots he has hit.
Also, think back to his position in the tournament when he hit those shots. You’ll find that most of his spectacular shots was when he was leading or close to the lead.
It was through patience and discipline that took him to these positions.
