Cold Weather Golf

Private Lessons

Hello, golfers. It looks as though fall is finally here. It seems like summer lasted forever. I can’t wait to kick back by the fireplace and do a bit of writing and reading. Of course, it only takes a month of that until I am excited to see the summer heat again.

I have a school coming into Visalia on October 23rd, 24th, and the 25th. Golfers are traveling from Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada, and Florida. I just finished having students in from Tokyo, Japan, Vancouver, BC, Kentucky, North Carolina, and even a couple of others from San Diego and Victorville. I have the privilege and the pleasure of meeting some of the nicest people you could ever imagine.

One gentleman came to see me from Hong Kong about six years ago. He comes back every other year. On his first visit he actually stood on the driving range tee where I teach in Woodlake and finished his negotiations in purchasing the Pringle potato chip company worldwide. That is a true story, and it is just the tip of the iceberg concerning the people I have the pleasure of teaching.

The lady who was here just recently from Japan was a dignitary for the Japanese government her entire working life. You cannot imagine the stories all of these people have shared with me. It is so interesting.

One gentleman who comes annually to see me from Canada was the president and CEO of a major lumber milling company before he retired. He started with the company with nothing more than a high school education as a janitor. He did not attend even one day of college during his career, and yet he finished the last fifteen years as the President and CEO.

I could do a full year just telling you stories about the people I get to meet, but I will not bore you any longer with such seemingly trivial things.

I hope you have been putting some experimentation time into your golf game. Have you gone to the range and tried hooking and slicing on purpose? If you have not done so yet it’s time for you to get started. It will make a world of difference in your ability to play the game. It will also get you out of a lot of trouble.

Did you take your children or your grand children out to the Kid’s Festival? What an amazing crowd of people! And what a wonderful display of talent and exhibits were on hand. If you missed all of the fun and information you want to be certain to attend next year. I was there answering golf swing questions galore, and I had a marvelous time.

Now that we are starting to see the weather cool there will be some very big changes in your golf game. The first is the fact that you will be wearing heavier and heavier clothing in order to be out of doors for several hours.

While that seems simple enough, you must stop to think that this is going to hinder some of the flexibility you had in the summer time. Your golf swing will shorten just a bit, and you will not feel as loose when you are swinging the club.

Here is the problem with this one. As we lose some of our flexibility in the golf swing, we tend to try to force it to happen. This causes us to over swing and begin to miss hit some of our shots. Then we tend to panic, feeling we are missing our shots because we are too bound up in our extra clothing. This causes us to try even harder to extend our swing when our clothing will not allow it.

The second thing which takes place is the pure simple fact of physics that the golf ball will not compress as well in colder weather as it does in warmer weather. In order to combat this we should play a softer compression golf ball in the winter time. I like to go to something equivalent to the Precept Lady Golf ball. In fact, I usually play that ball throughout the winter season, and I like it. There are others out there, also, and your professional should be able to help you select the right one for your game.

The third, and probably the most important one for us to consider, is the fact that all of this extra clothing coupled with the fact that the golf ball will not compress as well means we are going to lose a lot of distance in the winter time.
This one always makes me money in the winter time. Golfers come out of the woodwork to have me help them get some distance back. They just cannot figure out why they are not hitting the ball as far as they were a couple of months ago. I tell them, “It’s real simple. Its winter time and the ball just will not go as far in the cold.” See, now I have saved you some lesson money. You do not need to spend money in the winter for golf lessons concerning MORE DISTANCE.

When the distance begins to slide a bit as winter comes upon us, do not attempt to swing harder. You are only going to destroy the golf swing you have already developed. Simply take a longer club for the shot. Remember, this isn’t rocket science.

There is another little fact I will share with you in closing. It have been studied and shown that a touring professional—a very accomplished player—will lose one foot off his driver for every degree the temperature drops. One foot isn’t all that much; however, when you consider the temperature dropping from 100 degrees all the way down to 60 degrees—and it gets colder than that around here—you are looking at forty feet. That is approaching the twenty yard line.

Can you imagine that? We are talking about losing as much as twenty yards just because the weather changed on us. And that is for a professional. I have no idea how much yardage the average golfer will lose, but it is significant, to say the least.

So, when you are playing in the cold this fall and winter try to keep your cool. Sorry about that little play on words. Don’t get frustrated with your game this winter. Keep the same swing feel you had in the summer and simply take an extra club or two for the shot. That way you will have a lot more fun.

Keep in mind. Summer is not gone forever. The heat will return, and so will your distance.
Send me your golf swing questions and I will answer them!
Darrell Klassen – mailto:darrell@darrellsgolf.com
C/O Valley Trends Magazine
Anthony & Davenport Media Group
121 E. Main St. Suite 302
Visalia, CA 93291