If you are lucky enough to get outside and play golf in the winter, there are some adjustments that you will need to make to your short game.
Playing throughout the winter can actually be crucial to your hopes of starting off the golf season in fine form when the sun begins to shine again.
One of the main problems amateur golfers have is that they are so rusty by the time the golfing season starts that they take a month or so to get up to full speed.
So playing golf throughout the winter is a good way of keeping things ticking over.
However, there are a few changes you will have to make when golfing in the winter months, especially when playing shots in and around the greens.
The adjustments you need to make to your short game in the winter
While some of you may choose to put the clubs away in the winter, the hardcore golfers amongst us will be out on the links whatever the weather.
However, it’s always a struggle to deal with lies around the greens when there is more mud than grass.
You have two options from ‘disgusting messes’ of lies in the winter, according to short game specialist James Ridyard, via a video on the Coach Lockey YouTube channel.
From a bare, muddy lie, Ridyard says: “I would be way happier if this was firm, because you know the club wouldn’t dig into the ground, but it is soggy and wet and horrible. So you can’t depend on the club bouncing up off a firm surface, right. When you have a longer pin and when you have space, you can maybe play maybe toe down and a lower shot, try and get the ball first on the strike.
“It’s kind of a lower, pinchy shot. The error that is made here most often is to try and get ball first and to get a flight on it, because those two don’t really go hand in hand.
“This is all about crispness of strike, I can’t mess about with the mud. A divot is unavoidable. The idea that you’re not going to make a divot is probably the biggest mistake you’re going to make.
“I’m moving the way back and feeling really low. Although it will come in really low, it will still have some grip on it.“
But what do we do if we’ve short-sided ourselves and have minimal green to work with?
“If I go low, I would have to try and land it short of the green and you never know how it’s going to react,“ Ridyard says.
“So, I think they (amateurs) get so caught in between because there is such a worry about mishitting it, so they end up doing something that’s not going to suit.
“The big part for me is to use practice swings to educate yourself as to what the ground is going to do.
“So I’m going to play a mini-bunker shot. If I make sure I strike it with the sole of the club, if I don’t get the leading edge stuck in the ground, it’s going to want to come out of the mud again.
“How can I stop the leading edge digging in? Well, I can be more aggressive with my release. Potentially I could be wider and shallow things. One last little thing, I’m going to cup my wrists then throw it down and keep the cup in wrists, and that’s going to slap the ground. The handle is low and the face is open, so I don’t have to worry about the face is pointing.“
More simple short game advice for high handicappers in the winter
The tips above are great, and they will act as great advice for the more accomplished golfers out there.
However, for the higher handicap players, there is definitely a case to be made for simplifying things a touch.
Perhaps a better piece of advice for those players who aren’t single-digit handicaps would be to take your medicine.
So, if you are short sided for instance, give yourself more margin for error. Don’t mess around with pitching your ball short of the green in the hope that it will bounce exactly how you hope it should.
Play the percentage shot by aiming to hit your ball 10-15 feet past the flag. That way you will eliminate the big numbers from your scorecard.
When you are a mid-high handicap golfer, eliminating as much risk as you can is a sure-fire way of lowering your scores.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
