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10 Clever Winter Golf Gear Hacks.
Golf Monthly deputy editor Joel Tadman runs through the 10 winter golf gear hacks you should think about if you want to improve your scores this off season. These genius tweaks are easy to make and may well save you a shot or two the next time you tee it up this winter.
Golf Monthly deputy editor Joel Tadman runs through the 10 winter golf gear hacks you should think about if you want to improve your scores this off season. These genius tweaks are easy to make and may well save you a shot or two the next time you tee it up this winter.
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00:00Now, for many of us, the idea of playing golf
00:02when it's freezing cold outside, or raining, or both,
00:05isn't overly appealing, but perhaps it's been
00:07your equipment that's been letting you down
00:09and tarnishing your enjoyment of these winter rounds.
00:12So, why don't you try one, some, or maybe all
00:15of the winter golf gear hacks I'm about to show you
00:17in this video filmed at the incredible Elsa course
00:20at Trump Turnberry.
00:21Make sure you stick around for number seven.
00:23It's an absolute game changer.
00:25Let's face it, apart from the feeling in your fingers,
00:27what have you got to lose?
00:30Now, golf is increasingly becoming a power game,
00:37and that's something you need to cash in on in the winter
00:39by playing a golf ball that's going to give you
00:41the most amount of carry distance through the air.
00:43We know the fairways are soft,
00:45the ball's not going to be running very much after it lands,
00:47so you need a golf ball that's going to give you
00:48the most amount of carry.
00:49There's a few different changes you can make,
00:51potentially, to the ball that you play.
00:52So, for example, if you typically play Titleist Pro V1,
00:56you might want to think about switching
00:57into the Titleist Pro V1X.
00:59That is a slightly higher launching,
01:00high-flying golf ball within the premium range.
01:03You could take it a step further.
01:04It's something I would definitely recommend
01:06is switching to a more distance-orientated golf ball,
01:09a firmer golf ball, like the Titleist Velocity
01:12that I've got here, for example.
01:13It's going to give you more ball speed.
01:15It's going to definitely give you
01:16a few more yards through the air.
01:17And because the greens are soft,
01:19you don't necessarily need that spin control
01:21that you get from a premium cover.
01:22The ball's not going to be releasing out
01:23when you're chipping and hitting iron shots into the green.
01:25So you can afford to make that switch
01:27into a distance golf ball and not suffer that trade-off
01:30that you would typically get during the summer months.
01:32So it would be remiss of me to not have a go
01:35with this Titleist Velocity golf ball here,
01:37the beautiful 10th hole on the Elsa course
01:39at Trump Turnberry.
01:41Obviously, when you're making a stroke,
01:44you can definitely afford to tee a little bit higher
01:46in the winter, get that ball up in your stance.
01:48That's going to encourage a little bit more height
01:50off the tee to give you the most amount of carry distance.
01:54Don't overdo it, but those are some changes
01:56you can also make to your setup.
01:58Let's see if we can get this one flying high
02:00and straight down the fairway.
02:06Oh, it's a little bit left.
02:09Just hugging the edge of that ocean there.
02:12Not ideal, but those are some simple changes
02:14to your golf ball you can make to give you
02:16more carry distance and therefore get further down
02:18the fairway and get lower scores in the winter.
02:22Now, in the winter, when the ground's soft,
02:23it can make chipping around the green
02:25a more of a difficult task because the leading edge
02:27just wants to dig a little bit more into the ground.
02:30The margin for error is quite small.
02:31Maybe less so on a links course like we have here
02:34on the Elsa course at Trump Turnberry,
02:35but generally speaking, you want to try and increase
02:38the margin for error when you're chipping around the green.
02:40And one way you can do that with your equipment
02:42is to switch to a higher bounce wedge when you're chipping.
02:45Something I definitely do in the winter.
02:46I've got a 12 degrees of bounce wedge here.
02:49That's a lot higher than I would typically play.
02:50Obviously bounce being the distance
02:52between the leading edge and the bottom of the sole.
02:54So if you have a little bit more bounce there,
02:55that's going to encourage the club to dig a little bit less
02:58and just skid across the turf
03:00rather than dig down into it with that leading edge.
03:01You can see here, you don't want to be taking divots
03:03when you're chipping if you can avoid them.
03:04So a little bit more bounce.
03:07It should increase the margin for error when you're chipping
03:10on these soft conditions that you get in the winter.
03:15So you hear how the club just sort of skimmed along the top,
03:18not much divot there.
03:20That's what you want when you're chipping.
03:21But if you haven't got a high bounce wedge,
03:23you don't want to switch the wedge in your equipment
03:25in terms of investing in a new wedge,
03:26one way you can add more bounce is to open the club face.
03:31So another thing I like to do in the winter,
03:33because the greens are soft,
03:34you can afford to play a slightly lower trajectory shot.
03:36So what I tend to do is,
03:37I tend to get a slightly lower lofty wedge
03:39like a pitching wedge and just open the face of it.
03:42And opening the face of your wedge
03:43will expose a bit more bounce.
03:45So you still get the sort of same effect
03:47without having to buy a new wedge.
03:48You still get that sort of skidding motion.
03:50And obviously with a pitching wedge,
03:52it's going to come out a little bit flatter.
03:54You still get a little bit of spin,
03:55but because the greens are softer,
03:57it's still hopefully not going to run away from you as much.
04:01I've hit that a little bit too hard,
04:03but you get the idea.
04:03You can see here, again, similar divot,
04:05nice skidding motion through the turf.
04:08Definitely one to practice.
04:09If you don't want to buy a new wedge,
04:10chip with a lower lofty wedge,
04:12open the face a little bit,
04:13expose more bounce,
04:14and that should increase your margin of error
04:15when you're shipping around the green.
04:18Don't underestimate the importance
04:19of the humble golf tee in the winter.
04:21Now luckily here on the Elves, of course,
04:23at Trump Turnberry,
04:24we're still off grass,
04:25but the majority of golf courses in the winter
04:27will be off mats.
04:28And that's where the castle tee,
04:30or egg timer tee,
04:31can really come in handy.
04:32I've got a couple here.
04:34The benefits of using egg timer tee
04:36is that you get a consistent tee height every time.
04:38So that should help you contact the ball
04:39on the driver face in a similar position,
04:42and just give you a consistent launch and flight,
04:43and make it a bit more predictable.
04:45And you can get them in different heights,
04:47which is really useful.
04:48So for example,
04:49I would use a purple tee for a driver,
04:51if I just want to hit a sort of normal driver,
04:53that's going to keep the ball in play.
04:54But then you've got the option of switching to an orange one,
04:56which is a little bit higher.
04:57If you want a bit more distance,
04:58if the fairway is a bit more open,
05:00you want to really open your shoulders,
05:02switch to a higher egg timer tee
05:04in this orange one.
05:05You've got that flexibility
05:06to absolutely bomb one when you want to.
05:07So definitely recommend switching
05:09to castle tees in the winter,
05:10more consistency,
05:11and you've got that flexibility
05:13of altering the trajectory,
05:14depending on the hole.
05:15Just a quick break to remind you,
05:17if you are enjoying this video,
05:18do click the like button,
05:19it really helps us out.
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05:22to the Golf Monthly YouTube channel,
05:23so you don't miss any of our videos.
05:26Have you done it?
05:27Good.
05:28Right, let's move on.
05:29Now in the winter,
05:30the air is colder,
05:31the greens are definitely softer,
05:33which means the ball,
05:34when you're hitting into greens,
05:35when it lands,
05:36it's not releasing forwards
05:36like it would be in the summer,
05:37and often it's spinning back a lot more,
05:39especially if you're hitting off a mat into a par three.
05:41So one change you could definitely make
05:43would be to hit an extra club
05:45when you're hitting into greens.
05:46If you look at the ARCOS data,
05:48it tells us that every ability of golfer
05:50hits the ball shorter in the winter
05:51versus the summer.
05:52For a scratch golfer,
05:53they're around about 4% shorter on average,
05:56so off the tee they're losing about 11 yards,
05:58which is a pretty significant difference.
06:00That difference does come down
06:02as the handicap ability goes up
06:03and the swing speed comes down,
06:05but definitely something to think about.
06:07You're generally going to be
06:08a lot shorter in the winter
06:09than you would be in your summer yardages.
06:11So for example,
06:12on this particular shot here,
06:14I know in the summer,
06:15it's like absolutely flush a nine-iron,
06:17I could probably get it to pin high.
06:18But we're in the winter,
06:19it's a little bit colder,
06:20there's a little bit of wind around,
06:22and we know that I'm going to hit this
06:23a little bit shorter.
06:24Maybe I'm not swinging it as far
06:26because I've got a few layers on,
06:27so going an extra club is always a good idea.
06:30So I'd go from a nine-iron to my eight-iron.
06:32Obviously when you think about most holes,
06:34the trouble on most holes,
06:35generally speaking,
06:36tends to be short of the green
06:38on that front portion of the green.
06:39So if we can get our approach shots
06:40to the middle of the green,
06:41even maybe the back half of the green,
06:43going to take the trouble out of play as well.
06:44So club up,
06:46make a committed swing,
06:47and hopefully you take the trouble out of play,
06:49and that will help your scores come down.
07:04So there you go,
07:04I've got it to the middle of the green there,
07:06taking the trouble out of play.
07:07Definitely something to think about in the winter,
07:09clubbing up should help you lower your scores.
07:19Now generally speaking,
07:19when we play in the winter,
07:21maybe not in the case of a Lynx golf course like this,
07:24but typically fairways in the winter are quite muddy,
07:27and when you hit approach shots,
07:28iron shots, wedge shots,
07:30the faces on your clubs can get very dirty.
07:32And if you get dirt and moisture on your club base
07:35and you leave that on there,
07:36that's going to provide issues with inconsistent spin,
07:39maybe even the start line of your golf shot as well.
07:41So it's really important in the winter,
07:43if you want as much consistency as possible,
07:45make sure after every approach shot,
07:48you give your iron a good clean with a dry towel,
07:51just to get all the moisture and the loose dirt off.
07:53But also,
07:54another good tip is to invest in a groove cleaner like I've got here.
07:58Just give those grooves a clean.
07:59You can see the amount of dirt that comes out there.
08:02And that's just going to make sure you get that consistent spin
08:04on every shot.
08:05With an iron shot,
08:06we're trying to hit the ball a specific distance
08:08and trying to encourage as much predictability as possible.
08:10Having clean grooves for every shot
08:13is going to increase the chances that are happening.
08:15So, invest in the groove cleaner,
08:17give your iron faces a good clean after every approach shot,
08:20wedge shot, chip shot,
08:22and that should help your results around the green
08:24or the shots into greens become a bit more predictable.
08:28Right, unless your driver is made of wood
08:30and is older than old Tom Morris,
08:32it should have some loft adjustability on it.
08:34And that's something to really take advantage of in the winter
08:37because adding a bit of loft to your driver
08:38can definitely help increase your carry distance in the winter.
08:41Something that's really important.
08:42So, make sure you've obviously, you've got a wrench at home,
08:46you can adjust the settings on your driver,
08:48but make sure you do some research online
08:50in terms of making sure you get the loft adjustment just right.
08:54And be careful because when you're tweaking loft,
08:55it can also alter the face angle
08:57depending on the manufacturer of driver you've got.
08:59So, maybe consult with a PGA Pro, do some research online,
09:03but there's definitely going to be a setting on your hosel
09:05that you can take advantage of to give you a bit more loft
09:07and that should therefore give you
09:09a little bit more carry distance.
09:11With cold outside, the temptation is to add lots of layers
09:14to keep you warm.
09:15But obviously, the more layers you add,
09:17the more restriction you're going to be potentially adding
09:19to your swing.
09:20It's going to reduce the speed
09:21and that's something that you don't want to do in the winter.
09:23The ball's already not going as far
09:25as it was in the summer.
09:26So, adding lots of bulky layers
09:27can reduce distance even further
09:29and that's going to add complications to your round.
09:31So, one tactic I like to go for,
09:33if I can get away with it, if it's not ridiculously cold,
09:37is to go for the base layer, vest or gilet combination.
09:40So, this is a really good way of keeping yourself warm,
09:42but also giving your arms as much range of motion
09:46to swing completely freely.
09:47So, if you can get away with it in the winter,
09:49base layer, warm, gilet or vest combination
09:52going to allow you to swing completely freely,
09:54and hopefully you won't lose as much distance
09:56and therefore you haven't got to make
09:57any sort of complicated calculations
09:59in terms of adjusting your club distances
10:01depending on the shot in hand.
10:02So, if you can, make some smart choices
10:04around the clothing that you wear
10:06and that should help your winter round
10:08be a bit more enjoyable.
10:10So, I've come here, I've got a great tip for you
10:11to take advantage of preferred lies in the winter.
10:14We know in the winter, most golf courses
10:16give you preferred lies when you're in the fairway.
10:19So, you can really use that to your advantage,
10:21especially if you play a golf ball that has a line on it
10:23or some alignment help like I've got here
10:25in the TP5X Stripe Golf Ball.
10:28So, obviously you pick it up, mark the ball, pick it up,
10:30you're allowed to clean it,
10:31and then if you've got those visual lines on there,
10:33you can use it to align the line onto your target.
10:37So, whether that's the flag or if there's some wind around,
10:39maybe slightly left or right of the flag,
10:41just use it to give you a little bit more visual assistance
10:44for your club face, because I think I'm certainly
10:46somebody who doesn't hit their wedge shots
10:47as close as I would like.
10:49So, it's going to give you a really good visual
10:50on your start line, your alignment.
10:52It's going to give you a lot of help,
10:54just allows you to be a bit more freer,
10:55just swing on the line of the ball,
10:57and obviously you can use it,
10:58not just on your approach shots,
10:59you can use it off the tee,
11:01you can use it on the green, of course,
11:02when you're putting as well.
11:03And let's face it, in the winter,
11:05when the tees are forward,
11:06you're probably going to have quite a lot of wedge shots
11:08into the green.
11:09So, if someone that doesn't hit your wedge shots
11:10as close as you want,
11:11use this when you're preferring the lie.
11:14It might well help you hit your approach shots
11:16a little bit closer.
11:17Now, in the winter, we know the ground conditions
11:20can get very wet and slippery,
11:22which can obviously increase the risk of injury
11:24if you're slipping over,
11:25but also when you're playing from sloping lies,
11:27you don't want your feet moving around.
11:29That's going to produce inconsistent strikes
11:31and generally bad shots.
11:32So, one way you can negate that
11:34and often increase the longevity of your golf shoes
11:37is to replace the cleats.
11:38If you've got an old pair of spike shoes,
11:40they're looking a bit worse for wear.
11:41You could add some new spikes to your shoes.
11:44I've got some Soft Spikes Tour Flex Pro cleats here.
11:48I haven't got the wrench to insert them
11:50into my shoes at the moment,
11:51but obviously your Pro should have a wrench
11:54that you can therefore replace the cleats on your shoes.
11:56They're pretty inexpensive to do that
11:58and they can really add a year or so to your golf shoes.
12:01If they're still waterproof,
12:02adding some fresh cleats will give you a lot more grip.
12:05It'll give you that confidence
12:06that you can swing with complete freedom,
12:08knowing that your feet aren't going to slip out
12:09from under you when you're making your shot in the winter.
12:12Extra grip's really invaluable,
12:14a little bit safer as well.
12:16So, definitely recommend in the winter,
12:17investing in a new set of cleats.
12:19It will definitely add a year or two to your golf shoes.
12:23Now, while there's little evidence to show
12:24that hot golf balls tend to go further
12:26than sort of normal temperature golf ball,
12:28there is a little bit of evidence out there
12:30that suggests that cold golf balls don't go as far
12:33as a normal temperature golf ball.
12:34So, where you can, I would recommend
12:36putting your golf ball in your pocket
12:38to keep them sort of as close to your body temperature
12:41as possible, even pop them in your mittens.
12:42That's another good idea, which I could do here.
12:44You can also get those sort of strap-on hand warmers
12:47that sort of rest on your belly.
12:49They're a good way to keep your hands warm.
12:51Pop your ball in there as well.
12:52That should hopefully stop the temperature
12:54of the golf ball reducing
12:56and therefore reducing the risk of the ball
12:58potentially not going as far off the tee or into greens.
13:01And that should hopefully give you
13:02a little bit more consistency in your distances.
13:05So, there you have it.
13:06It's a good look at the 10 winter golf gear hacks
13:08you could try to hopefully save a shot or two
13:10off your scores this off-season.
13:12Big thank you to the Els, of course,
13:13here at Tramp Turnberry for hosting us.
13:15Some big changes happening here, coming next year.
13:17Really exciting.
13:18But that's all from me.
13:19I'll see you next time.
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