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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 when it's freezing cold outside or raining
00:04or both isn't overly appealing. But perhaps it's been your equipment that's been letting
00:09you down and tarnishing your enjoyment of these winter rounds. So why don't you try
00:13one, some, or maybe all of the winter golf gear hacks I'm about to show you in this video
00:18filmed at the incredible Elsa course at Trump Turnberry. Make sure you stick around for
00:22number seven. It's an absolute game changer. Let's face it, apart from the feeling in your
00:27fingers, what have you got to lose?
00:35Now golf is increasingly becoming a power game and that's something you need to cash in on
00:39in the winter by playing a golf ball that's going to give you the most amount of carry
00:42distance through the air. We know the fairways are soft, the ball's not going to be running
00:45very much after it lands. So you need a golf ball that's going to give you the most amount
00:49of carry. There's a few different changes you can make potentially to the ball that you
00:52play. So for example, if you typically play the tightest probe you want, you might want
00:56to think about switching into the tightest ProView 1X. That is a slightly higher launching,
01:00high flying golf ball within the premium range. You could take it a step further. It's something
01:04I would definitely recommend is switching to a more distance-orientated golf ball, a firmer
01:10golf ball like the tightest Velocity that I've got here, for example. It's going to give you
01:14more ball speed. It's going to definitely give you a few more yards through the air. And because
01:17the greens are soft, you don't necessarily need that spin control that you get from a premium
01:22cover. The ball's not going to be releasing out when you're chipping and hitting iron shots into
01:25the greens. So you can afford to make that switch into a distance golf ball and not suffer that
01:30trade-off that you would typically get during the summer months. So it would be remiss of
01:34me to not have a go with this tightest Velocity golf ball here, the beautiful tenth hole on
01:38the Elsa course at Trump Turnberry. Obviously, when you're making a stroke, you can definitely
01:44afford to tee it a little bit higher in the winter. Get that ball up in your stance. That's
01:48going to encourage a little bit more height off the tee to give you the most amount of carry
01:53distance. Don't overdo it, but those are some changes you can also make to your setup. Let's
01:58see if we can get this one flying high and straight down the fairway.
02:06Oh, it's a little bit left. Just hugging the edge of that ocean there. Not ideal, but there's
02:13some simple changes to your golf ball you can make to give you more carry distance and therefore
02:18get further down the fairway and get lower scores in the winter.
02:21Now, in the winter, when the ground's soft, it can make chipping around the green a more
02:25of a difficult task because the leading edge just wants to dig a little bit more into the
02:29ground. The margin for error is quite small, maybe less so on a Lynx course like we have
02:34here on the Elsa course at Trump Turnberry, but generally speaking, you want to try and increase
02:38the margin for error when you're chipping around the green. One way you can do that with your
02:41equipment is to switch to a higher bounce wedge when you're chipping, something I definitely do in the
02:46winter. I've got a 12 degrees of bounce wedge here. That's a lot higher than I would typically
02:50play. Bounce being the distance between the leading edge and the bottom of the sole. If you
02:54have a little bit more bounce there, that's going to encourage the club to dig a little bit less and
02:58just skid across the turf rather than dig down into it with that leading edge. You can see here,
03:02you don't want to be taking divots when you're chipping if you can avoid them. A little bit more
03:05bounce. It should increase the margin for error when you're chipping on these soft conditions that
03:11you get in the winter. See here how the club just skimmed along the top, not much divot there.
03:20That's what you want when you're chipping. If you haven't got a high bounce wedge, you don't want to
03:23switch the wedge in your equipment in terms of investing in a new wedge. One way you can add more
03:28bounce is to open the club face. Another thing I like to do in the winter is because the greens
03:33are
03:33soft, you can afford to play a slightly lower trajectory shot. What I tend to do is I tend to
03:38get a slightly lower lofty wedge like a pitching wedge and just open the face of it and opening
03:42the face of your wedge will expose a bit more bounce, so you still get the sort of same effect
03:46without having to buy a new wedge. You still get that sort of skidding motion and obviously with a
03:51pitching wedge, it's going to come out a little bit flatter. You still get a little bit of spin,
03:55but because the greens are softer, it's still hopefully not going to run away from you as much.
04:01I've hit that a little bit too hard, but you get the idea. You can see here again, similar divot,
04:05nice skidding motion through the turf. Definitely one to practice. If you don't want to buy a new
04:10wedge, chip with a lower lofty wedge, open the face a little bit, expose more bounce,
04:14and that should increase your margin of error when you're shipping around the green.
04:17Don't underestimate the importance of the humble golf tee in the winter. Now,
04:21luckily here on the Elves, of course, at Trump Turnberry, we're still off grass,
04:25but the majority of golf courses in the winter will be off mats, and that's where the castle
04:29tee or egg timer tee can really come in handy. I've got a couple here.
04:33The benefits of using egg timer tee is that you get a consistent tee height every time. That
04:38should help you contact the ball on the driver face in a similar position and just give you a
04:42consistent launch and flight and make it a bit more predictable. You can get them in different
04:46heights, which is really useful. For example, I would use a purple tee for a driver if I just want
04:51to hit a normal driver that's going to keep the ball in play, but then you've got the option of
04:55switching to an orange one, which is a little bit higher. If you want a bit more distance, if the
04:59fairway is a bit more open, you want to really open your shoulders, switch to a higher egg timer
05:03tee in this orange one. You've got that flexibility to absolutely bomb one when you want to. Definitely
05:08recommend switching to castle tees in the winter, more consistency, and you've got that flexibility
05:12of altering the trajectory depending on the hole. Just a quick break to remind you, if you are
05:17enjoying this video, do click the like button. It really helps us out, and don't forget to subscribe
05:22to the Golf Monthly YouTube channel so you don't miss any of our videos. Have you done it? Good.
05:27Right, let's move on. Now, in the winter, the air is colder. The greens are definitely softer,
05:33which means the ball, when you're hitting into greens, when it lands, it's not releasing forwards
05:36like it would be in the summer, and often it's spinning back a lot more, especially if you're hitting
05:40off a mat into a par three. One change you could definitely make would be to hit an extra club
05:44when you're hitting into greens. If you look at the ARCOS data, it tells us that every ability of golfer
05:49hits the ball shorter in the winter versus the summer. For a scratch golfer, they're around
05:54about 4% shorter on average, so off the tee, they're losing about 11 yards, which is a pretty
05:59significant difference. That difference does come down as the handicap ability goes up and the swing
06:04speed comes down, but definitely something to think about. You're generally going to be a lot shorter
06:08in the winter than you would be in your summer yardages. For example, on this particular shot here,
06:14I know in the summer, if I absolutely flush a 9-9, I could probably get it to pin high,
06:18but we're in the
06:19winter. It's a little bit colder, a little bit of wind around, and we know that I'm going to hit
06:23this a little bit shorter. Maybe I'm not swinging it as far because I've got a few layers on, so
06:27going an extra club is always a good idea. I'd go from my 9-9 to my 8-9. Obviously,
06:32when you think
06:33about most holes, the trouble on most holes, generally speaking, tends to be short of the
06:37green on that front portion of the green. If we can get our approach shots to the middle of green,
06:41even maybe the back half of the green, we're going to take the trouble out of play as well. Club
06:45up,
06:46make a committed swing, and hopefully you take the trouble out of play, and that will help your
06:51scores come down.
07:03So there you go. I've got it to the middle of the green there, taking the trouble out of play.
07:07Definitely something to think about in the winter. Clubbing up should help you lower your scores.
07:18Now, generally speaking, when we play in the winter, maybe not in the case of a links golf
07:23course like this, but typically, fairways in the winter are quite muddy, and when you hit approach
07:28shots, iron shots, wedge shots, the faces on your clubs can get very dirty. If you get dirt and
07:33moisture on your club base, and you leave that on there, that's going to provide issues with
07:38inconsistent spin, maybe even the start line of your golf shot as well. It's really important in the
07:43winter. If you want as much consistency as possible, make sure after every approach shot,
07:48you give your iron a good clean with a dry towel, just to get all the moisture and the loose
07:53dirt
07:53off. Also, another good tip is to invest in a groove cleaner like I've got here. Just give those
07:58grooves a clean. You can see the amount of dirt that comes out there. That's just going to make
08:02sure you get that consistent spin on every shot. With an iron shot, we're trying to hit the ball a
08:07specific distance and trying to encourage as much predictability as possible. Having
08:11clean grooves for every shot is going to increase the chances that are happening. Invest in the
08:16groove cleaner, give your iron faces a good clean after every approach shot, wedge shot, chip shot,
08:22and that should help your results around the green or the shots into greens become a bit more predictable.
08:28Unless your driver is made of wood and is older than old Tom Morris, it should have some loft
08:33adjustability on it. That's something to really take advantage of in the winter because adding a
08:37bit of loft to your driver can definitely help increase your carry distance in the winter,
08:41something that's really important. Obviously, you've got a wrench at home, you can adjust the
08:47settings on your driver, but make sure you do some research online in terms of making sure you get the
08:52loft adjustment just right. Be careful because when you're tweaking loft, it can also alter the face
08:57angle depending on the manufacturer of driver you've got. Maybe consult with a PGA Pro,
09:01do some research online, but there's definitely going to be a setting on your hosel that you can
09:05take advantage of to give you a bit more loft, and that should therefore give you a little bit
09:09more carry distance. With cold outside, the temptation is to add lots of layers to keep you
09:15warm, but obviously, the more layers you add, the more restriction you're going to be potentially adding
09:19to your swing. It's going to reduce the speed, and that's something that you don't want to do in
09:22the winter. The ball's already not going as far as it was in the summer, so adding lots of bulky
09:27layers
09:27could reduce distance even further, and that's going to add complications to your round.
09:31One tactic I like to go for, if I can get away with it, if it's not ridiculously cold,
09:36is to go for the base layer, vest, or gilet combination. This is a really good way of keeping
09:41yourself warm, but also giving your arms as much range of motion to swing completely freely. If you
09:48can get away with it in the winter, base layer, warm, gilet, or vest combination is going to allow
09:53you to swing completely freely, and hopefully, you won't lose as much distance, and therefore,
09:56you haven't got to make any sort of complicated calculations in terms of adjusting your club
10:01distances depending on the shot in hand. If you can, make some smart choices around the clothing
10:05that you wear, and that should help your winter round be a bit more enjoyable.
10:10I've come here. I've got a great tip for you to take advantage of preferred
10:13lies in the winter. We know in the winter, most golf courses give you preferred lies when you're in
10:18the fairway, so you can really use that to your advantage, especially if you play a golf ball that has
10:22a
10:22line on it or some alignment help on it like I've got here in the TP5X stripe golf ball.
10:28Obviously, you pick it up, mark the ball, pick it up, you're allowed to clean it, and then if you've
10:32got those visual lines on there, you can use it to align the line onto your target, so whether that's
10:38the flag or if there's some wind around, maybe slightly left or right of the flag, just use it to
10:42give you a little bit more visual assistance for your club face because I think I'm certainly somebody
10:46who doesn't hit their wedge shots as close as I would like, so it's going to give you a really
10:50good
10:50visual on your start line, your alignment. It's going to give you a lot of help, just allows you
10:55to be a bit more freer, just swing on the line of the ball, and obviously, you can use it
10:58not just
10:58on your approach shots, you can use it off the tee, you can use it on the green, of course,
11:02when
11:02you're putting as well. Let's face it, in the winter, when the tees are forward, you're probably
11:06going to have quite a lot of wedge shots into the green, so if someone doesn't hit your wedge shots
11:10as close as you want, use this when you're preferring the lie. It might well help you hit your
11:15approach shots a little bit closer. Now, in the winter, we know the ground conditions
11:20can get very wet and slippery, which can obviously increase the risk of injury if you're slipping
11:24over, but also when you're playing from sloping lies, you don't want your feet moving around.
11:29That's going to produce inconsistent strikes and generally bad shots, so one way you can negate
11:34that and often increase the longevity of your golf shoes is to replace the cleats. If you've got an old
11:39pair of spike shoes that are looking a bit worse for wear, you could add some new spikes to your
11:43shoes.
11:43I've got some Soft Spikes Torflex Pro cleats here. I haven't got the wrench to insert them into my
11:50shoes at the moment, but obviously your Pro should have a wrench that you can therefore replace the
11:55cleats on your shoes. They're pretty inexpensive to do that, and they can really add a year or so
12:00to your golf shoes. If they're still waterproof, adding some fresh cleats will give you a lot more
12:04grip. It'll give you that confidence that you can swing with complete freedom, knowing that your feet
12:08aren't going to slip out from under you when you're making your shot in the winter. Extra grip's
12:13really invaluable, a little bit safer as well, so definitely recommend in the winter investing in
12:18a new set of cleats. It will definitely add a year or two to your golf shoes.
12:22Now, while there's little evidence to show that hot golf balls tend to go further than normal
12:27temperature golf ball, there is a little bit of evidence out there that suggests that cold golf balls
12:31don't go as far as a normal temperature golf ball. Where you can, I would recommend putting your
12:36golf ball in your pocket to keep them as close to your body temperature as possible, even pop them
12:42in your mittens. That's another good idea which I could do here. You can also get those strap-on
12:46hand warmers that rest on your belly. They're a good way to keep your hands warm. Pop your ball in
12:52there as well. That should hopefully stop the temperature of the golf ball reducing and therefore
12:57reducing the risk of the ball potentially not going as far off the tee or into greens. That should
13:01hopefully give you a little bit more consistency in your distances. There you have it. That concludes our look
13:06at the 10 Winter Golf Gear Hacks you could try to hopefully save a shot or two off your scores
13:11this
13:11off-season. Big thank you to the Elster Course here at Tramp Turnberry for hosting us. Some big changes
13:15happening here coming next year. Really exciting. That's all from me. I'll see you next time.
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