Playing Winter Golf….Warmly

What if I tell you that you can practice half of your golf shot repertoire every single day of the year, no matter the weather and no matter the location. This can be done easily and with absolute zero work on your part. No setting up of mats, no making sure the ceiling is tall enough to take your full backswing, and no putting a firm mattress over the window to shield your shanks.

Interested?

I have an unofficial rule that I don’t go to driving ranges when the temperatures dip below 50 degrees. Even though I’ve been known to bend that rule down to 40 or 45 degrees on a sunny day with no breeze that still leaves a good two or three months of non-golf weather. Well, unless you’re this person:

A video posted by SxS Clubhouse (@sxsgolf) on Dec 20, 2016 at 4:04pm PST

If you’re like me you get that urge when you pass your lonely clubs sitting there looking at you from their storage spot in the garage or laundry room. So what’s a person to do?

When you watch a professional shoot a 68 in the final round of a tournament, it’s a good bet that at least 30 of his 68 shots (give or take a few) will be putts. So why aren’t we spending time practicing that temperamental skill much more than we do? How can we improve on putting no matter what the sky looks like outside and no matter what the weatherman says on the news? We can.

Here is my setup for Chambers Bay Hole #3 that I created. It’s a fast setup, very quick and you have to be very careful to get the right line or you’ll run into the wall:

Here is my setup for Whistling Straits #14 – but I have to be careful that the dog doesn’t come out from under the bed and grab the ball:

Finally, here’s the setup of the 18^th hole at my local “worst greens ever” golf course. A little bumpy and slightly uneven in places:

I recently heard somewhere that people don’t putt on carpets because they are too unpredictable and/or not level. I have two issues with that statement:

• Issue #1: If your floor is THAT uneven you had better throw the putter down immediately and grab the phone number of your local carpenter. You have bigger problems than an uneven carpet.
• Issue #2: Unless you’re playing at one of the ‘elite’ courses in the country/world, you will never have perfect greens anyway. There is nothing quite like the feeling of learning the break of your hallway carpet and nailing putt after putt.

Some tips for you:

• I switch which ‘course’ I putt on daily, to get a different feel and keep it fresh.
• You can do some of the same drills that I’m a big fan of and wrote about a few months ago – including the infamous “Ladder of Death”.
• Wear your normal golf shoes (without spikes for obvious reasons) to allow you to get the same ‘feel’ for putting as you would on a real green.

So while you are waiting for those 45-50 degree days when you can get out on the range, clear some furniture and keep the dream alive. As mentioned in the previous article, this is also a fantastic way to get your children involved with you – challenge them to a putting contest. Make it fun and you may even get them interested in playing with you when the good weather arrives.

As with everything related to golf – just have fun!

Cover Image via Flickr