Tips for Playing Your Best in the Cold

Every time you tee it up, the forecast calls for sunny skies and 80* temperatures – right?

Yeah – not so much. In the real world, golfers play in a variety of conditions. After all, if you want to get out on the course with any kind of consistency, you need to be willing to face some elements.

While it is rain and wind that tend to get most of the attention when talking about tough weather, cold temperatures can be troublesome, as well. So in this article, we’ll offer some handy tips for playing well on a cold day.

Three Basic Rules of Playing Golf in the Cold

To get started, let’s look at three basic rules for you to keep in mind when getting ready for a cold round.

Layers are Key

Don’t reach for that big ski coat you have hanging in your closet – that won’t do you any good, no matter how warm it might be.

To make a reasonable golf swing, you are going to need to maintain some flexibility, and that means dressing in layers. Use a number of relatively thin layers to build up warmth without completely destroying your ability to turn.

Not only will layers permit you to remain flexible, but you can also remove and add layers as necessary throughout the day to stay comfortable.

Remember Your Head

Even if you wear several layers, you may still be cold if you don’t remember to cover up your head. Find a comfortable, warm hat that also covers your ears. You’ll be surprised how much warmer you can feel on the course when you have something covering up your head and ears.

Pockets are Your Friends

Make sure that the garments you are selecting have pockets where you can stuff your hands to keep them warm between shots. It’s hard to have any feel for your clubs when your fingers feel like they are frozen, so be sure to keep them as warm as possible until it is your turn to hit again.

On a real cold day it’s also a smart idea to throw some hand warmers in your pockets to really help keep your hands from becoming blocks of ice.

Give Yourself a Proper Warm-Up

You might not be able to do anything about the outside temperature, but you can take steps to warm up your body’s internal temperature before heading to the first tee. If you walk up to the tee without having warmed up and expect to hit a solid shot, you are likely in for a disappointing surprise.

If the course you are playing has a driving range, do what you can to arrive early enough to use the range and get yourself ready to go. When hitting balls on the range, start slowly by hitting a few soft wedge shots to gradually warm up your muscles. If you are comfortable with it, you could even do a few jumping jacks or a light jog to help your body get going.

No driving range available where you are playing, or don’t have time to use it? No problem – just use practice swings for the same effect. Start with soft, slow swings and work your way up to a few full swings with your driver. Even a warm-up period that lasts only a few minutes will be better than nothing.

Stay Hydrated

This one is tricky on a cold day. When it’s hot on the golf course, you don’t need any reminder to drink plenty of water or something like a sports drink. However, in the cold, you probably won’t be sweating much (if at all) so you might not think you need to drink. That can be a mistake.

Your body is still working to walk around the course and hit shots, so be sure to have something to drink along the way. You might not need as much fluid as you would need on a hot day, but don’t let yourself wear down by forgetting to hydrate.

Make Some Adjustments to Your Golf Game

From a practical perspective on the golf side of things, you’ll need to adjust to the conditions a little bit. First and foremost, the ball probably isn’t going to fly as far as it would on a warmer day, so you may need to change your club selections.

Not only does the cold air inhibit the flight of the ball, but your body probably won’t be turning as freely as it would in warmer weather. It all adds up to shorter shots, so keep that in mind as you pick clubs and targets.

Also, during cold times of the year, the grounds crew might not be able to cut the grass as short as they would when the weather is warm and the grass is growing. So, the greens may be slower as a result.

Take some time before your round to hit plenty of putts and get used to the speed of the greens. This is something you should do before any round of golf, but it will be particularly helpful on cold days.

Finally, one other adjustment is to keep yourself moving between shots as much as possible. For instance, if you arrive at a par three and find that you will need to wait for a minute or two before the green is clear to hit, don’t sit down on the bench and let your body get tight. Instead, stay standing and walk around the tee a bit, making a practice swing every once in a while. It’s hard to get going again once you let your body get cold and tight, so stay in motion whenever possible.

Will you ever like playing in the cold as much as you enjoy playing on a beautiful summer afternoon? Probably not – but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun, and it doesn’t mean you can’t play well. Golf in the cold is still golf, after all, and it’s better than a lot of other things you could be doing.

Give some of our tips a try and you just might play some of the best cold golf of your life!