Golf is much more than just searching for the perfect swing and executing it on the course. The best golfers in the world would be nowhere if they never learned how to play in different weather conditions. Cold weather, hot weather, rain, wind, they all affect the way you need to play in order to put up a great score. We’ll take a look at the effects of different weather conditions over the course of six articles. Let’s start off with rain/water and its effect on the golf ball. In following articles we’ll look at wind, its effects and how to play in it. Finally, we’ll address how the temperature effects your golf ball and how you should make changes to your game as it changes. Rain/Water Rain and water have a serious effect on your golf ball. While it's easier to predict than wind, calculations will need to be made and a good education in it's effects will help in determining the best course of action in any one situation. Let's break it down. When water makes its way in between the club and the ball you’ll encounter a good amount of semi-flyers/flyers. Water’s presence in a groove will fill that groove up and not allow for the typical grip between club and ball you see in dry conditions. Thus, in effect, you’ll produce a ball that would parallel that of a knuckle ball in baseball. While a typical semi-flyer/flyer results in added carry distance, in the rain it usually won’t lead to more distance due to the counter effects of the rain. We can think of a ball traveling through the rain as one being affected by a very light wind, maybe 2-4 mph. That would translate into roughly a negative effect on your distance of around 3-5 yards of distance. Now, of course you’ll have to take into account whether it’s a heavy rain, light rain, or a drizzle. The baseline I’ve given you would coincide with a nice steady rain. Not too heavy or light. If it’s not actively raining at the time you’re swinging you can throw all the above out the door and think merely about the effect water will have on your shot. When you’re just dealing with the after effects of an earlier rain, some flyer distance adjustment will typically need to be factored in depending on what part of the hole you are playing from (rough, fairway, sand). Remember, you’re ball will typically carry farther when it’s wet due to the altered interaction between clubface and ball. I want you to notice above i've made sure to mention "carry" when talking about distances. That was on purpose. You have to keep in mind that a ball with less spin on it will not stop as quickly as one with normal spin. You'll also have to factor in the softness of the greens as well. A nice softened and receptive green will really react more like that of a normal shot, with roll out distances similar to those when you're playing on a nice dry day. Throw in a more firm green that drains really well and a ball with little spin coming in and you're going to need to think about more roll out than your used to in the rain. That covers part one, how the ball is affected by rain/water. In part two of this article series we’ll look at each of the circumstances above and what'll you want to do to play the correct shot in wet and rainy conditions.

Wind. You hate it, I hate it, professionals hate it. It's one of the toughest elements to understand and judge. Ever been so sure of a wind direction only to hit your shot and it completely changes mid-flight? We've all been there and hopefully in part one of this article series, Good Old Wind, we can look at the different effects wind has on our ball and it's flight. Then in part two, we'll discuss some strategies to make playing in the wind easier and hopefully save you a few strokes. Wind The effect of the wind on your game really depends on your personal ball flight. Those of you with a higher ball flight will be more affected by wind conditions. Just think about it, the higher you go up, the less resistance and stronger the winds become. Here’s a good example of two different wind conditions and their effects on a drive. These numbers were taken from a study done by a professional named Ken Tannar. The baseline drive with no wind was between 250-255 yards. 5 mph wind With wind – 260 yards Into wind – 240 yards 20 mph wind With wind – 275 yards Into wind – 200 yards Look at the difference we have here. You can see that a wind blowing into you will hurt your distances much more than a tailwind will help you gain distance. While we’ve looked at winds straight into you and downwind, playing in a crosswind is a lot more common for most of us. Crosswinds will seriously exaggerate any spin you put on a ball. Whether you’re a slicer or hooker of the ball should be taken into consideration when playing into a crosswind. Playing back into a crosswind will affect your distances negatively, while playing with a crosswind will have the opposite effect and give you slightly more distance. A good rule of thumb is about one foot of movement for every yard of distance in a 10 mph crosswind. Then of course you’ll probably never encounter a crosswind that comes at a 90 degree angle to you. Oh the joys of playing on a windy day! Don’t feel bad on a day when it’s windy out. Statistics show that even the best players in the world’s scores are significantly affected as the wind increases. Even as much as four or five strokes in a round. Do yourself a favor and check out part two of this article series, Good Old Wind, and learn how to make the wind less of an adversary.

There’s only one correct ball position in golf. Yep, I said it. Just one. The correct ball position for every club in your bag is the same and if you look at it logically you’ll shake your head and wonder why you never thought of it before. The correct ball position for all of your clubs is impact position. Sounds too easy right? Well, it is and let me explain it in more detail. First, go grab a driver and maybe a wedge from your bag and let’s hammer it home. Before you grab one of the clubs and get in your normal stance I want you to just get in a solid impact position without swinging. Visualize the impact of the club and the ball. Ok, now go and grab one of the clubs and get back into your impact position just as you had prior to grabbing the club. Does the position of the club look similar to what you visualized when your hands where empty? Now, put whichever club you just used down and repeat the impact position without a club again. Still the same spot? Grab the other club and do the same. Still look similar? The reason they all look similar is that impact position is the same for all clubs. Your body only has one correct impact position it can get into where you hit the ball first and then the turf (or a teed ball) without having to make compensations during the course of your backswing and downswing into impact. The only thing that should change is your distance from the ball and that comes automatically from the differing shaft lengths. You ever wonder why you top balls with some clubs and chunk them with the others? Ball position may not be the only reason, as your SWING alone may be hindering you, but this is definitely a large part of your problem. Balls positioned too far up in our stance are simply just a little too far ahead of the bottom of our swing arc and impact position. We have to reach too far to make contact. Conversely with balls positioned too far back in your stance, the club gets to the ground before it can get to the bottom of our swing arc and impact position and BOOM, chunk city. Now the exact ball position that is perfect for you is dependent on your body, but a good start would be to utilize a logo on your shirt. Or if you don’t have a logo, you can use your left ear. Another good idea to help you locate the correct ball position is to utilize the visualization exercise you engaged in above. When you do begin the quest to find your perfect ball position for your body you are going to notice a few things. One. This will make setting up super easy to repeat. We do enough to mess with our golf games. Setup should be easy. And two. You will find that with all of your clubs you now have the correct shoulder/spine tilt. The best way to get your hands into the setup is to start with your left hand on the club and then bring in your right hand like you are coming under from the right. This will get your shoulder tilt perfect and help square up your shoulders. With this one ball position you are making it infinitely easier on your body to get into impact position with the least amount of contortion and compensations. Go out there and try it. Work to find that perfect spot in that general one or two inch area (below the logo or left ear) and watch your contact, ball flight, and consistency improve!

Knowing what we know now about the golf ball and club interaction in rainy and wet conditions, mainly the loss of spin, let’s look at the different types of shots you may face in a soggy round and how to approach them. A couple of things to note in general for all shots you play in the rain. Make sure you try to keep your grips as dry as possible. If they’re wet, you’re going to grip harder and this will affect your swing and ultimately distance. Second, if you’re wearing some sort of rain jacket, realize that your swing will more than likely be restricted. This will affect distance negatively as well. These are two important things to keep in mind as you play on a wet, rainy day. Off the Tee One of the caveats to the rule I explained in the previous article, water equals less spin and more carry, will show its ugly head with your tee shots and any use of a driver and/or wood. There is something about the flat, not significantly grooved face of these longer clubs that creates a lot more spin. This significant increase in spin will lead to shorter shots. So a good rule of thumb if your ball is wet and you’re playing a tee shot will be to underestimate your distance. Also, these clubs will produce a much less predictable array of shots directionally. If you have a go to shot, use it with the driver and woods. Playing from the fairway If you’re lucky enough (or good enough) to be playing from a lot of fairways on a wet day, you’re in luck. The fairway will easily be the place on the course you’ll be affected the least by the rain. Remember the rule with our groovy friends, rain will lessen the spin affect. Make sure to calculate your fairway shots appropriately by keeping in mind where your ball is, that area’s level of sogginess, and how the greens are receiving the ball. You can still get a decent amount of spin from the fairways, but it will be affected negatively. If you’re playing into a soft green, I’d play it close to your normal distances as the increase in carry will be lessened by the ball's decrease in roll. Into a harder green that allows for some roll out, club down half a club to equalize your distances. Playing from the rough Stay out of the rough at all costs when it’s wet! We all wish it was that easy, right? The rough will play tricks on you. The rough will produce flyer lies on a dry day. Throw in some water and those can turn into some super fliers. You will want to seriously consider how your ball is sitting in the rough and the level of wetness prior to playing your shot. If your ball is sitting up, with the grass going in the same direction as your swing, you’re looking at a good opportunity for some serious distance. This type of lie is idea from the rough, but the distance control will be key. Grass going against your swing? This will produce something a little closer to your normal distance. Remember to take into consideration the green conditions we talked about above as well. Playing out of sand Playing out of the sand is fairly similar in both wet and dry conditions. Out of a greenside bunker you’re going to want to do a couple of things. First, you’ll want to close your clubface a little more than normal. Our club will want to bounce a lot more out of the wet sand. Closing the clubface will allow us to dig a little more, which is what we need to do in order to avoid the skull. You’ll also want to take just a little bit of tempo off your swing. This is needed because you’re going to make a little more solid contact with the ball due to the extra bounce wet sand will produce. Playing in wet conditions requires a good memory and the ability to reason and calculate your distances based on your lie and level of sogginess. Next time you play in wet conditions, use a little logic and pay close attention to what’s going on and you’ll enjoy yourself so much more.