Pay Attention To Golf Course Conditions (Video) - by Pete Styles
Pay Attention To Golf Course Conditions (Video) - by Pete Styles

As a golfer, hitting a golf shot from inside a hundred yards, it would be lovely if we could dial in all of our perfect distances, so we know that each individual, one of our wedges, combined with each individual position of a backswing and follow through would go a perfect distance onto the green. It would be brilliant if we could dial that in. Now, on the golf course we just say, “Well, I’ve got an 80-yard shot so I need this club. This length of swing would give me 80 yards,” but the problem we have with that is an 80 yard shot on any given day might not always be the same club in the same distance because the shot changes and the golf course conditions are kind of – they have their requirement we’ve got to assess before we hit the shot to understand how far that ball is going to fly and what it’s going to be when it lands and reacts.

That’s really one of the challenges of golf is that every day we play, even if we play at the same golf course each time, the course conditions change, the weather conditions change and how we play the golf course therefore needs to change as well. So as we assess the golf shot and the golf course conditions in our pre-shots assessment, we’ve really got to take on quite a little bit of information. So generally, we’d stand back behind the golf ball, would look down the target line and we take on all the information that we need to have in our brain before we actually decide on the shot. So things like the wind direction, maybe even the wind strength and maybe even the temperature on the day can change how far the ball will fly. Certainly, a day like today when you can see the flag is sticking out and blowing quite strongly, if we’re playing that shot down wind, the 80-yard shot that we have previously might now go 90 yards. And if this wind was turned around and played in towards, the 80-yard swing that we have might only go 70 yards and that’s going to be a big difference in the length of path if we don’t adjust for the wind direction. Left and right winds might make a difference and the wind strength makes a difference. Temperature changes, colder temperature, generally you’re wearing more clothes, you’re swinging slower, the ball won’t quite fly as far. Warmer temperatures, just playing in shorts and t-shirt, you feel stronger and faster, the ball will go a little bit further through the air and the ball will go farther and so you need to consider that. And certainly when we look at the green conditions, how the greens are treated and how wet or dry the greens are will make a big, big difference. So if I land this ball 80 yards into a very soft and moist green, it’s going to land, it’s going to put the brakes and then stop fairly quickly. But then if you look at an 80-yard picture into maybe sort of the British Open, if you play the British Open in the middle of summer, [indiscernible] [0:02:41] greens, you might see the ball land 80 and roll off the back of the green maybe to a hundred yards. So we need to weigh all of this information before we choose the right shots. So it’s not as simple as working out which club, which swing length will hit the ball exactly the right distance. We’ve also got to weigh up things like the wind direction, the conditions of the green and generally the conditions of the whole golf course. So make sure you’re taking all that information on board in your pre-shots assessments of which club and which shot to hit when you’re inside a hundred yards. 2016-05-09

As a golfer, hitting a golf shot from inside a hundred yards, it would be lovely if we could dial in all of our perfect distances, so we know that each individual, one of our wedges, combined with each individual position of a backswing and follow through would go a perfect distance onto the green. It would be brilliant if we could dial that in. Now, on the golf course we just say, “Well, I’ve got an 80-yard shot so I need this club. This length of swing would give me 80 yards,” but the problem we have with that is an 80 yard shot on any given day might not always be the same club in the same distance because the shot changes and the golf course conditions are kind of – they have their requirement we’ve got to assess before we hit the shot to understand how far that ball is going to fly and what it’s going to be when it lands and reacts.

That’s really one of the challenges of golf is that every day we play, even if we play at the same golf course each time, the course conditions change, the weather conditions change and how we play the golf course therefore needs to change as well. So as we assess the golf shot and the golf course conditions in our pre-shots assessment, we’ve really got to take on quite a little bit of information. So generally, we’d stand back behind the golf ball, would look down the target line and we take on all the information that we need to have in our brain before we actually decide on the shot.

So things like the wind direction, maybe even the wind strength and maybe even the temperature on the day can change how far the ball will fly. Certainly, a day like today when you can see the flag is sticking out and blowing quite strongly, if we’re playing that shot down wind, the 80-yard shot that we have previously might now go 90 yards. And if this wind was turned around and played in towards, the 80-yard swing that we have might only go 70 yards and that’s going to be a big difference in the length of path if we don’t adjust for the wind direction. Left and right winds might make a difference and the wind strength makes a difference.

Temperature changes, colder temperature, generally you’re wearing more clothes, you’re swinging slower, the ball won’t quite fly as far. Warmer temperatures, just playing in shorts and t-shirt, you feel stronger and faster, the ball will go a little bit further through the air and the ball will go farther and so you need to consider that.

And certainly when we look at the green conditions, how the greens are treated and how wet or dry the greens are will make a big, big difference. So if I land this ball 80 yards into a very soft and moist green, it’s going to land, it’s going to put the brakes and then stop fairly quickly. But then if you look at an 80-yard picture into maybe sort of the British Open, if you play the British Open in the middle of summer, [indiscernible] [0:02:41] greens, you might see the ball land 80 and roll off the back of the green maybe to a hundred yards. So we need to weigh all of this information before we choose the right shots.

So it’s not as simple as working out which club, which swing length will hit the ball exactly the right distance. We’ve also got to weigh up things like the wind direction, the conditions of the green and generally the conditions of the whole golf course. So make sure you’re taking all that information on board in your pre-shots assessments of which club and which shot to hit when you’re inside a hundred yards.