Tips For Playing On The Course In Wet Conditions

Hello everyone, Neil Tappin here from Golf Month V and welcome to the London Club

In this video in which I'm going to offer some top tips for playing golf in the rain

This is all the practical stuff you need, the equipment advice, a little bit of strategy and also some rules as well

Now the only thing I'm missing is some truly awful weather. Ah, that's better. Sort of

Right, let's get started. Now, for most golfers, they'll need to choose whether or not to use an umbrella when they

play golf in the rain. And for me, it depends on two factors. One, how windy is it? If you

are constantly fighting with the umbrella, it might be best just to not bother. And two

actually, how wet is it? If it's really pouring it down, then frankly, you're going to get pretty

wet anyway, and it might just not be worth the trouble of having an umbrella with you

As you can probably hear through the microphone, it's pretty windy out here today, so I probably

wouldn't use an umbrella but if I did I'd definitely put a dry towel, fix a dry towel in

underneath the umbrella so that's a really handy thing to do to keep your hands dry before you or

to dry your hands before you play any shots and keeping that towel dry is absolutely crucial

Okay so this is a really important one now before you go out to play put your rain hood on. I've done

this in the past where I've got to the club, put my clubs outside, gone in for a coffee and it's

rained and I've come out and all of my golf equipment is soaking wet. That's absolutely what

you need to avoid. So check out the weather forecast, know if it's going to rain and if it is

take some time either before you leave home or in the clubhouse before you go out to play

to put the rain hood on in the dry. Give yourself half a chance. Okay, so two very quick tips here

Firstly, in the interest of pace of play and keeping your equipment as dry as you can for as

long as you can, maybe think about reducing your pre-shot routine down a little bit. So I think I

probably wouldn't bother with a practice swing. I mean I'm not trying to rush but

I trying to keep things a little bit quicker Hit the shot Oh that a good shot And then before I put the club back in the bag I gonna give the club head a quick dry under my arm as I put it back in That means that any water that on the club head won trickle down the shaft and down into the bottom of that bag and get all of your

grips wet. It does depend. On a day like today, there's not an awful lot you can do, but if

it's raining a little bit less than it is today, that sort of thing can help you keep your equipment drier for longer. Okay, know the embedded ball rule. It can really help

you when the weather is as bad as this. Because when the rules of golf changed at the beginning of

2019, the rules changed related to embedded ball rule. Now you get relief anywhere in the general

area if you have an embedded ball like I have here in the rough. Many people would, I think

be worried that they'd have to take a penalty drop here. You don't. So mark the position of the ball

just right behind where the ball is situated. Place a tee peg. Lift the ball up. You then get

one club length relief. Now I'm not going to use my longest club because I don't want to get that

grip wet as well. I'm going to use my wedge for this shot but you could use your longest club to

mark out obviously an arc around your ball where to drop it. I'm just going to go straight back on

a line, put another tee peg in and I'm going to drop it from knee height here. That ball is now

in play. I've got good relief from what was a horrendous lie and I can carry on

Now if you don't want to use wet weather gloves and you prefer the feel of a normal leather

glove then you'll need to figure out a way of keeping your glove as dry as possible for

as long as possible. One tip is to put the glove up in the top of the umbrella next to

your towel as you play. I'm not sure this will work all the way around, you'll need

a few different leather gloves and you'll need to keep them dry in your bag as well

But if you want that feel of a normal leather glove on your hand then maybe keeping it at

the top of your umbrella is a good way to go. The next one is about how to transport your clubs

around the course and there's a few different sort of conflicting opinions on this one. Now on a

day like today when it's as wet as it is and as windy as it is I think I would probably do away

with the umbrella and I'd carry it. I'd accept the fact that I'm just going to get wet and I'd carry

my clubs It means I can just walk to wherever I need to on the golf course get on with it and play If you a trolley user and you want to use your trolley think about buying one of those accessories that you can put onto the central console that allows you to fix up

your umbrella means that you've got access to both hands as you walk around the course it can be

a real game changer. And then of course the other one to think about is whether you get in a buggy

or not. The only thing I'd say about buggies is they'll certainly help you stay a bit drier but

think about how cold it's going to be if you're in a buggy all day you're not getting that exercise

walking to all of the different shots that you play, then maybe you might start to feel a little bit colder. For me, on a day like today when it's as wet and as windy and as grotty as it is, I think

I'll walk. If you're playing golf in the wet then obviously the ball is not going to run as far

once it hits the ground as it will do when it's dry and you need to factor that into your thinking

when you're out on the golf course. This is where it really pays to understand how far you carry

each cub in the bag. It's something that we hear our top 50 coaches tell us all the time. Understand

what your carry yardages are, they're more important than your total yardages. Now I think

I would probably take a little bit off my carry yardages and work from there. It's going to help

me understand in each scenario on the golf course which cub to hit. Okay so if it's raining it's

likely to be fairly gloomy out and in that scenario think about using a yellow golf ball now of all

there's lots of different types of coloured golf balls on the market at the moment i would avoid

using some of the dark colours and go for yellow instead in my experience this is just that little

bit easier to see i think it's just worth having some in your golf bag even if you're somebody who

sort of really likes to stick with a white golf ball have one packet of yellow golf balls stashed

in your bag that if you're playing golf in the summer and really sort of dappled sunlight it can

be easier to see and on days like today where it's really gloomy a yellow golf ball can be really

handy. Okay so I'm going to start with an apology to all those people who've heard me say this

before but I think it's one of the best tips for playing golf in the rain and that is to get

yourself a decent pair of rain gloves. They tend to be black they tend to come in pairs

and they are designed to be worn the whole time that you're out on the golf course in the rain

The wetter they get I think the more traction they offer you Certainly in my experience they are a lot better than either playing golf without a glove or with a sort of standard leather gloves They also

extend the lifespan of your regular white leather gloves that you've got as well. So think about a

really good quality pair of black wet weather gloves for conditions like this. It could make

all the difference. Okay, so this one is a fairly obvious one, but it is worth saying. Try to avoid

the temptation to play golf in your comfiest pair of spikeless shoes? Two reasons, really. Firstly

you are more likely to slip, obviously. And then secondly, I think that I have a few pairs of shoes

but on a day like today, it'll be my sort of hardest wearing pair of spiked golf shoes that

I'll wear. That tends to mean that I can extend the life of my spikeless golf shoes by not wearing

them on really nasty days like today. So for me, it's my best pair of spiked golf shoes

maximum traction, meaning I can swing through the ball with a little bit more commitment, a bit more aggression, which is really going to help me out on the course

For this one, bucket hat. Now, as you can see, the weather out here is horrible. Nobody

I don't think, is particularly relishing playing golf on a day like today, but sometimes

you have to. And in this scenario, a bucket hat is really important. I think in particular

because it stops the water from getting down the back of your waterproof suit, going down your back

and making you cold. Also, for anyone who wears glasses on the golf course, that bit of extra

protection at the front. I sometimes, I wear glasses, I sometimes wear a cap and a bucket hat

on top. It might not look the best, but it keeps me nice and dry. So I store my bucket hat in my

golf bag so that when the weather is as bad as it is today, I know I've got that little bit of extra

help. So there you have it that's my look at some of the things you might be able to do to hopefully

help you play a little bit better when it's raining certainly hopefully enjoy yourself a bit

more on the golf course if you are caught out by really bad weather. I hope you found that helpful

and if you have any comments please do leave them below we'd love to hear what you have to say but

that's it for now from the London Club thanks for watching we'll see you next time