Tips For Conquering Golf In The Winter

So this is the first of five tips for playing in the winter

And obviously what we find a lot, you get in some wet fairways, you get muddy lies, and a great

tip is really, I think, is to play them much like you would do a fairway bunker shot

So for that in mind, what I would tend to do is I'd narrow the starts down a little bit

I'd actually, the other thing I always encourage players to do is to aim towards the front of the

ball. So of course in the winter, we've got pick and place. So my ball is

finished here so what I'd actually do here is I'd turn it round so I can actually

see the line so I've got to use that for putting but in this instance I'm

going to put it down like this so now when I actually address the ball I'm actually

looking at the front half of the ball and this will ensure that I catch the ball first rather than the turf because as you know on a damp fairway you've hit

behind the ball you're just going to end up with no distance whatsoever so if I

demonstrate narrow the stance down looking down the fairway I'm looking towards the front of the ball

And I can see how the balls come off there really nicely It got turf second and I got a nice shallow contact that I haven dug down into it and that really critical when you playing off wet fairways

So here's a really important tip in the winter. Ground conditions are going to get a little bit soggy

We need to get more stability. So what I work on is actually narrowing the stance down

And of course that also has an effect of just bringing the spine a little bit steeper

so it'll actually help lower your ball flut, which is a good thing this time of year. So you can see here I've set up from a normal third

set up for my normal three-word shot. So my feet, I put the balls down to measure

where I'm normally would be. So I'd stand to here. We'll just give this one a hit

So that would be my normal setup to there. So now what I would practice is literally standing inside

of these balls. So I'd actually have my stance a little narrower here

Same idea. and I can immediately feel I'm a lot more stable

from that setup and that's something that we're all gonna need this winter

So my big bug bear about golf balls is I see a lot of golfers with all sorts of a jumble in their bag and really you wanna find a ball that best for you There a lot of great ball fitting out there in the pro shops you can find out what is the best ball for you And once you do definitely fill your bag with it

Certainly in the winter, my feeling is find something a little bit firmer and you'll find a little bit more distance off the tea

And certainly when you get on the greens, they're really damp. That firmer ball will definitely roll out a bit easier

So a major improvement, I think, in golf in the winter is the clothing

You've got these companies now offering the base layer, mid layer and outer layer, and you can move so much easier than with the old equipment

So jackets are now much lighter, so this is the first time today. It's actually

stopped raining. So I'm going to take this off and you can see here. I've got this nice

smart layer on underneath, but they're really warm. And of course the other great

thing about these jackets is they're so light, they don't add any weight to your bag

So I've got the mid layer, that keeps you really warm. I can move a lot easier than I

could with the old equipment. Then I've got a base layer underneath and that really keeps me nice

and warm. But as I say, the movement is the big thing. And I think, you know

if you haven't shop for golf equipment for a few years, get into your local pro shop

and have a look around and get yourself something smart As the weather gets colder I always think it a really good idea to actually carry a golf bag There several reasons for that As you know the greenkeepers have to rope areas off so you can actually walk straight to your ball if you walking And I also think you know with the colder weather

you definitely work a little bit harder. So it's better for you and it's better for the ground as well

because less troll is on the golf course. The other thing you can consider, I've got a full set here

but then maybe play with a three-quarters set, or even what I'm really keen on

which I've often run competitions, is have a seven-club challenge. So you take two

too long, two medium, two short clubs and a putter, and it's a really interesting way to find out

the differences between your clubs. And obviously at this time of year, the difference between, say, a six and a seven iron

starts to get quite little. So I think that's quite an interesting addition

to your golf game in any case. So definitely if you're able to, give it a try

These bags are really light now, they're fantastic, really well balanced, and I definitely am a big advocate

for that in the winter. So there's five simple tips that I think will help your winter game

So I hope you enjoyed them