[Sam Krume]

am booked in to play west hill gc on my birthday(22/12), £55 coffee,bacon bap and 18 holes. I think this represents great value on a course that still plays fairly firm through the winter as I seem to recall. The much valued ground game can still be enjoyed here.

[Tim Gallant]

A good article on winter golf:


http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/features/the-game/an-ode-to-winter-golf-82941

[Ed Tilley]

I like playing golf in winter because the rough is down which suits my slightly less than arrow straight driving. Coming into a warm clubhouse after a round in "bracing" conditions is a lovely feeling - like stepping into a pub with a fire after a winter walk.

However, there are 2 times I won't go out.

1. Heavy continuous rain (this applies all year round)
2. Winter greens

Some clubs play on the greens all year round - I played at Worplesdon last Xmas on greens that were frozen solid (drove past West Hill on the way and I think they were on winter greens that day so you may want to check). My club (Frilford Heath) seems to go onto winter greens at any opportunity which is a bit annoying.

[Sean_A]

However, there are 2 times I won't go out.

1. Heavy continuous rain (this applies all year round) A hint of rain is enough to put me off...so says the Tin Man.

2. Winter greens  I hate the entire concept of winter greens and would never join a club which is open in the winter and employs them more than very rarely.

I too love winter golf, but so far, November has not been a good month 


Ciao

[MCirba]

There is some combination of wind, rain, and low temps beyond which I won't venture out but that's more theory than practice.

[Giles Payne]

I like bracing winter golf on firm courses, I do not like soft muddy winter golf with lots of worm casts.


The best draining courses can be great fun.

[Peter Pallotta]

Sam had me hooked with the "coffee and bacon sandwich" - the 18 holes are just a bonus! A breakfast is rarely as enjoyable as it is at a quiet almost empty golf in the fall, watching as the sun nips the last bit of frost off the greens. And then it's very nice to play the course when it's not fancied up in its summer-Sunday best -- as if I'm an old friend that it doesn't need to impress.   
Peter
 

[Ryan Coles]

I think you may be a little optimistic re: the ground game in December. No slight on West Hill as that applies to pretty much anywhere inland.

[Matt Dawson]

A good article on winter golf:


http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/features/the-game/an-ode-to-winter-golf-82941

Bizarrely, the golfer standing on the right of that picture in the GM article is me....

[Adam Lawrence]

A good article on winter golf:


http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/features/the-game/an-ode-to-winter-golf-82941

Bizarrely, the golfer standing on the right of that picture in the GM article is me....

were you playing with Fergus?

[Matt Dawson]

A good article on winter golf:


http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/features/the-game/an-ode-to-winter-golf-82941

Bizarrely, the golfer standing on the right of that picture in the GM article is me....

were you playing with Fergus?

No, I think it's just a stock image that is often used from Rye during Putter week. Each year one of the players (who is an excellent photographer) puts together a portfolio of shots from matches during the week. There is a stack of past years albums that sit in the bar

[Sam Andrews]

I like playing golf in winter because the rough is down which suits my slightly less than arrow straight driving. Coming into a warm clubhouse after a round in "bracing" conditions is a lovely feeling - like stepping into a pub with a fire after a winter walk.

However, there are 2 times I won't go out.

1. Heavy continuous rain (this applies all year round)
2. Winter greens

Some clubs play on the greens all year round - I played at Worplesdon last Xmas on greens that were frozen solid (drove past West Hill on the way and I think they were on winter greens that day so you may want to check). My club (Frilford Heath) seems to go onto winter greens at any opportunity which is a bit annoying.

Wasn't wintergreen something grandmothers used to rub on themselves, bit like Sloan's Horse Liniment ?

[Dan Kelly]

One of my favorite golf memories was playing a not-very-good course (the kind that stays open) in December, about 20 years ago, after the water hazards had frozen solid.


Talk about firm & fast!



We (I believe it was just Rick Shefchik and I) were playing a long (ca. 200-yard) downhill par-3 over the "water." I thought if I hit it about 150-160 yards, the bounce off the ice would take the ball to the green.


Nailed a 7-iron perfectly on line. One huge bounce, and the ball landed at the front of the green. Of course, it couldn't stop on the frozen green and ran about 40 or 50 feet up to the back of the green.


Made the putt!

[Bill_McBride]

I like bracing winter golf on firm courses, I do not like soft muddy winter golf with lots of worm casts.


The best draining courses can be great fun.

Giles, how does Huntercombe play in the winter?


It was great in the summer!

[Mark Chaplin]

It's known as Wet Hill for a reason!

[Sam Krume]

It's known as Wet Hill for a reason!

I do remember west hill being fairly dry though mid december

[Sam Krume]

I think you may be a little optimistic re: the ground game in December. No slight on West Hill as that applies to pretty much anywhere inland.

I've found a lot of the Surrey/Berkshire heathland courses seem to stand up quite well through the winter, obviously if we have the mental winter rain that seems more prevalent in UK nowadays then yes every where is quite sodden

[archie_struthers]

 




South Jersey shore ,USA.  Soil is lighter, sandy in nature , allows for play as long as it's bearable . Philly soils heavier so they shut down for winter in general .


We have games and leagues here all winter .....see Atlantic Winter Golf League .


So far so good this year , cmon El Niño!

[Mark_Rowlinson]

One of the more unusual winter greens is that on the Postage Stamp at Royal Troon, which utilises a former green on the back of the hill to the left of the normal green.

[Richard Fisher]

I love winter golf, and always have, and especially at the seaside. Some courses are actually (relatively) better in the winter than in the summer, in the sense that their merits and ground conditions come to the fore more obviously. The Old Course at Gog Magog is a perfectly decent (good, but not great) chalk downland summer course, but really comes into its own in winter, when so many of the other courses within an hours' drive are under water or simply bastions of mud. A brisk east wind from the Urals, wintry sunshine, lovely dry fairways, and some striking views can make the December experience at the Gogs memorable in ways that the summer is merely pleasant. But the best and most pleasurable inland winter round in the UK I can ever remember was at Huntercombe on Christmas Eve 2001, which I seem to remember was combined with a particularly nice clubhouse lunch (even by the always elevated standards of the 'Combe), ending with Christmas Cake and ice cream (a winning combo, anywhere) looking out into the dusk. Sheer bliss.

[Adam Lawrence]

I think my absolute favourite winter golf experience was playing Rye a couple of days after Christmas a few years ago. We were staying with the outlaws in Kent and in order to escape the horrors of family Christmas, I'd arranged with a golf architect mate to go to Rye. We got to the club about 0930; it was a perfectly clear, though cold, winter's day. We said hi to the secretary, and noting a sign saying 'Frost Delay' by the clubhouse, which was packed, expressed concern that we might struggle to get out once he opened the course. 'No,' he said. 'This lot will be gone in no time'. About ten the course was opened for play, and the assembled members disappeared to various points to start their round, effectively an informal shotgun. Fifteen minutes later we ambled to the first tee. There was a group just putting out on the hole but no-one else in sight, so we teed up.


Two hours and forty five minutes later we finished a wonderful round that included one of the best golf shots I've ever seen, from my friend, on the par three fourteenth. A brutal wind was against us and from the left, so he hit a quite magnificent five iron that drew into the wind and smacked down into the green, four feet from the pin. We had hardly encountered a soul during our round.


Returning to the clubhouse at 1pm we found lunch in full swing, with more bottles of red being consumed that I have seen before or since at a golf club. It was that day that I formulated my desire to create a new course ranking list -- The 100 Hardest Drinking Clubs.

[Sean_A]

One of the more surprising great winter experiences is Sutton Coldfield.  Not only is the configuration of holes better than summer, but the rough is well down allowing one to get a true sense of the Dr Mac (and others) design which the nightmarish summer rough forbids.  There is not a rooftop to be seen, the heathland park is lovely and fairly dry.  Its a place I wouldn't touch in the summer, but love in the winter. 


http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,51321.msg1336080.html#msg1336080


Ciao

[JESII]

One of my favorite golf memories was playing a not-very-good course (the kind that stays open) in December, about 20 years ago, after the water hazards had frozen solid.


Talk about firm & fast!



We (I believe it was just Rick Shefchik and I) were playing a long (ca. 200-yard) downhill par-3 over the "water." I thought if I hit it about 150-160 yards, the bounce off the ice would take the ball to the green.


Nailed a 7-iron perfectly on line. One huge bounce, and the ball landed at the front of the green. Of course, it couldn't stop on the frozen green and ran about 40 or 50 feet up to the back of the green.


Made the putt!

We call those "career shots" where I'm from Dan...there cannot possibly be more fun than a shot like that.

[jeffwarne]

One of the great things about winter golf is the ball goes nowhere due to temperature's effect on the ball and often soft fairway conditions.
This makes it a great time to play for better players to play many great technology outdated classic courses and face a variety of longer club challenges to slower tilted greens, rather than the summer game of simply figuring out which wedge to hit to a green running at 13 (a different challenge)


I've often thought rather than adding multiple new tees they should simply play the US Open in October (they used to occasionally)

[Matthew Sander]

One of the great things about winter golf is the ball goes nowhere due to temperature's effect on the ball and often soft fairway conditions.
This makes it a great time to play for better players to play many great technology outdated classic courses and face a variety of longer club challenges to slower tilted greens, rather than the summer game of simply figuring out which wedge to hit to a green running at 13 (a different challenge)


I've often thought rather than adding multiple new tees they should simply play the US Open in October (they used to occasionally)

OR the ball goes forever because there is a thin layer of thawed turf sitting upon what lies frozen underneath. Balls bouncin' everywhere. As a matter of fact it is the closest we get to links golf in the Midwest!


Honestly, the courses here should probably be closed in these conditions, but a few stay open all winter and take the abuse.

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