[Jeff Schley]

Worst is relative, it could mean a downpour for some or -10 to others. To keep it easy to follow here is the template. Should be fun to read how much pain some are willing to go through. Feel free to put down 2 if you can't decide.

Year:
Course:
Walking or Cart:  walk & carry / walk & trolley / walk & caddie / used a cart
Season: Spring / Summer / Fall / Winter
Temperature: In Fahrenheit preferably or deliberately buck the US standard and use Celsius
Wind: amount in mph either consistent or gusts 
Precipitation: drizzle / steady / downpour / hail / snow 
Turf: Dry as a rock / normal / wet / soaked / frozen 
Score: 
Why was it the worst weather you every played in: 
Your best memory:   
What did it teach you about architecture:

[Jeff Schley]

Year: 2018
Course: The Old Course
Walking or Cart:  walk & caddie
Season: Summer
Temperature: 45-55 degrees
Wind: consistently 30-40 mph 
Precipitation: on and off sideways rain 
Turf: normal   
Score: 93   
Why was it the worst weather you every played in:  Luckily many locals cancelled this day as the wind was borderline unplayable. Couldn't wear a hat and lucky to have good waterproofs as the rain came down sideways on and off during the round. The ball oscillated on the greens and even moved sometimes just from winds.   
Your best memory: It was my first round ever on TOC and was just so pumped to play it with 3 other singles who queued up.  I actually wanted the weather to be nautical to get he full scottish experience and I lived.) BTW Mark Chaplin claims that day was the worst weather of the season as he was a greenkeeper that year.


What did it teach me about architecture:  You need WIDTH off the tee to play in windy conditions and at TOC aim left and and you should be OK for righthanders.


I hate this formatting for crying out loud, let's donate to fix this if possible jeepers.

[Joe Zucker]

If I could offer one addition: did playing in this extreme weather teach you anything new about the course from an architectural perspective??


Year: 2010
Course: Tannenhauf Golf Course (Alliance, OH)
Walking or Cart:  walk & carry Season:
SpringTemperature: 35
Wind: 15-20Precipitation: snow flurries
Turf: wet
Score: I don't remember exactly, 80?
Why was it the worst weather you every played in: It was the coldest I had every been on a course. This was a college tournament, otherwise we wouldn't have played.  I hate(d) the feeling of playing with a lot of layers, but there was no choice this day.  It was impossible to keep your hands warm, but pace of play was good because everyone was miserable
Your best memory: The van ride home.  Nothing on the course was pleasurable

I didn't learn much about the course (because it's a pretty average at best), but I did learn that players who keep the ball in play and in front of them tend to play better in wild conditions.

[Rory Connaughton]

2007
Carne
Walk/Trolley
Mid Sept.
Temp: 50
Wind 40 mph with gusts to 60's (trolleys blowing over)
Precip: Sideways icy rain resembled tracer rounds
Turf: slippery but firm
Score: low score in a group of 8 was 100
Why was it the worst weather? see above...the lady running the shop accurately predicted that we would be the only group that day
Best memory: Finishing!

[Jeff Schley]

If I could offer one addition: did playing in this extreme weather teach you anything new about the course from an architectural perspective??

Done Joe, good addition.

[Kirk Gill]

Growing up and playing in Denver, I've played in a lot of horrible conditions. Snow, wind, rain, the lot. But one round sticks out.


Year: early 80's
Course: Park Hill Golf Club
Walking or Cart:  walk & carry
Season: Winter
Temperature: Approx 32 degrees Farenheit
Wind: steady, about 10mph. Not too horrible.
Precipitation: There had been a good snowstorm a day or so previous
Turf: frozen solid, and the ground was hard as a rock.
Score: Unknown
Why was it the worst weather you every played in: It was freezing cold, New Year's Day, and the course had used carts dragging chunks of chain link fence around to clear the greens and fairways. Instead of rough there was piles of snow a couple feet deep lining each fairway. You couldn't stick a tee in the ground it was frozen so hard, so the course provided little styrofoam cups to set your tee ball on.

Your best memory:   I can still remember the sound the ball made when it bounced on the fairway. Like a ball landing on asphalt. Incredible bounce. God forbid you actually landed on the green - the ball would bound away and end up 40 yards past.What did it teach you about architecture: You had to practice the ground game. The course is pretty flat, but there was some contour to use, and your only chance to get onto the green was to hit a running shot 50 yards short (or more), and let the ball roll. It was like putting on concrete. My friends and I talked about how those greens at Augusta had nothing on these for speed. Anything resembling a downhill putt just needed to be breathed on to get going. It was cold, it was pretty miserable, but we did have a blast.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Course---Sebonack
year--I think 2008
Temperature---50's
Steady rain the entire round
Wind 20-25 mph
The head pro wanted to cancel the round but relented. I played with an assistant who loved playing in the rain. I felt for my poor caddie because I had a leather bag that got extremely heavy after it became waterlogged. I new it might be my only time playing there. I shot about 38-42 and played well. The course just got harder the more it rained. I froze. I didn't have my water proofs with me for the trip. Rookie mistake.

[Tom_Doak]

Course---Sebonack
year--I think 2008
Temperature---50's
Steady rain the entire round
Wind 20-25 mph
The head pro wanted to cancel the round but relented. I played with an assistant who loved playing in the rain. I felt for my poor caddie because I had a leather bag that got extremely heavy after it became waterlogged. I new it might be my only time playing there. I shot about 38-42 and played well. The course just got harder the more it rained. I froze. I didn't have my water proofs with me for the trip. Rookie mistake.

Could you learn anything about the golf course from playing it in those conditions?

[Tom_Doak]

One of my favorite memories of my year in Britain & Ireland was the day I played Carnoustie, and I saw several groups walking in before finishing their rounds because the conditions were just too difficult to play.


It was 77 degrees and sunny, with no wind.  Without a breeze, the heat was unbearable to them.  Nae wind, nae golf.




I played 15 holes at Shooting Star in Wyoming a few years ago with the director of golf there, in the windiest conditions I have ever played -- there was a huge thunderstorm over the mountains, slowly approaching.  The pro absolutely crushed two drivers on the par-4 5th hole to get to the front edge of the green; I pured a driver on the next par-3 from 150.  But, we had to give it up after 15, because our balls would just not stay on the greens in the wind -- they were literally being blown off into the collar, on a relatively flat green.  [Plus, the lightning was getting closer.]  It gave me a much greater respect for the golf course, seeing that it remained playable in those conditions, right up until no course would be.

[SL_Solow]

I have difficulty choosing between 2 rounds.  One was circa 1977 at Idlewild in Flossmoor Il where I was a junior member.  In the semi's of the club match play I was paired against a many time club champ.  It started pouring on the 2nd tee and never stopped.  The course drained reasonably well for Chicago but it got very soggy over the almost 4 hours.  He let the conditions get to him and I played quite well to win 2 and 1.  I learned that there was nothing that I could do about the weather so I focused and enjoyed myself.  The course, built in 1908 had not yet been over treed and the value of width and surface drainage was something I also noted.


More recently (2000) I took a trip with a few buddies for my 50th birthday.  We played the European Club on a day when we were hit by frequent squalls with accompanying down pours and wind gusts well over 40 mph.  The nice parts of the day were light rain and wind in the 20's.  I remember playing the 14th at about 190 yards.  My brother who is a pretty long hitter decided to hit a 9 iron.  It flew the green and we never found it.  I am a shorter hitter.  I hit a knockdown 8 to about 2 feet.  We laughed for a long time.


I learned a lot about drainage and links properties that day.  I also learned something about trajectory.  I was not particularly enamored with the course but that is another story.  Both rounds were walking with caddies.

[Ian Mackenzie]

Year: 2012
Course: Glen View Club in Golf, IL
Walking or Cart:  walk and caddie
Season: Summer
Temperature: 70F
Wind: 15 mph+
Precipitation: constant downpour...water pouring off my cap, everything soaked, could not play without FJ water gloves BUT  NO lightning
Turf: soaked
Score: Match play tourney but, as an example, on the par 4  420 yd 18th, my 7 beat my opponents' 8. (both scratch players)
Why was it the worst weather you every played in: Rain and wind combo and greens were draining so we had to continue
Your best memory:  I was dry!
What did it teach you about architecture: Nothing...sorry, was too focused on making ball contact.

Club championship weekend.
On Sunday, it rained HARD but, with no lightning and greens draining following XGD install, we were compelled by our pro to continue.

My best friend had just bought the company KJUS and I had a kjus rain suit on stayed dry and eventually won my 36 hole match and the championship.

[Pete_Pittock]

Year:  late 70s, early 80s
Course: Astoria G&CC, Warrenton, OR (where I now am a member
Walking
Early fall
Temperature: 6 or 7 (C)
Wind: 25 from dead South
Precipitation: mostly steady rain, a few downpours with much stronger gusts
Turf: never saw standing water
Score: probably 90/
Why: I bought new wet weather gear the next day.
Why did I play. Only time I ever qualified to play for my club in the State Team Championship. My score did not count for the team this day, but it did the other day.
Architecture: 3, 15 were wind tunnels. what giveth one, the other takes aweigh.

Before that was Heron Lakes, at freeezing, with a 25 mph wind. Saw a ball hit the back of the 60 yard green spin back 70 yards with help from wind and frozen green.  The next green was about a 140 carry across water and I played pitch and run to about 15 feet, missed putt, made par for a skin.

[Ira Fishman]

Late 1970s
January 1 or 2
Eskimo Open in Chicago Suburbs (cannot remember Course; not Cog Hill or St.Andrews)
Few inches of snow on the ground; played with orange balls
Temperature in high 20s to low 30s but wind not too bad


Lessons: 1. There is a limit to drinking actually freeing up your swing and mind.
             2. Ground game not an option in the snow.


On a somewhat more serious note, we played our High School Conference Championship in 1974 or 1975 in below freezing wind chill with gusts up to 30 mph at least. Chicago is Chicago. I think I hit a good low three iron that still traveled maybe 75 yards. Almost impossible to hit a shot without your hands stinging with pain. The unbelievable memory is the winner shooting something like a 73. No one else was under 80. I think I was in the mid-90s but it may have been higher.


Ira

[archie_struthers]

 




About 25 years ago ....winter league at Laurel Creek GC in Moorestown , NJ. 


walked, carried  but of course  way too cold for a cart though some took them

25-35 degrees with 20-35 mph winds

think I shot 83 or 84 thought it might win...someone shot 73 .....hard to believe


everything frozen tees fairway greens and water hazards ....


firm and fast at it's best ...incredibly difficult

worst I ever remember

[Greg Hohman]

A topic close to my heart, Jeff, thanks. I live in San Diego, so my experience with poor weather is very limited, but my finish below was seminal, without deluding me into thinking I can handle wind and rain.

Year: 5 or so years ago
Course: Admiral Baker South
Walking or Cart:  solo walker
Season: n/a (see domicile)
Temperature: unk
Wind: negligible
Precipitation: overcast sky turned to rain at the end
Turf: sodden on 17 and 18
Score: unk
Why was it the worst weather you every played in: see above and dressed as per usual in polo shirt and shorts.   
Your best memory: Parred 17 and 18 in deluge. Apart from the weather, the fun included two firsts: par on either hole, parring them in succession. (My typical score hovers around 100.) 2nd shot on 18, a 3-wood from about 160 out to 10 feet is my most satisfying shot ever. Full disclosure: I missed the birdie putt.
What did it teach me about architecture: nothing

[Tommy Williamsen]

Course---Sebonack
year--I think 2008
Temperature---50's
Steady rain the entire round
Wind 20-25 mph
The head pro wanted to cancel the round but relented. I played with an assistant who loved playing in the rain. I felt for my poor caddie because I had a leather bag that got extremely heavy after it became waterlogged. I new it might be my only time playing there. I shot about 38-42 and played well. The course just got harder the more it rained. I froze. I didn't have my water proofs with me for the trip. Rookie mistake.

Could you learn anything about the golf course from playing it in those conditions?

I certainly couldn’t learn what I could have in drier conditions. I still hit the ball as far as normal in that I still hit my 7 iron 150 yards. The balls just didn’t roll as far off the tee. Oddly enough the greens were pretty firm until the last couple of holes. The assistant I played with talked nonstop about strategy. I feel as though I played the course. I played the normal member tees. I do hope to get back I have a connection to play it.

[V. Kmetz]

• April 20, 1987 - New England College Golf Championships
• New Seabury (Cape Cod) Ocean (Blue) course
• Carrying own bag
• 35-39 F
• 35 - 45 mph NE
• Gray skies with intermittent snow/ice flurries on the front nine
• oceanside turf not an issue
• I shot 88...it was like shooting 58 for a person of my abilities

Why? It was the worst for the wind and cold combined; with that wind, a lofted PW could go 200 yards if it caught a current or 50 yards if the wind sheared it down...Into it? ...a fellow competitors popped up tee shot (that ordinarily would've gone 100 or so yards, landed in front of the tee box and had us shuffling away for fear it would hit us...fades and slices ballooned 45 and 60 degrees off line.... draws and hooks with the wind could disappear forever...onto the beach or what have you... It was insane...maybe most insane was the fact we had to play at all... our coach knew from opening the kitchen drapes at 5:15 am, that it was going to be a bad day...but when we showed up for our 6:45 - 7:15 dew-sweeper bloc of times, it was like that episode of Star Trek where Sulu is made to believe he sees knives out the viewing screen... we thought "Great, this mess will be cancelled, and we'll get another day in Cape Cod in the time share condos!"...but no...an old salt hanging out near the tee confirmed, "You boys are going out today...!"  the front nine near the shore was survival.... 35 years ago, weather gear was not a perfected art and so "layers" was the answer...we all looked like the Michelin Man, you could barely get the club to your shoulders.


The greatest shot/hole of my life comes from this day on the 160 yard fourth which turned directly back into that fierce wind and required a carry over a pond inle t (the practcie round two days earlier WITH the wind was a regular SW).. even though I was the 3rd or 4th group off in the dark gray of snow, there was already a backup on this tee when I holed out for 7 on the previous...I burrowed in a sand dune and tried not to watch as all manner of player were topping, whiffing, dubbing and flailing into the hazard...a few resorted to aiming a driver far beyond the right side of the hole and taking their chances, which is what I intended when after a stiffening frozen 20 minutes, it was my turn.  Somehow, I nutted it...a sweet blast that my coach said went 30 or 40 yards past the green in the air before hitting the mex of the wind and starting backwards...it hit on the back of the green and (from fighting wind, with driver spin) sucked back to the very front about 50 feet away. from where I slammed the putt in for the only 2 recorded on the Ocean Course in the entire two days and 220 competitors...


***The wind was so bad...a swan flying over the 9th fairway caught a wind shear and was driven 100 feet into a neck-breaking dive in the middle of a fairway bunker...dead when as soon as it hit the sand.***


***I also used to caddie in Siwanoy's Sno-Birds 25 years ago and a few times we played 9 holes in a foot of snow and through several squalls and sno storms over the 5-6 years I worked there.****

[James Reader]

I played in falling snow many times as a kid (unless they closed the course, i was going to play) but the round that stands out for me was at the New Course, St Andrews in 1991.  It was an international student competition called the Boyd Quaich - 72 holes on the Old and New - and I was playing the first round with a Scottish guy from Stirling University and a 1-handicapper from Tokyo on his first ever trip outside Japan.


It was the strongest wind I’ve ever played in - there was no point even trying to use a tee because the ball just blew off; we all hit driver off the deck on the par 3 5th (c.165 yards?) and none of us reached the green - with showers in the mix as well.  It reached an extreme on the 9th tee (the par 3 along the estuary), when our Japanese friend’s golf bag was blown off the tee and we all struggled to even stand up, let alone hit the ball. 


It might have been a bit mean but the two Brits agreed early on that we could have a bit of fun here.  We kept up a pretence for the entire round that this was just an averagely breezy day on a Scottish links and that we weren’t really sure what our playing partner was complaining about - as he failed by quite a margin to break 100.


I shot 84 off 3 handicap and was really pleased with myself - until the wind dropped as we came down the 18th and saw people just about to tee off on the 1st in what was becoming a pleasant summer’s day.  Needless to say, I missed the 36 hole cut by a margin, along with almost everyone else who’d teed off in the first half of the draw. 


It’s still one of the most memorable rounds of golf of my life.  Playing a links in a really strong wind is, for me, about as much fun as it’s possible to have on a golf course.  There’ve been a couple of occasions in the last two years (once at Deal and once on the Eden) where I’ve been just about the only one out there on a windy day and they’re up there amongst the most enjoyable rounds I’ve played in that time.

[David Davis]

Year: July 25th, 2015

Course: Noordwijkse Golf Club

Walking or Cart:  walking and carryingSeason: Heaviest summer storm since 1901

Temperature: 70 deg

Wind: average was windforce 10 with the hardest gust of 122 km/hr hitting when we were on the course.

Precipitation:  steady on and off but painful in the wind

Turf: normal

Score: 84 though we were giving the short putts because the balls were blowing off the greens.

Why was it the worst weather you every played in: Your best memory:  aiming literally 80 yds right or left of the fairway to get the ball close. What did it teach you about architecture: absolutely nothing, but that width is important while playing in a 100 year storm.


WHY THE HELL DID WE PLAY: well had two friends from Paris, total golf nuts visiting and they just didn't want to miss out. More than 50 trees were blown over, too bad they all weren't blown over.

[Pete Lavallee]

As a Bay State native we played year round, so long as there wasn’t snow on the ground; no colored balls in the 70’s! So cold and wind I can take. No the worst was at the Kings Putter that Tommy organized in Palm Springs. We played the Palms on day 1. We played the Plantation the morning of day 2, both were ok, it was hot but just around 100 degrees,then came the afternoon round on day 2:


2008?
Stone Eagle
June
Cart
113 degrees
We prayed for rain
We prayed for any type of breeze
I won my match against Ed Getka
Turf was excellent


On the front nine I kept thinking I might actually die on a golf course. We were drinking a bottle of water each hole! The hardest part was climbing the stairs to get to the elevated tees. I kept telling myself that if we made it to the 9th hole I would quit. We finished the round. Luckily we got to play it again the next morning in much better temperature. When your just trying to survive, architecture is of little concern!

[David Federman]

I had to laugh when I read Rory's description of his mid-September 2007 round at Carne. I swear I played that same day at County Sligo (Rosses Point). It was the last round of an 8 day trip to Ireland, September 24, 2007 to be exact. I could not describe it any better than Rory's desciption of the weather at Carne (about 60 miles due west). It is 100% accurate in how horrid the conditions were that day. Of our 8 players, I think that about 5 of us made it through 18 holes, although I cannot be sure. If it was not our last round of the trip in Ireland, we all would have chosen the pub instead! (even if it was not the exact same day, it was the exact same weather!).

[Enno Gerdes]

Year: 2017
Course: Brautarholt (Iceland)
Walking and carrying
Temperature: around 50 deg
Wind: about 50 mph
Rain: yes, coming in horizontally
Score: maybe 15. Stopped counting after holing out on the par 5 first.


I got a call from the course manager the day before, asking me if I wanted to reschedule, since the weather was going to be a bit difficult. Unfortunately, I only had this one morning planned in for golfing, and having brought my clubs to Iceland, I naively told him that I'd come anyway (playing as a single). Turns out, I was the only guest that day that didn't cancel, so they actually had to open the golf course for me. Which I felt quite guilty about.


Brautarholt at that point was still a 9 hole course, and I finished the round. I would have been on my last ball by hole 9, if not for the greenskeepers who took a pity on me and left a few balls into the middle of the fairway on hole 7 (I think).


Did I learn anything about architecture? A few things. First: that 200 yard forced carries should be avoided if there's a chance of 50 mph headwinds. Most importantly, it helped me appreciate the work of an architect more. If you have a flat field (of which there are many where i come from), you can probably build almost everything. But at Brautarholt, I was standing on pretty much every tee wondering how on earth the architect was able to find a proper golf hole in this terrain. More than anything, that must have taken some real creativity and imagination.

[David Amarnek]

Year: 2015 (?)
Course: Merion West
Walking
Winter
Temperature: 21* F
Wind: negligible
Precipitation: none
Turf: frozen solid
Score: only managed 12 holes, then called it quits (not properly dressed!)
Best memories: cheeseburger at the cabin with a few other quitters.  Played as a guest in a monthly society match.
Hit the frozen green on the drop shot par 3 #6 hole and it bounced so far forward, it landed close to the 7th tee box.

[Bruce Katona]

Year: 1988Course: Tamarack, East Brunswick, NJ (Middlesex County Park Commission Course)Walking or Cart:  walk & carry Season: Spring Temperature: 38-40 F or 4-5 CWind: 10-15 MPH/ 15-25 KPHPrecipitation: hail / snow Turf: normal Score: 85  Why was it the worst weather you every played in: Tough to putt on the last 6 holes as the ball would collect frozen precipitation as one would when making a snow manYour best memory:   See making snow men aboveWhat did it teach you about architecture: Nothing, it was my home course at the time and I wanted to see if I could finish in such challenging conditions.

[MCirba]

What a terrific thread, thanks.


Will weigh in with my top 3 soon.

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