News:

This discussion group is best enjoyed using Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari.


Phil Benedict

  • Karma: +0/-0
Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« on: November 29, 2008, 09:57:08 AM »
It seems that every year towards the end of the season I play a round or two in weather conditions that are just barely tolerable for golf.  Yesterday we played in temperatures in the low 40's with a pretty stiff breeze, which made the real feel temperature mid-30's or so.  You could hardly see the ball on shots towards the sun.  But I had as much fun as any round I've played this year, trying to stay warm while I worked my way around the course, hoping to hit some good shots and make some pars but not really worrying about my score.  I only hit about two full iron shots because of the crosswinds, which rewarded a lower ball flight.  It's fun to play golf that way.

Gotta go.  Playing again today.  May be the last round of the year.

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +1/-1
Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2008, 09:59:35 AM »
The ultimate fun of golf is to be able to invent shots to deal with unusual situations.

That's why some decry rangefinders, "hitting every club in the bag", etc.

Have fun out there!

JESII

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2008, 10:01:30 AM »
Agree with Tom, but I also think it has to do with lower expectations and really not working too hard (or worrying too much about) your score...I am as guilty as anyone at trying to score well every time.

Mike_Cirba

Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2008, 10:03:46 AM »
Bingo, Tom.  Coming up with creative shots to attempt battle against visible and obvious hardship is a big part of the "adventure" that golf was originally and is supposed to be.

We are way to coddled and golf is supposed to involve an element of trying to overcome nature.

I'd also say that it's even more appreciated in northern climes because we feel a bit like we're getting away with something during winter golf.

When something becomes less available, we tend to treasure it more.


Joe Hancock

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2008, 10:05:32 AM »
I think it has something to do with guilt, or lack thereof. When the weather is great, one may feel more obligated to do the family thing. When the weather sucks, or is borderline, the family usually is OK with sitting it out at home or doing other indoor things....allowing you to go freely without any biting, sarcastic parting comments as you go to enjoy a round.

That's what Tom is really referring to when he spoke of "unusual situations".

 ;D
" What the hell is the point of architecture and excellence in design if a "clever" set up trumps it all?" Peter Pallotta, June 21, 2016

"People aren't picking a side of the fairway off a tee because of a randomly internally contoured green ."  jeffwarne, February 24, 2017

Adam Clayman

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2008, 10:09:43 AM »
These obstacles are nature. Both physical and human. They are at the heart of why the dark ages of gca have resulted in the lack of marginal growth of the sport. So many  dark age courses tried to design the unpredictable elements out. This helps solidify, IMO, that the architecture is largely responsible for the lack of growth.
"It's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing your whole life." - Mickey Mantle

Andy Troeger

Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2008, 10:18:46 AM »
I'd like to think that you have a good point, Adam, but when the great architectural masterpieces are so inaccessible to the beginning golfer I have to wonder if it has much correlation. The courses they see on TV aren't necessarily always stimulating. That's a different topic, however.

For those of us in the south, lousy weather days give us an opportunity to get stuff done around the house. I think it makes more sense in the north where you have so many unplayable days.

Ken Moum

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2008, 10:26:22 AM »
I'm surprised that no one mentioned having the course to yourself, or nearly to yourself.

Yesterday despite it being 38*, spitting rain and a breeze, I called a friend to see if he had nine holes in him.

When we teed off, there was one guy somewhere on the course, but never saw him.

While we were teeing off on nine we a highschool kid in a cart starting on the back nine.

He's a 25 handicap and accomplished two milestones. He had two birdies in nine holes; and he holed a bunker shot (for one of the birdies)

I was huge fun, but another nine in a cold rain might not have been.

Ken
Over time, the guy in the ideal position derives an advantage, and delivering him further  advantage is not worth making the rest of the players suffer at the expense of fun, variety, and ultimately cost -- Jeff Warne, 12-08-2010

Kalen Braley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #8 on: November 29, 2008, 10:36:55 AM »
As Kmourn alludes to...this thread should be qualified as to what borderline weather is.

Cold and windy, or just windy I can live with.  Add rain into that mix and it becomes downright miserable and I wouldn't want any part of that.

That being said, it is fun to play in high winds if nothing else to watch a well judged shot snuggle up close.  Or an ill struck shot go off-line in epic proportions where you're hitting your next shot from 2 fairways over.  ;D

Ken Moum

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #9 on: November 29, 2008, 10:59:12 AM »
As Kmourn alludes to...this thread should be qualified as to what borderline weather is.

Cold and windy, or just windy I can live with.  Add rain into that mix and it becomes downright miserable and I wouldn't want any part of that.

That being said, it is fun to play in high winds if nothing else to watch a well judged shot snuggle up close.  Or an ill struck shot go off-line in epic proportions where you're hitting your next shot from 2 fairways over.  ;D

A family member says there are three factors that control whether it's nice enough to play.

Light wind/no wind
No rain
Temp above 50* F.

Any two of the three, and it's golf weather.

Yesterday the wind was pretty light, and the rain/mist was light enough to tolerate most of the time. Every time it turned into real rain, my buddy and I would start to think about heading in--then it would let up.

I have played tournament golf a couple of times with temps in the low 40s, stiff wind and cold rain... it's only fun if you're contending.

Of course, there's one other thing I like about marginal conditions.

It gives me the chance to do "equipment testing." My wife and I will sometimes go play in rotten weather so that the next time we are faced with bad weather during a tournament, we'll have an edge.

Like she says, "Next time we're playing in a bad weather, we can say, 'This is nothing compared to that day we....'"

Ken
Over time, the guy in the ideal position derives an advantage, and delivering him further  advantage is not worth making the rest of the players suffer at the expense of fun, variety, and ultimately cost -- Jeff Warne, 12-08-2010

Anthony Gray

Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #10 on: November 29, 2008, 07:17:58 PM »


  Phil,

  It brings you closer to the roots of the game when weather was a major variable.

  Anthony


Phil Benedict

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #11 on: November 29, 2008, 08:04:23 PM »
Phil,

I'm taking my 12 yr. old out today, 43 is the high feel like 39.  I like it this time of year and I am interested to see how he'll respond. 

The only negative issue I have in cold weather happened at TOC.  I drank too much coffee and by the 3rd tee I needed to relieve myself.  I stayed back in the gorse while my group continued, it was a cold, driving rain and my hands were so cold I couldn't get my zipper down, I seriously contemplated going in my pants since all the clothes would likely hide my misfortune, finally though I succeeded in getting unzipped only to discover that the cold made it difficult to find something...in short, so to speak, I accomplished my mission and as I emergged onto the fairway from the gorse the 3 guys where walking abck to see what had happened to me.


Do architects take the need to pee into account?  That's one good thing about trees.

I played my last round of the year today.  It wasn't at all windy but it was raw and I couldn't get my muscles to relax.   It took a long time to find a swing that worked, but I achieved my goal of making par or better on half the holes.

There was cloud cover most of the day but the sun came out late in the round.  On 18 the sun was at our back but there were dark clouds in the direction we were hitting.  It looked like our golf balls had a light shining on them on our tee shots into those dark clouds.  Just magic.

I hit a good drive and a good approach but came up short because the crew had taken the 150 markers out and I was just guessing the distance.  Chipped to four feet and gave myself the putt for par.  Season over.

Tim MacEachern

Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #12 on: November 29, 2008, 09:19:09 PM »
I find that the "complainers" are not out with you, and that helps a lot.  The guys that show up to play in rotten weather are the ones you enjoy playing with.

Michael Moore

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #13 on: November 29, 2008, 09:19:57 PM »
Today I played South Shore Country Club in Hingham MA with Brad Tufts. It was forty five degrees with brilliant sunshine and nice conditions except for the fact that one and a half greens were frozen solid.

N.B. South Shore is a true hidden gem that I had never heard of until reading The Life and Work of Wayne Stiles. Traversing a radically contoured property with grace and elegance, this course offers the kind of quirky lies and fancy bunkering that appeals to a great many GCA.com participants and lurkers. Highly recommended.

Anyways, there I was on the eighth tee, 200 yards downhill into the wind. I suppose that I could have gotten out my protractor or merely used my powers of observation to see that the left half of the green had only recently emerged from the shade. I ripped a towering three iron over there, and of course it bounced fifteen feet into the air and into the forest.

I turned to Brad and said "I'll have to do a post tonight about how great and wonderful and fun that was."

My next shot, that I "invented" to recover from the "unusual" circumstance of having a two foot backswing, was not fun either.
Metaphor is social and shares the table with the objects it intertwines and the attitudes it reconciles. Opinion, like the Michelin inspector, dines alone. - Adam Gopnik, The Table Comes First

Steve Pozaric

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #14 on: November 29, 2008, 09:33:45 PM »
For several reasons:
- As with others - I have lower expectations and am out more for fun.  You also have the course to yourself. 

- In addition, it might be the last time out for a while, so you really take it all in. 

- As golfers, we are all at least a little bit inherently masochistic, so playing in bad weather just fits. 

- Lastly, it gives an extra bit of enjoyment to play in weather that non-serious (not "real" golfers) wouldn't think about going out in.


Steve Pozaric

Eric Smith

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #15 on: December 06, 2008, 01:32:58 AM »

  It brings you closer to the roots of the game when weather was a major variable.

  Anthony


Is golf rooted in Iceland?  It's 19° outside right now! 

See you maņana.

Rick Sides

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Why is it so much fun to play in borderline weather?
« Reply #16 on: December 06, 2008, 07:46:01 PM »
Like others said, the borderline weather is fun because you don't put a lot of pressure on yourself; you just try to stay warm and have fun.  The other thing I like is the peacefulness with little crowds of golfers holding you up during the season. ;D

Tags:
Tags:

An Error Has Occurred!

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()
Back