Does September really mark the end of summer activities? Is golfing after Labor Day like wearing white shoes in the fall? Maybe college and pro football have something to do with it? Take our poll and tell us when your golf season ends.
Labor Day – the most dreaded of holidays for those who make their living in the outdoor recreational industry. It seems the holiday we set-aside to break from work ironically signals the end of play for many activities – golf notwithstanding.
Now, it’s my own personal opinion that Labor Day isn’t the catalyst (at least for golf anyway). No sir – the true culprit is American football – both college and pro. Once football graces television sets across America on Saturdays and Sundays, the waits on the tee-boxes disappear.
But this is just speculation on my part. I’m not really sure why the course seems less crowded after Labor Day – perhaps just the fact that it’s now September is enough for people to realize summer is basically over and with that, so too is golf. Or maybe it’s a combination of both the onset of fall and the start of football?
At any event, the golfers who are putting their clubs in hibernation this week are missing out. They’re missing out on a more enjoyable round that includes more comfortable temps and less crowds on the course. Not to mention a bit later in the fall (depending on your location) some really awesome foliage. For me, this is the best time of year to play golf.
Despite living in a northern state, my golf season typically ends sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving, depending on the weather. But I surmise for many average hacks like me, this is not the case. And that brings us to today’s poll: When does your golf season end?
Now I realize that some of you might live in a climate that allows for golf all year – so this poll isn’t for you. And it’s also not for my friends in the desert, who look forward to the cooler temps of winter. But if you happen to live in a locale where Labor Day marks the end of warm weather, please tell me if you also think it marks the end of your golf season…
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We have a year round golf climate in Southern California. There is no end to golf here. We simply add skiing, golf in the morning, drive 11/2 hours to the mountains and go skiing drive home in 70 degree weather..
We golf year round here in Georgia. We had a cold winter last year and had to cancel one time, otherwise we stayed on our 3 times a week schedule.
Our Friday 500pm 9-hole league ends the first week of October, by 630pm-645pm it’s getting too-dark even shoving the start-times to 400pm.
Typical recreational golf can continue til after Halloween or before T-Day. That’s about when the NJGA shuts-down the GHIN for the winter. Depending on maintenance and staffing issues, some course here in Southern NJ and Southeastern PA try to squeeze-in all winter depending on the weather and the frost. If the leaves fall all-at-once it’s a problem — or if they linger for weeks and weeks falling randomly. The last few years with the heavy snows and ice, everything was shut down for months. Some of the local courses’ greens suffered from ice suffocation by Mid-winter and died-off.
The courses at the NJ Shore have problems since their grass goes dormant ’til May.
Ocean City MD and southern Delaware typically stay open through the winter if possible.
If the weather is mild enough golf never stops here in Massachusetts. Granted there’s only a few courses still open, and they aren’t that great, but you can still play. Layer up and even high 20’s temperatures are doable. There are even courses in the area that will close if there’s snow but immediately open again if the snow melts enough so you might only miss 1 weekend. Unfortunately last winter the snow prevented even the hardiest of golfers from playing much at all last winter. Here’s hoping the coming winter is mild enough to allow some winter playing. Besides it’s really quiet out there and you can play 18, 36 or more if you move fast!!
With El Nino affecting our weather here in Ohio we can play throughout the winter. Haven’t stopped yet. If no snow, have played into the 30’s, but prefer 40’s and above. Temps have been in the 40’s, 50’s & 60’s so far? During the last El Nino, we missed only two weeks golfing.
Northeastern Indiana, by November there seems to be so much frost on the courses, especially if they’re shaded, that you’re waiting for up to an hour after your tee time just for the course to thaw. There’s a local course that offers free golf for veterans on Veteran’s Day, so that marks the unofficial end of golf for me.