So my father-in-law was visiting from out of state a couple of weeks ago. One of the days during his stay, I began explaining some of the things I do to prepare for the start of the golf season (keep in mind this is a man who’s never played golf in his life).

In the middle of this conversation, he walked over to my refrigerator, opened the freezer and began looking inside. After staring at him for a few moments (wondering if my golf talk was boring him), I asked if he needed something. Here was his reply:

“No, I was just looking for your golf balls.”

WTF?

Me: “Pop, why would I keep my golf balls in the freezer?”

Him: “Well, I’ve always heard if you freeze your golf balls, they go farther. So I assumed all golfers froze their balls.”

Just then my wife came in the kitchen and our conversation about frozen balls ended. But for the rest of the day, I couldn’t shake the notion of golfers everywhere (save for me) having an unfair advantage all these years because they’ve been freezing their balls.

That night, I decided to do a little research on this frozen ball theory. Turns out, my father-in-law isn’t the only one who had heard of this little trick. A Google search returned many people asking the same question: “Does freezing your golf balls make them go farther?”

Man, what people will go through to add a few extra yards to their drives. And with such an easy solution (after all, most of us have freezers), it’s no wonder so many were interested in if this trick was fact or fiction.

I’m not sure how many of you have heard about freezing golf balls, but my research has led me to believe this is pure fantasy. In fact, studies have shown the exact opposite is true: Cold balls will actually travel a shorter distance (on average) than warm balls!

So I guess freezing your golf balls isn’t a good idea. But what about freezing your golf clubs? Sound ridiculous? Well, don’t say that to cryogenic expert and founder of the Cryogenic Institute of New England, Robin A. Rhodes:

Using a process called Nitrofreeze Cryogenic Tempering, Rhodes deep-freezes golf clubs at 300 degrees below zero inside a 24-cubic foot chamber in his Cryogenic Institute of New England office at 60 Prescott St. Deep-freezing of metals, a process first used by NASA in the 1960s, changes their microstructure, relieving stresses and producing a more consistent and uniform material, Rhodes said. As a result, the company claims that golfers get a better feel, less shaft twist for improved accuracy, a larger sweet spot and more distance.

The price tag to give your set of clubs a deep freeze? $230. Hey, it’s a small price to pay for adding some distance and feel (I just don’t want to know what late, great actor my clubs were cryogenically frozen next to)! You can read the full article HERE.