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What’s Your Favorite Season For Golf?

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Sleeping Giant Golf Course, Connecticut
Sleeping Giant Golf Course, Connecticut (Photo by Greg D’Andrea)

Well, we’re into my favorite part of the year – autumn.  You can have the spring and summer.  Being a native New Englander, I live for the cooler temperatures, crisp night air, the changing of the leaves, breaking out the jackets and sweaters.  This is the weather I wait all summer for.  So not surprisingly, it’s also my favorite season for golf.  Besides the cooler temperatures and no humidity, making your round of golf much more comfortable, it’s the changing of the leaves that can help make your favorite course even prettier, or bring an ordinarily dull course much more to life.  But what about you?  What’s your favorite golf season?

Is it spring?  I can understand why may golfers are fans of the spring time.  The spring usually means the beginning of the golf season.  A fresh, new start.  The winter chill is gone, temps are rising.  Trees and flowers are blooming and the courses are drying out.  It’s a chance to get a good bunch of golf in until the real summer heat and humidity kick in.

Maybe it’s the summer?  The summer is probably the time of year when you have the most consistent good weather.  Some of us can’t think of a better way to beat the summer heat than to head out for a ride in the old golf cart, grab a couple of beers from the Mofobete, and hope to whack your ball into a shady spot.  Just, no one writing this post.  But others…sure.  But mid-summer golf, for me, can be summed up in five simple words once uttered by Stinky Golfer Pete after a missed putt – “It’s too hot to miss.”

For me it’s the fall.  For all of the reasons mentioned above, and then some, the fall is far and away my favorite time of year for golf.  Really, who wants to sweat in places where you can’t quite get your towel to while in a public place?  Who wants to play golf when you feel like you just stepped out of a hot shower each time you walk to your ball?  I’d rather wait out the heat in order to play a little more golf in weather like this!  Hey, it’s fall in New England.  There’s a reason people travel here at this time of year.

Maybe you enjoy the winter for golf.  Wait…what?  OK, so no one (or very few anyway) are out playing golf in the snow.  But for many golfers who live in the northern portion of the country, maybe the winter means traveling south to play golf.  Maybe you have a second home or a timeshare.  Maybe the winter is simply time for your yearly big golf trip.  If you live in the south, then maybe you’re waiting for the cooler winter temperatures to play more often.  Whatever the reason, maybe the winter’s your time.

No matter your choice or your favorite season, to each their own.  Whatever gets you out on the course is good reason enough.  Whether you prefer the heat or the cooler weather.  Be it the lush green of mid-summer or the vibrant colors of the fall.  Hell, maybe your out there in the freezing mid-winter temperatures.  Whatever it is that gets you out there, enjoy it!

Swing ’til you’re happy! And take the poll below!

What's your favorite season for golf?

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What’s The Draw Of Winter Golf?

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Do you prefer cold weather golf? (Photo by James Quinn)


As I’ve said several times, I have this rule (which I broke earlier this year) that I don’t play golf when the temperature drops below 50 degrees.  And now that we’ve had our first major snowstorm of the winter this past weekend, then I’m going to go out on a limb and say there’s not going to be some crazy heat wave that will get me back out on the course before the spring.  Although, the same can’t be said for everyone.  No, there are some who will hit the links at every opportunity, no matter the weather.

Want to see something crazy?  Just go to your favorite search engine and look up “Winter golf.”  When I did it, I mostly expected to find info on winter golf vacations to more tropical climates…and I did.  However, I also found a lot more than that.  I found information on how winter golf can be enjoyed, where you can purchase winter golf accessories such as gloves, the rules of winter golf, practicing your swing in the winter, special offers for golf courses in the northern portions of the country and plenty more!  Who new there was such a market for winter golf?

For me, there’s no chance.  But I guess there are plenty of people who are willing to push on through the weather.  I just have a few questions, starting with…why?  Do you love the sport that much that you are willing to freeze your behind off just to play?  Or are you just crazy?  I love playing golf.  But at the same time, I also love playing golf in comfort.  I don’t want to play in the freezing cold, just as much as I don’t want to play in the brutal heat.

I guess I’ll wrap it up with one last bit of curiosity.  If there’s snow anywhere on the course, do you use yellow or orange balls?  And if so, does it help?  Because I’ll tell you, once a ball lands inside the snow, it doesn’t matter if it glows as bright as the sun…it’s gone.  Do you take a drop?  Be honest.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Shoveling Snow Helps Your Golf Game.

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shovel-snowActually, I’m not really sure if it does or doesn’t help but this is more of turning a negative into a positive. Nobody I know likes to shovel snow but it’s inevitable living in the Northeast. At some point or other we will have to face these crystallized flakes of water and it sucks knowing I have to shovel water.

So where’s the positive? Well, it’s no secret it’s a physical activity that uses a majority of the muscles in our body. What it comes down to is us making the most of the situation and maximizing the benefits of the opportunity. Our good friend Jim over at thegratefulgolfer.com posted about this a couple months ago. He discusses the importance of your legs in a golf swing (and shoveling snow) and touches upon the use of arms too.

The important thing to keep in mind is moderation and performing within your limits. We golfers in the northern parts of the U.S. might slack off a bit during the winter months. Here’s a great chance to get outside and use those dormant golf muscles. Again, I can’t stress enough the importance of using proper technique and not over doing it.

The more I think about it the more I can see similarities between the two. Before we golf or shovel we should do a little stretching and warm up. We usually think before swinging, right? We have a general idea of where we want the ball to land. It usually doesn’t happen but when we shovel we also have an idea of where the snow is going to go. Tossing that crap around randomly gets us nowhere. Finally, we approach the task with a game plan of getting it done as efficiently and with the least amount of shovel-fulls (or strokes) as possible.

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!

Disclaimer: We are NOT trainers, doctors or in any way certified to give workout advice. Also, shoveling snow can be potentially dangerous. We do not condone shoveling snow and actually dislike it…a lot.

Chip Shots: Golf Courses In The Winter

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If you grew up in the Northeast and didn’t have the luxury of golfing much in the winter, there was another purpose for our golf courses. Sledding! As a kid, I remember putting together a pro and con list for winter snow storms that looked like this:



As you can clearly see the pros out weigh the cons and sledding ranks highly on the list. As a matter of fact, it ranks #2 just behind no school. Happy sledding!

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!

Golfing In A Winter Wonderland

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Here's what you can do during the golf off-season... (photo by TimoHonkelaEnglish / CC BY-SA 3.0)
Here’s what you can do during the golf off-season… (photo by TimoHonkelaEnglish / CC BY-SA 3.0)

OK, so in the past I may have mentioned that I don’t play golf once the temperature drops below fifty degrees. But now that I’ve been introduced to the likes of Peter Masters and Annika Ostberg, I realize that I’m being a pansy.

Most people likely have no idea who Peter Masters and Annika Ostberg are. Neither did I until doing a bit of research. But these people are some of the best in the world, as well as the first two champions, in their sport. What sport is that you ask? Well, Snow Golf of course! Actually, for arguments sake, it was known as Ice Golf at the time.

Modern snow golf is actually credited to Tina Blomme, who created the game in 1996 and incorporated Snowgolf, Inc. in 1998. According to Wikipedia, “After developing all the products, rules and regulations, to support the sport…she [Ms. Blomme] designed and ran the first official snowgolf course next to the Ice Hotel in Quebec, Canada. Currently, she is setting up the 5 year Snow Golf Global Tour and 2020 Global Championships, in an effort to officialize the sport internationally.”

Meanwhile, there are recurring events like the Ice Golf World Championships, which have been played almost exclusively in Greenland (twice in Austria) since 1997 on the world’s northernmost golf course which is actually an ice shelf that gets reshaped every year by nature. So you may be playing the same course, but you’re never really playing the same course.

However, as cool as that may sound, the next fact may snap me back to reality. The fact has to do with where and when these tournaments are played. This year? The tournament was played earlier this month in Switzerland. Now, as desirable as a trip to Switzerland may be, whether for golf or not…, do I really want to be there in January? I’m having a hard enough time handling the snow and cold here in Connecticut! But Switzerland in January?!

I accept the fact that the people who play in these tournaments have a desire and, what I can only describe as, love for the sport. And these people make me feel like more of a pansy for not playing below fifty degrees. But I’ll tell you what…you can call me a pansy. At the end of the day, I’ll be the pansy in shorts and a polo.

Swing ’til you’re happy…as long as it’s warm enough!

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