What do you do over the winter?

[CoolBreeze20]

To stay "sharp"? We have lots of heated/covered driving ranges here in OH, but when its mostly lower than 20F for the high in Jan-Feb, that doesnt help much. Just curious what you guys do to stay practiced up, and feed that golf bug.

[Doctorfro]

Well, now I play golf almost all winter. I just moved here from VA last year and back there I took four months off while I coached basketball. Simply put my clubs down. The only thing I did was putt on the living room carpet to keep my stroke going. But for you, although I know it's cold, every day can't be totally frozen. There have to be days when it gets into the 40's. When it does you have to take advantage and go out and find someplace to hit a few. I wouldn't get too obsessed with the longing to play or you'll go crazy. The winter hiatus used to be good for me. I usually came out in the spring and played well.

[zeg]

I remember that, as much as I hate Southern California, it DOES have a few things going for it...

[TheWarHound]

Play golf . . . we rarely have snow here, and the local courses hope to keep people out there all winter.

[v3rs3]

Where in Columbus are you from? I live in Grove City and work in Hilliard.

[Mikey]

I live in Georgia so we usually get some days that you can play golf but if we have a long cold snap I will practice my swing in the garage.

I usually try to keep a club with a grip aid attached and do a slow motion swing so I do not break anything

[McGolf-Doggie]

New York, LI.

Normally I'll be happy to spend some time at the range in winter. I like the cool weather (not so hot and sweaty).

This year I hope to get a few more rounds in, and it should also be less crowded.

Trouble is, when it gets wet and sodden, it tends to stay that way and doesn't dry out very well.

[toogood]

Usually I play golf. Over the past few winters I've let the "rain" keep me from playing, but this year I plan to actually wear one of my rainsuits and play some golf.

[klaymon]

Another Hilliard/Columbus dweller here. I play all season long. As long as there isn't snow on the ground, I'm golfing. My lowest temperature game last year was 22 degrees. The greens are like concrete on the approach shots, but it makes you plan your shots a little more.

[GaijinGolfer]

Living in Wisconsin, I have little choice but to let my golf skills diminish over the winter months.
I dont know of any indoor driving ranges around here, so other than a little putting practice on my living room floor, I dont really do golf in the winter.
For me, the winter months consist and riding my snowmobile and keeping a fire going in my wood stove to keep the heat bills as low as possible.
In some ways, I think its a good thing. I think that if I lived where you could play golf year-round, I would get so burnt-out and sick of playing golf after a while.

[gogolfing]

My issue here on Vancouver Island isn't so much the course closed, as we don't get much snow, and I've got good gear to allow me to play in wet conditions, but from November through February it gets dark pretty early, so no golf on weekdays after work because of it. There is a driving range about 15 minutes away that has installed lights, so my goal is to get there at least once a week at night to hit balls. Then on the weekends I go to the range at my home club and play as much as the weather allows.

I also play hockey and have an elliptical trainer to work out in the winter. One of the guys I play hockey with is an athletic therapist and I am contemplating having him develop a golf specific routine for me that I can do in my house with a Swiss and medicine ball along with some tubing.

[iQuest Golfer]

Here in Southwest Ohio winters have been pretty mild -- especially since I live south of I-70. A couple of major dumps but it always melts quickly. My club has two courses. The Championship South course will close in November. The North course will stay open all year for those brave and hardy souls that have "got the affliction."

This winter I've planned a rigorous program to get the handicap under 10 before the Championship course opens in the spring. I've got a son that plays Div 1 college golf so the off-season is usually spent working out and planning trips to Abalama and Florida over the Christmas break.

I'm committed not to get rusty this winter. It's been a good golfing year so far and I don't want to lose any of what I have achieved both physically and mentally. I credit this forum with keeping me going. If I can encourage any of you to "keep the faith" during the winter months, contact me. I'm a post away!

Cheers!

[Doctorfro]

You know, the other thing you can do is visit your local Golf Galaxy, Edwin Watts, Dick's and use their hitting area. They usually don't mind if you hit a few as long as you're not in the way of someone demoing.

[twc]

As long as it's not raining, we still play. It doesn't usually drop below 40* during the day.

[ScottRempel]

Play Tiger Woods on the XBOX 360!? lol

Sadly, no golfing here...we are actually done for the year, more or less (currently in Detroit Lakes and might get out to Wildflower tomorrow if this rain ever stops!). My only way to hit balls would be to drive over an hour to the city (Winnipeg) where they have an indoor golf dome. Basically we golf six months, then take 6 months off.

[R.Marciano]

I have never seen snow or experienced cold weather in my life so far so golf is 365 days a year if you like. I can only imagine if I did live in a place that had limited golfing months for the year, I would like to know that there would be some sort of indoor golf range or even better, a golf simulator.