Winter Depression Thread

[jsgolfer]

30" of snow here, will be digging out for a while. No golf for a long time

[mcanadiens]

It's been three weeks down the crapper in southwest Ohio, but long-range suggests Saturday and Sunday might be playable. Cautiously optimistic.

[Dave2512]

Yesterday was the first time I've hit a real golf ball in two months. Wasn't jonesing just wanted to try out my new iron set to compare against my previous iron set and my old 845's that I recently rebuilt. It was tough to find a range open. The snow on the ground has been here since early Dec. A couple places I called said that typically the range is open but they let customers hit all their range balls into the snow covered range and haven't been able to pick it, one guy said they had people out there picking it by hand another course said I could hit from the mats if I brought my own balls.

Hasn't been to my detriment. My swing felt odd but through a large bucket I only hit two poor shots and those where just a little thin and left both would have been decent misses on the course. The new irons skinned the balls a bit and the balls left marks on the face. All but one shot left marks in a circle about the size of a ball so close to the sweet spot.

Looks like there is no magic in the new irons. I saw the numbers from the fitting but hitting into a net doesn't let my eyes tell me what I need to know. With real balls hit to real targets my old irons were longer. With snow on the range it was easy to see where balls landed. I was able to carry the snow the new irons had balls landing in with my old set. Could be the shafts, new irons have shafts 18g lighter. But that was my decision not the fitter so who knows. I wanted a higher ball flight but it looked too close to say one way or the other.

One thing for sure the 845's won't be in my bag. Those are unforgiving and sound atrocious. Yesterday's GI clubs don't offer much compared to modern irons. Hard to believe I used those for a year and half just a few seasons ago. Anything not dead nuts felt really harsh. I stopped using them because I developed golf elbow, I thought it was the board stiff shafts.

[9wood]

Weather was mild enough to play golf today if it weren't for the ground being covered with snow. Nevertheless, I have been working out, trying to keep in shape anxiously anticipating that first spring golf outing and have been practicing my swing with my driver and PW to keep limber through winter

[Braivo]

22 hours ago, Dave2512 said:

One thing for sure the 845's won't be in my bag. Those are unforgiving and sound atrocious. Yesterday's GI clubs don't offer much compared to modern irons. Hard to believe I used those for a year and half just a few seasons ago. Anything not dead nuts felt really harsh. I stopped using them because I developed golf elbow, I thought it was the board stiff shafts.

Ha, I still use 845s. Same set I've had for almost twenty years. I haven't so much as tried hitting another iron. Perhaps I am missing out on some much needed forgiveness with the new technology. One thing is for certain, these irons have forced me to learn good, consistent contact. 

[Dave2512]

1 hour ago, Braivo said:

Ha, I still use 845s. Same set I've had for almost twenty years. I haven't so much as tried hitting another iron. Perhaps I am missing out on some much needed forgiveness with the new technology. One thing is for certain, these irons have forced me to learn good, consistent contact. 

I had forgotten how small the heads are. My work buddy has a set of Mizuno MP 68's (blades) and the 845s have a similar shape and profile. I only had one spare New Decade or I would have brought more to compare.

That day I hit the following.

Cleveland 588 TT PW (44 degrees) w/ KBS Tour Tour Edge CB Pro h PW (46 degrees) w/ KBS C-Taper and the 845 9i KBS Tour 90 (44 degrees). It was chilly in the 35-40 when I was there so the range balls were hard but it felt like the 845 struggled to get the ball in the air. It was strange because the KBS Tour 90 is their highest trajectory shaft. It's not my usual shaft but I got a great deal on a new set 3-PW already prepped for $75. It doesn't work for me because even the C-Taper reached a considerably higher apex.

But even the best shots were a good 20 yards shorter with the 845s. I played down to a 12.3 handicap using the 845s. After getting fit for the 588TT I was mid 9's within three updates with no change besides the irons.

[Bryan Kasper]

I was looking for the winter success story thread. you know the guys who went on vacation, or road trip, or in my case a business trip to get to the good weather to be able to play a round of golf. 

I am super pumped this weekend. gonna be heading to Texas to experience some warm weather and golf...oh yeah and i guess work as well. hopefully my month or so away from hitting a full shot wont have too  much of an effect on my game. i mean i take practice swings multiple times a day. 

[Yukari]

Well this Saturday should be pretty good for playing.  But then we are expecting about 2 feet of snow on Monday.

[DeadMan]

6 minutes ago, Yukari said:

Well this Saturday should be pretty good for playing.  But then we are expecting about 2 feet of snow on Monday.

Sadly, I miscalculated the weather and scheduled something for Saturday early afternoon. I'll probably only be able to get in a quick 9 in the morning, maybe with a few balls at the range. Unfortunate.

I was able to get out and get some swings in at the range on last Saturday, though. Felt great to finally not be hitting into a net.

Interestingly, January has been pretty mild for the most part. But the snow we got in December still hasn't fully melted in a lot of places. And it looks like with that snow coming that at least part of February will be a wash.

[Yukari]

1 minute ago, DeadMan said:

Sadly, I miscalculated the weather and scheduled something for Saturday early afternoon. I'll probably only be able to get in a quick 9 in the morning, maybe with a few balls at the range. Unfortunate.

I was able to get out and get some swings in at the range on last Saturday, though. Felt great to finally not be hitting into a net.

Interestingly, January has been pretty mild for the most part. But the snow we got in December still hasn't fully melted in a lot of places. And it looks like with that snow coming that at least part of February will be a wash.

It has been a quite strange December/January.  Usually, it warms up quite a bit to melt enough snow to allow courses to be open.  But this year has been rather cold and kept the snow on the ground a lot longer.

I just hope not all of February will be snowed out.  Usually, I like to play golf on Saturday and snowboard on Sunday.  But this year has been mostly snowboarding.

[MrDC]

This weekend would be fine for a winter round here, it should be in the high 40's this Sunday, the only problem is the 2' of snow on the ground, could be an issue.

The range will be busy though.

[adam3553]

Its supposed to be in the 40s here in NE Ohio on Sat. and Sun. I may have to get out and walk a few holes. Ive been at the range 4 days a week after work getting ready for my trip to Myrtle Beach in March. Hopefully we have good weather down there. Its usually a crapshoot the first week of March.

[jsgolfer]

Maybe I was wrong on the snow hanging around, supposed to be 60 on Sunday and high 50's Monday and Tuesday.  Maybe that will melt all but the biggest snow banks.    

[phan52]

It's been generally a pretty mild winter in Philly so I have played a surprising amount of golf this off-season. Of course, 24 inches of snow put a damper on the opportunity to play anytime soon but I am pretty surprised by how fast the snow is melting. It is supposed to get up into the 40's and 50's in the next week so I am pretty hopeful that we may be able to play again as soon as next weekend. At least a short road trip to NJ anyway.

 

[Lefty-Golfer]

leaving for Miami in 4 days...life is getting better.

[vangator]

On ‎1‎/‎19‎/‎2016 at 1:04 PM, 9wood said:

I live in the Buffalo NY area, and the last possible day for a round of golf was December 24th when the weather was mild. So it's been about a month since I have been able to play a round of golf. At this juncture I am confined indoors where I have been working out a bit to try to stay in shape and prevent my muscles, what little I still have left at the age of 67 from atrophying. I also practice short chip shots indoors and every now and I take a few minutes to practice swinging my driver outdoors while I await springtime.

I was paroled in 1979 from western NY and haven't looked back!

On ‎1‎/‎24‎/‎2016 at 11:46 PM, newtogolf said:

I'm depressed after the storm we had this weekend.  I'm looking at about 24" of snow with higher drifts, thanks to all the wind.  I need to be a snow bird or just move full time to Florida

Snow birding is the way to go.  Beat the snow in winter and get out of the heat in summer.  Summer heat is bearable when riding a cart though.  Brutal to walk for me.

[mcanadiens]

Still looking good for tomorrow. It's supposed to be 53 and we've got nothing on the floor. Wonder if I can still hit a ball after this much time.

[9wood]

1 hour ago, vangator said:

I was paroled in 1979 from western NY and haven't looked back!

Snow birding is the way to go.  Beat the snow in winter and get out of the heat in summer.  Summer heat is bearable when riding a cart though.  Brutal to walk for me.

People who live in Florida are able to tolerate hotter temps than I am able to. Since I live in the North country, I find that it's uncomfortable and my game suffers if I play golf when the temperature rises above 80, especially if the humidity level is high. My ideal temps for playing golf are 58-68 degrees. 

 

One of my indoor winter practice tools is pictured below