Winter golf: when you hit a frozen green

[bkuehn1952]

4 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

You must have played on days where the greens in the sun were fine, but in the shade were frozen. That is when it is most comical. You're playing fine then hit the first frozen green. Nice approach shot then, PING PONG! Off the back into the woods!

Yes.  In theory we should be able to anticipate this situation and yet we almost always hit that high wedge to the green that is always in the shade with a northern exposure.

[billchao]

17 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

I've played a few times with frozen greens. The hard part was figuring where to land the ball short of the green because that area was frozen too!

Bump and run all the way. I haven't played in frozen conditions in a long time, but I remember not taking a full swing ever, except off the tee.

Once there was frost on the grass and I had to knock the buildup off of my spikes every few steps so I didn't end up on my rear end.

[Let it Fly]

On 12/2/2016 at 7:01 PM, woodzie264 said:

Been there- bounces off like concrete....and also skipped the ball across a frozen pond onto the green for a GIR

Just started laughing out loud reading this b/c it reminded of two memories (from the same round) a couple Winters ago.

1st memory - My buddy was getting worked up pre-round on what ball to use given the rock hard greens (wayyyy over thinking it)...so of course I egged him on hard. For whatever reason, he decides his old Top Flites (i.e Rock Flites) are best.  Was giggling to myself walking the down the first fairway at how certain he was that they'd work.  Sure enough, hits a beautiful approach shot only to see/hear it "crack" off the green almost as high as the shot and careen a good 30 yards or so out-of-bounds behind it...he still hasn't lived it down.

2nd memory - Same round, 18th hole that requires an approach over a decent sized pond to an elevated green.  None of us were playing too well, so were pretty slap-happy at that point just trying to have some fun.  My friend's father is sitting pretty in the fairway for his approach.  He's infamous on this hole for dunking shots in the water...so much so that he sponsors a prize in our yearly tournament called "Nerves of Steel", closest to the pin over the water no matter if it's your 2nd or 5th shot.  Naturally, he absolutely lays the sod over it...it's 45 or 50 degrees at this point so we're all laughing b/c this ball is about to join all it's pals with Davey Jones.  To our amazement, it hits off a patch of leftover ice that we honestly couldn't tell was even there and finds a way to bounce it's way up the hill and sneak on to the fringe.  Not sure why this was as funny as we made it out to be, but we were all crying haha.

[BuckeyeNut]

On 3/13/2017 at 5:03 PM, bkuehn1952 said:

I shot this two years ago.

 

Hahaha....been there done that!!   In all honesty....playing low runners isn't even necessarily the answer.   It's all about judging he bounce and playing short of the green when possible and getting the bounce you hoped/predicted.   I love the sound that ball made in the video above!!  I can relate because I have played in those frozen conditions many times!!

[Fourputt]

On 3/14/2017 at 6:58 AM, boogielicious said:

I've played a few times with frozen greens. The hard part was figuring where to land the ball short of the green because that area was frozen too!

If you play frozen very much, you have to learn shots like the half swing punch 5I replacing your normal 8I or 9I.  Run up shots rule the day.  Courses that don't allow you to run the ball on to the green aren't much fun in frozen winter.

[JonMA1]

My course won't let me play when there's frost on the greens, much less when they're frozen. Bastards!!!

[Fourputt]

15 hours ago, JonMA1 said:

My course won't let me play when there's frost on the greens, much less when they're frozen. Bastards!!!

Frost is bad to play on - frozen ground doesn't really hurt them.  My home course has pretty good greens for the amount of play they receive, and they are open year round, weather permitting.  They do have frost delays during the shoulder seasons so that the live and growing greens don't get damaged, but playing on frozen greens isn't a problem because the grass is dormant then.

[JonMA1]

4 hours ago, Fourputt said:

Frost is bad to play on - frozen ground doesn't really hurt them.  My home course has pretty good greens for the amount of play they receive, and they are open year round, weather permitting.  They do have frost delays during the shoulder seasons so that the live and growing greens don't get damaged, but playing on frozen greens isn't a problem because the grass is dormant then.

Thanks Rick. I didn't know that. Glad I found out before I starting bitchin' at my course about it.