Equipment changes for the seasons

If you play golf in the UK, you know how critical our climate is to your game.

But how do we prepare our bag setup when the seasons properly change?

Is it something that you have considered, and do you make any changes to play in the season ahead?

The types of golf courses you play can also be a factor in making changes, which we’ll discuss shortly.

So, let's take a look at what changes to consider for the ideal winter and summer bag setup.

Winter golf

Parkland-style golf courses can be prone to getting wet underfoot during the winter months.

Links courses aren’t necessarily affected in the same way as their inland counterparts, but links courses can bear the full brunt of strong winds sweeping turbulent weather inland.

So, what do we need to think about during the onset of winter?

Driver

If we look at the parkland-style golf course the issue we face is a lack of run from the golf ball when it lands.

When we look at how that potentially affects our shots, we may find that adding loft to our driver can help to maintain our distance off the tee given that more loft can give more carry, compensating for the lack of roll.

With adjustable drivers, it can be easy to add loft, but you have to be careful that this doesn’t add too much spin and reduce your distance.

When we are fitting golfers for drivers, we certainly pay attention to the type of golf course the golfer generally plays at and we factor this into the overall fitting process.

Fairway woods

Changes to a 3 wood are not usually necessary during the winter, but you may want to consider adding an additional more lofted fairway wood.

We have seen a growth in the use of 7 woods on the tours, namely because it gives the pros the ability to hit the ball much higher and focus on carry.

The same can be said for the amateur golfer.

If you analyse the course(s) you play and look at how many long approach shots or long par 3s you might face, you can carry the ball deeper into these greens with the additional loft of a 5 or 7 wood and have the ball stop more quickly.

Hybrids

The concept here is similar to that of the fairway woods.

Hybrids generally will afford a higher trajectory shot compared to the driving iron/long iron equivalents you may use in the summer months.

Golfers might even want to look at a hybrid option for something like their 5 iron if they can’t fly their 5 iron high enough to be effective for winter golf.

Wedges

If you do find your course is prone to being very wet underfoot over the winter months, you might want to alter your wedge setup to accommodate these conditions.

Wedges with too little bounce will tend to dig more into the wet turf which can adversely affect clean contact when pitching or chipping around the greens.

Wedges with more bounce or a slightly larger sole could help you achieve more consistent contact and control.

Summer Golf

Driver

As spring switches to summer, the hope is that the golf courses we play are dry and we can look to see more run out of the ball when it lands.

For the driver, we can reverse any loft changes we made to accommodate the winter months and return the loft back to its original setting.

There is a small possibility that if conditions are dry you might lower the loft marginally but again this has to be done in consideration of optimal launch angles and spin rates to get the best combination of carry and roll.

If you play courses where the rough is particularly punishing, maintaining control with the driver could be key, so you may also want to look at things like shaft length to aid accuracy.

Fairway woods/Hybrids

This potentially is dependent on the typical golf course layout you play.

If your golf is mainly of the parkland variety, you may still want to keep a 5 wood in your bag.

With greens being firmer in the summer months the 5 wood can still be beneficial in helping you get access to the longer par 4s or reaching shorter par 5s in 2 where you may still need the loft to carry trouble or help the ball land softly on firmer greens.

Driving irons

We see every year at the Open Championship players will switch out their lofted woods in favour of driving irons.

With the Open Championship being played on links courses the driving iron lends itself well to a style of course where keeping the ball flight lower to the ground and running out more can be highly beneficial.

Driving irons are very different to the old 1 and 2 iron equivalents from previous generations.

They are constructed to offer playability and a degree of forgiveness whilst still offering piercing trajectories.

Modern design and technology mean driving irons are constructed using a variety of materials and can feature hollow faces filled with specialised foams to keep ball speeds high off the club face.

Married to the correct shaft, the driving iron can be a potent, well-used club over the summer months.

Wedges

Whilst in winter having more bounce on the sole of your wedges is beneficial it can be detrimental in the summertime.

Wedges with less bounce will interact with the firmer turf much more easily than those with more bounce which are likely to skid on the turf affecting strike quality.

You may also want to consider adding an additional higher-lofted wedge to the bag.

The reason for this is to gain as much control as possible around firmer greens plus extracting the ball from thicker and lusher rough.

We are now moving into spring so it’s a good time to analyse your current bag setup for the summer ahead and see if you have the right clubs to cover your golf objectives.

We are more than happy to help you make the right decisions with customisable options for every department of your golf bag.

Contact us today to book your session in our fitting studio.