Scorching temperatures might make a day on the golf course more enjoyable than battling the wind and rain, but they can also catch plenty of golfers out.
The heat doesn’t just affect how comfortable you feel walking 18 holes — it can also impact on how the golf ball flies, how the course plays and the decisions you should be making.
That said, does summer golf require a slightly different approach if you want to get the most out of your game?
PGA professional Jack Backhouse and professional golfer Nicola Slater shared their advice on the Your Golf Podcast by NCG.
From longer carries to firmer fairways, the pair suggest some adjustments golfers should be making when the temperature rises.
The ball is going to fly further
While firmer ground certainly plays a part in increased distances, the heat itself also helps the ball travel further through the air.
Slater believes many amateur golfers underestimate this.
“In winter, or when it’s soft, amateurs under club massively – always coming up short,” she said.
“I think it’s due to this misconception that some of their clubs go so much further (in the summer). The ground is so much harder, and that’s the total distance at the end of the day, but the ball does travel further in the heat.
“You know your body’s a lot looser as well when it gets to summer. It’s usually easier to swing.”
The data backs this up.
For every 5.6 degrees Celsius, you actually gain one and a half to two yards of carry. If at 15 degrees Celsius, you hit your seven iron, 150 yards, when it’s 30-five degrees outside, you would gain about five yards.
Backhouse pointed out that: “For the last couple of years, when I’ve had fittings in California in the middle of December, often I get fit into a club when seeing club head speed numbers that I’m unfamiliar with.
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“Then when I get sent the club, and tee up with it on the fifth of January in North Leeds, that club just doesn’t work. I’ve got six more layers on, it’s 20 degrees colder, and I just can’t hit the ball in the air anymore.”
Don’t overestimate the wind
Strong winds remain a challenge whatever the weather, but hot air behaves differently from cold air.
Slater noted that this is because warm air is less dense. She explains it has less effect on the golf ball, meaning headwinds and sidewinds won’t have such a dramatic effect as they would during winter.
“The wind right now in this heat wave doesn’t seem to do as much to the golf ball,” she said.
“So if at five degrees Celsius and 35 degrees Celsius, you have the same wind speed. At 35 degrees Celsius, the air is roughly eight to 10% less dense.
“We’re not talking a big difference here, but a five degrees Celsius, if you’re 150 yards away, it could cost you about 20 yards clubbing to the same wind speed. It could change by a couple of yards in total.
“You do feel it, like obviously the wind’s blowing into you. It’s warm wind, it’s not the same, it’s not as harsh.”
Plan for plenty of bounce and roll
“Most people can’t generate enough spin to stop the ball,” said Backhouse.
“I think people don’t understand, certainly don’t understand that if the ball lands on the fairway, the ball loses all of its spin anyway.”
Firm, sun-baked fairways are a common sight during and after a heatwave. Drivers may go further but approach shots can be harder to judge.
Backhouse believes even golfers using custom-fit balls won’t always generate enough stopping power in these conditions unless they strike the shot perfectly.
“So some people, if they swing fast enough and they have the right ball and clean grooves and they strike it properly, can spin the ball, but the ball has to land on the green for it to react right.
“Most people don’t play the right ball, haven’t got clean grooves, don’t strike it very well. Also they’re still trying to laser the flag, or they look at the GPS and they go ‘right, it’s 150 I’ll hit my 150 club’, like they would always do under like normal softer conditions.
“But the ball’s either then landing on the green and running through or the ball’s landing short.”
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