Whether you’re a US president on vacation, an appreciator of nature and beautiful landscapes, or you just like hitting small dimpled balls with a stick – golf is the sport for you. This pastime is well-known for requiring a soft touch, good technique, and breathtakingly beautiful playing fields. However, one thing that many people typically do not associate with golf is winter. Heading to your local golf course may not come across as the best idea if you are surrounded by snow, but bear with us. As odd as it may come, playing golf through winter has some pretty interesting benefits. In this article, we are going to talk about them in more detail. Read on to learn more.
Benefits of Playing Golf Through Winter
Vast fields of green waiting for you with little to no competition, excellent entry prices that you would struggle to find mid-season, and an opportunity to hone your pitching and putting skills – that’s what you get from winter golfing.
That and a bit of cold weather that is.
Nothing that can’t be fixed with some warm clothing, though, and if you prepare yourself well for a game of winter golf, more often than not – you’re going to have a fantastic time doing it.
Below are the reasons for winter golf rules in more detail.
Great Exercise
Unless you’re Fedor Emelianenko and were brought up in rural Russia, outdoor winter workouts may not exactly be your cup of tea. Come winter, many people who exercise regularly start going to the gym instead of running, doing their pushups, or doing weight lifting outside.
A great way to incorporate some wintertime outdoor physical activity into your schedule would be to play a game of golf.
Walking, swinging your clubs, and attempting to place your shots to the best of your ability in cold conditions will certainly get your blood pumping. At the same time, you likely won’t get overly sweaty so as to risk getting pneumonia.
Also, if you dislike running and other forms of exercise that can be seen as repetitive or monotonous, playing golf through winter can be a fantastic alternative – both in hot and cold weather.
Honing Your Skills
While not playing for a couple of months won’t make you entirely forget the game of golf, an entire offseason with no practice can certainly put a dent in your golfing skill set.
Now, why not use the wintertime productively in this respect, and practice while the others are convinced that there’s no one out there practicing? You can imagine the surprise on your golf buddies’ faces when they find out that your drives and putts have somehow become better over the winter rather than worse.
Whether it’s your drives, chips, flops, lay-ups, or putts you need to work on, the golf course that you plan to do that on won’t be any worse off during the winter. (Other than the ground being a tad stiffer.)
What’s more, the lower frequency of visitors means you will likely get large swaths of ‘territory’ all to yourself, so you get to practice your shots to your heart’s content.
Low Visitor Frequency
Speaking of visitors, for obvious reasons, the visitor count that golf courses record during the winter tends to fall significantly.
That said, many people don’t know that many golf courses remain open during the off-season, so it’s only a matter of braving the weather and the conditions on the ground.
There are a number of benefits to playing golf with fewer people to share the course with – you have more time for yourself to play each ball the way you like. You can practice shots with no pressure, there is no one to rush you to complete your round, and you can generally play the game at your own pace.
Winter Deals
Entering a golf course during the winter is typically less expensive than during the summer season.
From discounted entry fees to discounted golfing lessons, many golf clubs will lower prices during the winter to attract players. Usually, amenities present in these clubs are also available at a discounted price during the winter, so you can get extra spare balls, drinks, and even wintertime memberships for a significantly lower price than if you were to join in the middle of the prime season.
Conclusion
All things considered, persistence and hard work pay off in everything, and if you want to beat your work colleague at golf, that means playing golf through winter.
Whether it’s for the lower costs of entry, exercise, or simply having an entire golf course to yourself so you can get in the zone – golfing during the winter season can be a great way to stay in shape, improve your golf skills, and also earn the respect of your opponents once the summer season comes and you have thousands of practice shots under your belt.