Summer conditions are here

[birly-shirly]

It's been a dry and windy week here, so the ground is drying out nicely.

 

Played on Wednesday night and the fairways are running fast. Driving distance is up, if you can keep it in the fairway, that is.

 

Shots to the green need to be well-struck and well-judged to not run through and off the green. Birdie putts are well-earned.

 

And tonight? I popped out for a little bit of evening pitch and putt on the public links next to the driving range.

 

I've been paying real close attention to green reading this spring, and the first thing I discovered was that I had intuitively been playing far too much break. I learned that, from 6 feet and in, I rarely needed more than one cup width of borrow and almost never more than two.

 

Well, tonight the greens were dried out and rolling very fast indeed. Pins cut on slopes had everything that wasn't straight up or downhill rolling sideways into (or past) the hole. After a while, all the lines you see on the green are big wide arcs, feet rather than inches of borrow and the old advice to miss softly on the high side makes sense. Downhill putts take only the slightest touch. 10 foot putts become lags. Feels much more art than mechanics. Great fun.

 

Lastly, some pitch shots. From proper firm turf. All spring I've been playing the clubface open - trying not to let the leading edge dig into the ground. Tonight, you really needed to bang the club squarely into the turf to barely make a mark. Beautiful crisp contact when you pull it off, clunky mess that scampers for the far side of the green like a scalded cat if you don't. You can't just lob it at the hole, the whole green's in play now - every slope and contour. Old school blades with old school sole grinds now seem a sensible way to squeeze between the ball and the ground. I can't imagine trying to hit pitch shots with a clunky wide sole from these lies. Sand irons are for bunkers. I might dig out my Apex IIs.

 

I love summer. I hope it lasts.

[BIG STU]

It has been dry and hot as Hades here going on the second week now. It is real funny in this area. I have not had one drop of rain here at my house for 2 weeks now. Now right around the corner at my home course they got rain Saturday night in fact they had to rope off part of #1 fairway. Friday night in Dirty Myrtle about 10 miles north of me they got so much rain that it cancelled the Pelicans baseball game and the course we played Saturday Pine Lakes CC was wet as heck with the wind blowing. Actually the heat index has been from 102 and 105 with the humidity at 95 to 100% daily

[stevemcgee99]

I'm in CA and the national news is poo-pooing golf as a waste of water... Yet at Presidio in San Franciso one of my playing partner's shots was stopped by a hose the gardner was using to saturate the fairways with...

I had a ball stop within 1 foot of the divot from a 7-iron. I expected my ball to roll off the back of the green, as the green was elevated significantly above me. Soft.

[oldschoolrocker]

Local forecast for today was for the "11th" day in a row, tempatures will be above 95, with heat index of 110. Have a game locally on Wednesday with my god son and going down to Edisto on Thursday with the senior men's tourament group. Expect to lose a few pounds before the weekend. Hydration started.

[VivaTerlingua]

Mid to high 90's again here this week. SW wind 35.

May go walk 9 this afternoon with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego

[oldschoolrocker]

Daniel seemed to prosper in the heat. Hope you find the same result.

[stevemcgee99]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky8OETmlOZA[/media]

[HoldenCornfield]

Summer is the best time of the year for persimmon -- lots of roll almost closes the gap with modern drivers.

[GWD]

[quote name='birly-shirly' timestamp='1434754795' post='11788938']
It's been a dry and windy week here, so the ground is drying out nicely.

Played on Wednesday night and the fairways are running fast. Driving distance is up, if you can keep it in the fairway, that is.

Shots to the green need to be well-struck and well-judged to not run through and off the green. Birdie putts are well-earned.

And tonight? I popped out for a little bit of evening pitch and putt on the public links next to the driving range.

I've been paying real close attention to green reading this spring, and the first thing I discovered was that I had intuitively been playing far too much break. I learned that, from 6 feet and in, I rarely needed more than one cup width of borrow and almost never more than two.

Well, tonight the greens were dried out and rolling very fast indeed. Pins cut on slopes had everything that wasn't straight up or downhill rolling sideways into (or past) the hole. After a while, all the lines you see on the green are big wide arcs, feet rather than inches of borrow and the old advice to miss softly on the high side makes sense. Downhill putts take only the slightest touch. 10 foot putts become lags. Feels much more art than mechanics. Great fun.

Lastly, some pitch shots. From proper firm turf. All spring I've been playing the clubface open - trying not to let the leading edge dig into the ground. Tonight, you really needed to bang the club squarely into the turf to barely make a mark. Beautiful crisp contact when you pull it off, clunky mess that scampers for the far side of the green like a scalded cat if you don't. You can't just lob it at the hole, the whole green's in play now - every slope and contour. Old school blades with old school sole grinds now seem a sensible way to squeeze between the ball and the ground. I can't imagine trying to hit pitch shots with a clunky wide sole from these lies. Sand irons are for bunkers. I might dig out my Apex IIs.

I love summer. I hope it lasts.
[/quote]

Of course, this post would be more meaningful if your location was known to the community. Either in the text or in your avatar area would make sense.

But you know exactly where you are so maybe that is enough for a post like this.

[birly-shirly]

Well, it's no secret and I'm sure most of the folk reading this know that I'm in Scotland.

Be that as it may, my purpose was to talk about the conditions, and NOT the location. What we have in common, in spite of our geographical dispersion. The change from heavy, through springtime lush to firm and running is one of my favourite parts of the golfing year. I can generally play year round, but I often forget how good the game gets in these conditions. Whether that happens up the road from Muirfield or down the coast from Pebble Beach doesn't seem relevant to me.

[NRJyzr]

[quote name='HoldenCornfield' timestamp='1435367834' post='11842288']
Summer is the best time of the year for persimmon -- lots of roll almost closes the gap with modern drivers.
[/quote]


If equalized for club length and launch conditions, I find little distance gap between persimmon and modern drivers. The real difference is in the amount of face area one has to play with.

Which is like saying water is wet, of course.

[jmvargas]

our summer over here is over and the rainy season has just been officially declared by our national weather bureau...

....time to bring out my SM H2N0 stand bag!!

[Fellaheen51]

[quote name='birly-shirly' timestamp='1435397530' post='11843580']
..........The change from heavy, through springtime lush to firm and running is one of my favourite parts of the golfing year. I can generally play year round, but I often forget how good the game gets in these conditions.
[/quote]

As I set here typing this, ANOTHER day of rain and the temp is 56* (13* C). The course I usually play remains waterlogged and is turning into a bog. Ponds exist where I've never seen them before. I'm more than ready for firm and running "summer conditions" to commence.

My distance game needs all the help it can get.

[scomac2002]

[quote name='Fellaheen51' timestamp='1435416635' post='11844452']
[quote name='birly-shirly' timestamp='1435397530' post='11843580']
..........The change from heavy, through springtime lush to firm and running is one of my favourite parts of the golfing year. I can generally play year round, but I often forget how good the game gets in these conditions.
[/quote]

As I set here typing this, ANOTHER day of rain and the temp is 56* (13* C). The course I usually play remains waterlogged and is turning into a bog. Ponds exist where I've never seen them before. I'm more than ready for firm and running "summer conditions" to commence.

My distance game needs all the help it can get.
[/quote]

Agreed! It would seem that we are firmly entrenched in spring-like conditions here in the NE! The good news, I guess, is that it's easy on the elbows. I continue to be surprised that I can play 18 with steel shafts in everything (except driver) and not have any pain even if I play two to three times in a week! Is there something fundamentally different about club design with vintage that impacts this or is it simply co-incidence?

[TimV]

[quote name='Fellaheen51' timestamp='1435416635' post='11844452']
[quote name='birly-shirly' timestamp='1435397530' post='11843580']
..........The change from heavy, through springtime lush to firm and running is one of my favourite parts of the golfing year. I can generally play year round, but I often forget how good the game gets in these conditions.
[/quote]

As I set here typing this, ANOTHER day of rain and the temp is 56* (13* C). The course I usually play remains waterlogged and is turning into a bog. Ponds exist where I've never seen them before. I'm more than ready for firm and running "summer conditions" to commence.

My distance game needs all the help it can get.
[/quote]

Ah, I remember those conditions well from all the years we lived in SW Wisconsin. We were lucky if things had warmed up and dried off enough to make play enjoyable by the 4th of July. One of the many reasons we made the move to South Florida 6 1/2 years ago.