What's the craziest weather that you have played in?

[cambo3295]

Worst day ever - 36 holes (2 rds matchplay, thankfully I won both so played only 29 in total) 1st week of January, 2-3*C (about 37*F), 65-70mph winds and 2" rain.

 

Worst wind - measured at 80mph. On a links course - pretty much unplayable, but hilarious. Inland it would have been lethal with flying debris

 

Coldest - 32*F, 0*C, 40mph northeaster with snow flurries

 

And yes, there were witnesses......

 

Iain

[nickylizzle]

winds in which my double layer titleist umbrella literally inverted and flew the hell out of my hand to a road

600 yards away. had to me 90-100 mph

[mcputter]

With all the cold weather posts, I figured I should chime in. Growing up playing junior golf in Arizona we'd regularly play tournaments in 110+ degree temps carrying our bags in the summer. I also have played in the occasional dust storm- murder when you're wearing contact lenses.

[loulou]

I took my PAT as a friggin' hurricane was coming in. It was great.

[Sean2]

Played a round in early March on Cape Cod in gale force winds, rain, sleet, and snow (can't beat New England for weather changing instantly). I was the only one on the golf course...well, me and a seal who gave me an odd look on a par 3 along the ocean. I asked him what club I should use (at least a 3 club wind), and he just looked at me with those huge eyes.

[wesneedham]

Feb. 07 in a 4 man scramble in Tennessee, called the snowman scramble. Teed off with temps around 40, by the 3rd hold it was snowing. By the 6th hole the course had 2 inches on the ground. The greens were covered and the only way to putt was to take the rake bunker and clear a line to the hole. The tourney went on. We shot 11 under some how to finish 2nd.

[crgsmth72]

Back in the day, I was playing a tournament with friends from work in Palm Springs, i was living in Bermuda Dunes at that time. Anyway, I ended up winning the long drive contest (289 yds w/a Titliest persimmon driver-for u nosy people :good: ) . After play was over, I received this discounted coupon book to use only between May-Sept 1st. Now i know why.. it was 120 every day!

[steventoo]

A couple of years ago I played in crazy conditions one summer day.

 

The temperature was mid to high 40's (so 110F+) with a strong northerly wind blowing dust and smoke from bushfires and heat off the desert and so on. It was awful. We started early in the morning to escape the worst of it, but by 8am it was really really hot.

 

The smell of smoke got progressively stronger and we started to have trouble seeing through it, and by the 6th hole we became acutely aware thanks to a water bombing helicopter filling up from the lake in the middle of the course that we had a bushfire on 2 sides of the course, only a couple of hundred metres away. By the 10th, water bombing aircraft were regularly flying over the top and we could see flames chewing up distant gum trees. We also saw fire licking at the walls of a house before a helicopter unloaded on to it - spectacular!

 

We kept playing. Our reasoning was that the roads were probably closed (they were) and my friends wouldn't be able to get home (I live on the same mountain as the course, about a minute away) and that the houses and other holes would protect us from the fire and if we had to we could just go and hang out in the lake anyway. In hindsight, it was pretty silly but we were young(er) and (more) stupid.

 

We didn't play particularly well but we finished the round. When we walked off the 18th we were met by the club president who said that we were crazy for playing - everybody else had given up - and that we were stuck on the mountain, but the bar had plenty of cold beer. The only problem was that the power had been cut and there was no air conditioning! We were there until 10pm when the roads were reopened after the fire was contained.

[mistral]

Played in December a few years back in France, the temperature was about -5°C. As we debated whether to go out, we consumed about 3 armagnacs in the bar each. The 4th hole comes back near the club house so we dived in for a refill and never came back out.

 

Played as a child in snow until we could no longer see our orange balls in the fairway.

 

Played links golf a few years back in February, driving rain, sleet and 30 mph winds. Eventually gave up when my 2 iron flew further than the ball as I was unable to hang on to it!

 

Some of the UK links courses have anemometers in the clubhouse, last February we recorded gusts over 60 mph during the round although at least it stayed dry. 450 yd par 4's were playing a drive and a flick whilst a 200 yd par 3 was a 2 shotter to reach the green.

[EMKelly]

Interesting how lots of people broke 100 in "the craziest weather that you have played in"!

 

Worst I played was Sandhill, Mullen, NE in March. 20 degrees, light snow and high wind (open plains). Needless to say, I wasn't about to back out on the Sandhills. Been back 30 times since, and still feel cold on Ben's Porch!

[rpmsooner]

Details:

 

One man scramble.

We thought the wind was REALLY blowing. Like 35-40mph. (not terribly uncommon for some spring days in OK)

Sky turned Orange from all the dirt being kicked up.

 

Got home. Flipped on the news.

 

Turns out Will Rogers and DIA had been shut down due to steady 55mph with gusts to 75mph. THIS WAS INSANE!

[jambo1980]

When I was at school me and my friends would play everyday, whatever the weather, during the summer break. Given that I live in the east coast of Scotland and play on a links course extreme cold, wind and rain is a pretty regular occurence! The craziest conditions though were when one we went out to play when it was misty (a fairly common thing here in summer when the mist or 'har' rolls in off the sea). It didn't seem too bad at first but by the time we got to the course it was so thick we could only see about 20-30 yards ahead of us. For some reason we decided it would be a good idea to play anyway. To have any chance of finding your ball you had to hit it straight. Unfortunately for me I didn't hit it very straight in those days!

[Zlim]

Coloradans would know what I mean.

 

1st hole - geared up in dry joys for 40 degree cloudy weather and rain.

3rd hole - no rain but still that gloomy cloudy gray sky

8th - clouds cleared and it the thermo at the lodge was at 65 when we checked it at the turn

11th - rain came back but no clouds in the sky above us and the sun was still shining brought

15th- got cloudy, rain continued and the wind/weather was back to low 40's upper 30's

18th - packed up our stuff after the round and snow flakes made its appearance like the weather man said it should have.

 

I've read about cray bad weather but a perfect sunny day in the middle of supposedly crappy February day is something else

[lutherham]

The last weekend our course was open last year. Far from a weekend warrior, but also far from sane. Saturday was about 30* with a 25 MPH NW wind I hit punch 5 iron from 117 to 15' Short on the sixth hole - I knew Mother Nature meant business! It was just a sh*t show the whole round but the entire five-some had a blast. There was cause for celebration and after a long night in the pubs with friends we decided to do it all over again. Next day we teed off WAY too early. 27* - Real Feel of 13* and snowing. Only group on the course and the coldest I've ever been for 3.5 Hours solid. Bottom line - you need to be hearty to play 8.5 months a year in Minnesota. It's Brutal!

[woohoo4me]

Played in Hawaii (Olomana) the day before Hurrican Iniki hit in '92 (Iniki didn't get a ton of national press because it hit 3 weeks after Andrew shredded Dade County, but it beat up Kauai pretty good). It was breezy.....

 

Couple of years ago, playing a scramble in Portland (Colwood) we had a massive hail storm that started during our last hole (hail is not as common in the NW as it is other places). Finished our hole (I'm sure our "leader" conceded us a birdie) and raced back to the clubhouse. The clubhouse sits above the course and the course looked like it had been snowing for 3 hours. Had to wait about 45 minutes for the "putt off" which I won after grabbing a $30 putter from the pro shop....wasn't back to the car for mine. Only putting contest I've ever won at a scramble.....lol

 

Woo

[spinman17]

During a tournament last year, the weather was supposed to be fine, but cold (35*). After I hit my tee shot, the rain just started pouring. I got to the 18th green when they called us in a turned it into a 9 hole tourney, taking our first nine. I was mad because 1) I had gone 18 holes in that weather only to have it called to nine and 2) my second nine was about 6 shot better than my first!

 

Another time my friend and I played until 1 in the morning after starting at 10. Luckily neither of us sprays the ball much, but we still lost about 8 balls between us.

[veloxolev]

Santa Ana winds in SoCal at Empire Lakes. Think it was about 45-50 mph winds or so (guess?). Had to retee a shot once 4 times. gave up after 3 holes

[Blastissimo]

Two stories. Once when I lived in the central valley of cali (Bakersfield) we played at 7am on Thanksgiving morning and the valley fog was so thick and 40 deg. you couldn't see more than a 100 yds, so we had the group in front of us yell out so we knew they were clear. The other time was on one of our annual August golf outings to mecca (Palm Springs) the temp on the second day was 112 deg. That night a strong thunderstorm with about 2" of rain came through, the next day the clouds hung around, but no electricity and it never hit over 80 deg, we almost got nose colds.

 

 

I had a similar experience last Thanksgiving in Tehachapi at Horse Theif C.C. The fog was so thick that we would park the cart 75yrds down the fairway just so we would have something to aim at. And even then we could only actually see the thing on a couple of the holes. That was something else.

[BENNYSUPREME]

you name it i've played it probably. from 118 in phx to being the only one on the golf course in colorado because its was so cold and windy. I've played in snow that when you putt the ball becomes softball size. I've played in rain (the kind of stuff Forest talked about in his movie), hail (pea size), winds I don't know how hard they were blowing but the course lost some 60 trees I think that day.

[seypat]

I grew up in north Texas. (Wichita Falls area) If you have lived there you know how fast storms can blow in and out. We were far away from the clubouse when a storm came in. We hightailed it for the nearest shelter (about 400 yards away) as fast as we could run with our pullcarts. The "beast" was upon us by the time we got there. We grabbed onto anything that was dug into the ground and hung on for dear life. It blew the shelter off of us and sent it and some of the pullcarts/clubs about 75 yards down the fairway. It also pelted us with rain and hail but we held strong. Then just as fast as it got there it was gone. Needless to say we walked in without finishing. When we got back to the clubhouse the people said "a tornado just blew through the course on #4 and 5!" No duh! We took it head on and lived to tell about it.

 

I moved to Virginia in 1989. The night before I moved a supercell/tornado tore some of the roof off of my house. The wind and hail were blowing so hard they blew out the double pane windows on the north side of the house. The hail was coming through the windows and bouncing off my fireplace 30 feet away like bullets. The hail also cracked the windows on my car and the U Haul I had rented. It cratered my car and the sides of the U Haul just like an egg crate. I thought I was a goner that night.

 

I often get asked if I will ever move back someday. I don't think so! I don't ever want any more of that violent weather.

[clevelandgolf00]

I live in colorado so you fellow Coloradans know this is very possible

 

march 09 played and by the end of the round there was 1/2 inch of snow on the ground.

 

june 09 played with a tornado about 6 miles form the course (didn't know it at the time) and about 1/2 inch diameter hail.

 

july 08 played when it was 100 degrees

 

febuary 09 showed up for my tee time and it was 0 degrees out.

[hackemlong]

Couple of stories -

 

I played golf in high school a whole bunch of years ago. We had a match scheduled the day after a freak snow storm (any snow in Dallas area is freak), and coaches from both schools just HAD to get the match in for some reason known only to God and broccoli. Most of the snow had melted from fairways and greens, but anything around the greens and in the rough was another issue altogether. And it was still cold (34-36) and windy (20+ mph). Us thin at the time Texas boys weren't used to this. This was well before orange and yellow balls. We all got tired of hitting short approaches and having to look for a hole in the remaining snow cover to determine if it might have been made by our ball. What a mess.

 

Was playing in a church scramble with a couple of friends about a month or so ago. We kept seeing this ominous cloud bank rolling in towards us but guess we must have had some divine providence working for us and kept playing. It got to the point that it was almost dark in the middle of the afternoon - we were teeing off on the next hole. Well, the clouds finally opened. The wind was fierce, the lightning all around, and we (along with 3 other teams) took shelter under a very small metal covering in the middle of the course - about 60 yards from the tall electric towers that ran through areas of the course. We were lucky - we just got wet. About 5 minutes in to the hiding we heard massive amounts of emergency vehicles. Same day the Dallas Cowboys practice facility blew down - the same time - as we found out a little later. We were about 4 miles away. I'm glad it was a church scramble.....

[Mr blue]

Scotland, not OLD Course , but same complex started out in sideways rain, full rainsuit on finished in short sleeve shirt sun was out and actually warm( well for Scotland anyway). Had rain suit on and off 3 times.

[Fourteen]

Played the Ocean course at Half Moon Bay in February several years ago. 50mph gusts and showers off and on throughout the round. Drivers into the gusts were literally going 100 yards tops. Thankfully there weren't many holes dead into the wind but it did make for some interesting scores. The best part was when we went to leave we realized that we had a flat. Awesome...

[fussternut]

basic gist of it is, I was with a friend at our local (sort of ) par 3 course. I believe it was in between december or february and the temperature was in the mid teens with probably a wind of about 15+ mph. The bridges were frozen over. I had 7 shirts on (and one was UA coldgear). the greens were like a sidewalk (in terms of bounce). And i had 3 pairs of pants on (long johns, regular trousers and wind pants). Had it not been for my skullcap, my hand warmers, and my FJ winter gloves, I would not have been able to play. I don't remember what i shot, but I can tell you this: it was one of my more enjoyable experiences on the golf course. Also, i played with that same friend at another time during that season and it started snowing on us. nevertheless, I had to break out the umbrella, the greens were impossible (extremely bouncy and slow as molasses) and I had to use a colored ball. Again, very fun. I've also played at night (without any flashlights or special balls) and in mildly heavy rain.

[Big A HG]

A tornado warning awhile back in high school....didn't even know it was a tornado warning until a couple of guys' phones kept ringing with their moms calling to see if they were ok. The hail, winds, rain, and lightning should have been our first clue.

[scotto69]

I live in Northern California so it only gets so bad...I played last Christmas and it was raining hard with winds up to 40 and I had a blast.

 

Some of your stories sound actually scary though...sand in my face, lightning, hail means I'm chilling indoors with a beverage.

 

Bouncing balls off ponds onto greens sounds fun but didn't think they would let you out if the grass is that frozen for fears of damaging the greens.

 

I wonder how hard the wind would have to blow for a flopped lob wedge to actually land behind you?

[FightingScot93]

I have played a round at twilight after a good rain and the lower parts of the course were covered in ground fog. If you live in farm country you know what I mean. If you hit a ball into it you had to look pretty hard to find it.

[Ken Harris]

Southern New Jersey in a tournament! 40 degrees, 30-mph winds, rain out of a movie for 14 holes! Won the tournament with an 80 or 82 don't remember. I Love playing in the rain so many other people just quit mentally. I think 20 guys quit after 3 holes, 3 guys didn't even play and lost their money for the round.

 

How do you break 100.

 

1. Don't expect much

2. Don't try to be a hero

 

I just hit two shots close to the green and got up and down alot. When the green is that wet you can chip the ball right to the flag and hit your putt hard and take out the break. Plus when the weather broke for 4 holes I got 3 birdies. (Luck!!!)

[bubba_mulligan]

Walked 18 in 105 degree heat at a desert links course. 10 foot rattlesnake was dead on 16 from the heat.