Extreme distance variance with heat?

[Justsomeguy]

Played at my usual muni today. South Louisiana. Temps technically high 90s, but the "feels like" temp is more like 110. For reference, I only lasted a few holes before I said no more.

But there's a short par 5 I play that's around 500 yards. I hit a good but not great drive, and then hit a 5 wood to the apron.

Pretty unexpected. The ball flew over 200 yards more like 210, which is not my usual 5 wood. Usual 5 wood is more like 180-185.

It was a super clean strike, planned baby fade, couldn't have hit it better, so didn't leave anything on the table.

Question - do other see that kind of variability in really hot conditions? I know cold can shave 10-15 yards off the driver, but is it crazy to gain 10-15 percent in really hot weather??

[Chunkitgood]

Hot air and humid air are less dense.

 

And hot balls go farther.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Chunkitgood

[Justsomeguy]

1 minute ago, Chunkitgood said:

Hot air and humid air are less dense.

 

And hot balls go farther.

Absolutely. But ... Does that seem like a lot to anyone else?

[Sean124]

@ThinkingPlus has good answers for this stuff 

[nikeblades00]

Sometimes more wind than you think.

[ThinkingPlus]

12 minutes ago, Sean124 said:

@ThinkingPlus has good answers for this stuff 

Just stuff I found on the internet that seems to work for me, but thanks for the recommendation. 

 

@Justsomeguy I compensate for temperature using the 2.5 yards per 10° F delta relative to your stock yardage temperature.  I know my stock yardages at roughly 80° F. So if it was 100° F (basically all summer here) then I would expect 5 more yards than normal per shot. If it was 50° F, then I would lose 7.5 yards vs. stock yardages.

 

You had heat plus humidity so that would boost distance a little more, but IMO not enough to account for the extra distance you saw. Just a really good swing.

[Justsomeguy]

1 hour ago, ThinkingPlus said:

Just stuff I found on the internet that seems to work for me, but thanks for the recommendation. 

 

@Justsomeguy I compensate for temperature using the 2.5 yards per 10° F delta relative to your stock yardage temperature.  I know my stock yardages at roughly 80° F. So if it was 100° F (basically all summer here) then I would expect 5 more yards than normal per shot. If it was 50° F, then I would lose 7.5 yards vs. stock yardages.

 

You had heat plus humidity so that would boost distance a little more, but IMO not enough to account for the extra distance you saw. Just a really good swing.

Thank you. I was pretty well rested and hit them about as good as I can, but this seemed like an anomaly.

Wish every day could go like that!

[Sean124]

5 minutes ago, Justsomeguy said:

Thank you. I was pretty well rested and hit them about as good as I can, but this seemed like an anomaly.

Wish every day could go like that!

Sometimes you just smoke one!

[phizzy30]

I live in LA county and it's been in the mid to high 90's lately and humidity has been formidable.  I've seen 10-15 yard increase in carry distance with driver and maybe 5-8 yards with irons.  I'm going down to Palm Springs in less than 2 weeks where it's gonna be 110-120 but it will be dry.  I normally see 10-20 yard increase in carry distance with all clubs down there.  Extreme heat and elevation definitely come into play in the Coachella Valley area.   

Edited July 22, 2023 by phizzy30