yardage loss

golfernut78 · November 16, 2006

dallas-ft. worth, texas vs. charleston, south carolina

i'm on vacation in charleston and playing some of the worst golf of my life (was having problems drawing the ball, and in attempt to fix that i've started shanking the ball). my driving has been solid and accuracy has been up, but i've lost a ton of yards. i was averaging 250-275 in dfw, with 230-250 carry. in charleston i'm averaging 220-250 with a 215-235 carry. now there is only 600' elevation difference so can the difference in humidity make this much of a difference? i've got yardage loss with my irons and woods, but not as noticable as the driver. is my swing off that much or is there that much of a difference for location? i don't remember a distance like this in previous visits, but i've only recently been hitting the ball as long as i do.

taylormadefan · November 16, 2006

Could be a possible temperature difference? Cold weather typically results in reduced carry distances and I know you Dallas guys were having temperatures in the 80's until just a couple of days ago.

It could also be that you're just not striking the ball as solidly, heck it happens to the best. Or it could be a wicked combination of temperature, elevation, and ball striking which has contributed to the reduced distances.

momad · November 17, 2006

Finally someone else with the same problem as me. I do not know what to attribute this too, but I experience the same thing. I live in Portland Texas just outside Corpus Christi and sometimes I have to travel for work. Right now I am in Va and spent a few days in Ga playing golf with a friend. The first thing I notice is that I am a club to a club and a half shorter here than I am at home. I am a pretty decent golfer and strike the ball pretty consistantly my last four round between Ga and Va were 75, 78, 76, and 70. The only thing I can think of is the cold air. I have spent sometime here in the summer before and I have never had any distance loss during those months.

CowtownTexas · November 20, 2006

Maybe it's temperature, but I'm not sure. I went to Kiawah last April and much better there than I was in Fort Worth at the time. For me, I think it's just that I'm so relaxed when on vacation that golf becomes much easier. Didn't see any difference in distance though and temperatures were about the same here and there at that time of year.

seasuks · November 23, 2006

I think I read somewhere that for every ten degrees in temp drop, it's equivalent to 3-6 yards in distance loss. I live in Columbia, SC and the difference between the summer and the winter (about forty degrees) is a club or club and a half (12-18 yards).

Steve_FLA · November 24, 2006

Try moving to FL.. I used to live in MA at and played courses at 500' - 1000' elevation. Living in FL and I am at 60' elevation. I noticed a big difference in how far I hit a ball (one club length). And to make it worse the courses are just as long, if not longer than the courses I played in MA. But the positive is I just got done playing golf this morning under 75* sunny skies.

-Steve

conan007 · November 29, 2006

The colder it is, the less humidity exists in the air. Humidity allows for the ball to travel farther by increasing the spin, or kick in the air of the ball. also the compression of the ball decreases as you go to lower temps. my advice is to keep the balls warm by keeping in your pocket. this could have dramatic effects compared to just leaving them on the bag where it is a lot colder. Finding a ball with more spin can also help you get back some distance. Now, this is practical theory that I studied some time ago in school (fluid mechanics). I would be interested to find out if this is really true, but I am 99.9% sure, that by the experiments that I have conducted with other objects in wind tunnels, or else my advice will help. Let me know if it helps.

golfernut78 · November 29, 2006

as a follow up on this, as time went on, i got some of my distance back, but the driver was still lacking. i've since returned to the dfw and the distances are more what i expected. temperature, i really don't think there is a difference, but what i did consider is that at home in dfw, my golf bag sits in my living room of my apartment were in charleston my bag sat in the garage so there probably was a temperature factor there.

i'm not sure i follow on the humidity allowing the ball to travel further. wouldn't the air be thicker with humidity, causing more resistence?

conan007 · November 30, 2006

consider humidity to allow for the dimples to to grab on it. the less there is, the less the effect of the dimples will happen. The density of the air can vary drastically for the amount of spin someone can put on a golf ball. In a study I did on a wind tunnel just a few months back, for velocities for as low as 100 mph the humidity is important to take into consideration. I don't want to get into technical detail but you could a little more research about if if you would choose. I the mean time, I'll probably do some research myself to clarify some of this within a week, or so if ya'll can wait. Let me know what you thing.

golfebj · November 30, 2006

Not to throw random examples out but consider air density. I grew up about 60 miles N of Charleston and whenever we went down to visit my aunt who was in the Navy I hated how thick the air was.