As golfers, we’ve all been there watching our well-struck shots fall short on chilly mornings or marveling at the extra yards we pick up in the summer heat. But have you ever stopped to think about why temperature impacts your golf ball’s performance? Let’s break it down with some technical insights, an equation to estimate […]
As golfers, we’ve all been there watching our well-struck shots fall short on chilly mornings or marveling at the extra yards we pick up in the summer heat. But have you ever stopped to think about why temperature impacts your golf ball’s performance? Let’s break it down with some technical insights, an equation to estimate yardage changes, and a handy chart to guide your game.
The Science Behind Temperature and Golf Ball Distance
The colder the air, the denser it becomes. This increased air density creates more drag on the golf ball, slowing it down and reducing its carry distance. In contrast, warm air is less dense, reducing drag and allowing the ball to fly farther.
Golf balls are designed to compress at impact, storing and releasing energy. In cold temperatures, the materials in the ball stiffen, reducing its ability to compress. This leads to less energy transfer and shorter distances. In warmer temperatures, the ball stays softer, maximizing energy transfer and distance.
Cold weather can also impact your body, reducing flexibility and swing speed. Combine this with softer, wetter course conditions (common in cold weather), and you’re looking at a noticeable drop in yardage. On the flip side, warm weather often means harder fairways, adding extra roll to your shots.
How Temperature Affects Different Clubs
The temperature’s effect on distance varies depending on the club you’re using. Different clubs generate different ball speeds, spin rates, and trajectories, all of which affect how temperature impacts your game:
Calculating the Impact of Temperature on Distance
To estimate how much temperature affects your shot distance, you can use the following equation:
Where:
Practical Example
Let’s say you’re playing in 50°F weather instead of the ideal 75°F with your driver:
For mid-irons, this might drop to around 4 yards lost, while wedges would see about 2 yards lost. Knowing this helps you better plan your club selection.
Temperature and Distance Chart by Club
Here’s a reference chart showing distance changes for drivers, mid-irons, and wedges:
How to Adapt Your Game to Temperature Changes
Final Thoughts
Temperature plays a bigger role in your golf game than you might think. Understanding its impact can help you make smarter decisions on the course, adjust your club selection, and even choose the right ball for the conditions. Whether it’s a frosty morning or a blazing summer afternoon, knowing how temperature affects your shots—and which clubs are most impacted—can be the difference between a missed green and a birdie opportunity.
Use the equation and chart above to fine-tune your strategy and enjoy consistent performance all year round!
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Skill in its simple form is the ability to do something well. As someone on the quest to get better at golf hopefully it would make sense that we need to increase our skill to play well, or better, or even our best. Golf Technique is important, massively so. Swing mechanics, our backswing, address […]
Skill in its simple form is the ability to do something well. As someone on the quest to get better at golf hopefully it would make sense that we need to increase our skill to play well, or better, or even our best.
Golf Technique is important, massively so. Swing mechanics, our backswing, address positions, however you want to term the technique of the golf swing it matter tremendously to our task. Those that say that swing mechanics don’t matter are biased beyond consult. However, to throw them a bone, swing mechanics are not the full story and that is where skill fits in.
Golf swing movements are not intuitive or naturally given, they are learned over time. Sometime through the aid of coaching, sometimes by simply trial and error, or any other means you may think of. In this process of learning we develop an awareness of sorts around the implement we are swinging. Various way of describing this process have come about and this is where we get the traditional rules of say 10,000 hours or 10 years (to name a few) to form a habit.
Why change Technique? If the skill cannot be achieved from the current method of swinging, change the technique. Ex. A player is hitting the ground on average 2-3” behind the ball with a path that is nine degrees right and FTP numbers of negative six degrees. No matter how much they practice this golfer cannot do anything but hit behind the ball, and of they do manage to elevate the club enough to hit the ball, it goes left. This could be a great opportunity to make a technique change that would enable the golfer to
To the point, if we make a technique change, we may need to develop new skills surrounding the movement of the golf club. If skill becomes confusing to think about, simply replace it with the word human. We need to find a human way of moving/ orienting this golf club from our new technique situation. That is where we start as golfers figuring things out with the golf club. For all intents and purposes the skills being described in the video below are simply trial and error exercises for us to start conducting on ourselves as we practice. In the end developing the skill.
Now we can make an argument that there are hundreds of individual skills in the game, but this video is just going to focus on those in and around the clubhead. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Ellermont Automatic Ball Return Golf Net
