Resetting when the courses never close
Sand in the grooves, heat in the car boot, and the three weeks off that Australian golfers almost never take.
Australian courses do not close, which means Australian golfers rarely stop and reset. Doing it deliberately, at whatever point your golf goes quiet, protects the equipment, keeps the handicap honest and makes the next busy stretch considerably better.
Clean everything, and mean it
Sand is the enemy here. Sandbelt bunkers and coastal courses put fine sand into every groove and ferrule, and it stays there. Wash the heads in warm soapy water with a brush, dry them properly and wipe the shafts. Grips get washed too: most of what makes a grip slick is dirt and sunscreen rather than wear.
Heat destroys more equipment than cold
A bag left in a car boot through a summer week reaches temperatures that soften epoxy, harden grips and ruin glove leather. Store clubs inside the house, not in the garage and never in the car. Take the balls out as well: heat does the covers no good.
Fix the things you noticed in February
Everybody finishes a busy stretch knowing about a wedge with grooves worn flat by bunker sand, a grip that turned and a gap in the bag. The quiet months are when workshops have time and last season’s stock is discounted. A fitting in winter costs less and takes less time than one in October.
The handicap and the record
Submit every card you were meant to submit, including the bad ones and the nine-hole rounds. A GolfLink handicap that reflects a full season will not embarrass you in a spring competition. If you keep statistics, total them now: fairways, greens, three-putts, up-and-downs and penalty strokes across a season point at the work to do.
Rest is part of the plan
Three or four weeks with no golf is not lost time, and in a country where you can play every week of the year it is the part most golfers skip. Anything that has been aching stops aching, and enthusiasm recovers.
Then choose one thing
Not four. One. A grip change, a putting stroke, a wedge distance chart, or getting properly fit before the summer. Whatever it is has the quiet months to become normal, which is the biggest advantage an off-season offers and the one almost nobody uses deliberately.
The reset list
- Clean heads, shafts and grips; get the sand out of the grooves.
- Store clubs and balls inside the house, never in a car.
- Book the regrip, the wedge or the fitting in the quiet months.
- Submit every card and total the season’s statistics.
- Take three weeks off, then pick one thing to work on.
The next season starts in the fortnight after you decide the last one is over.
