Playing in wind and rain: club selection and shot shapes
Dry hands, two more clubs into the wind, and aiming into a crosswind instead of fighting it.
Wind and rain are not exceptional conditions in Canada, they are half the season. The golfers who score in them are not tougher; they have made three adjustments the others have not. Here they are.
Keep your hands dry
The connection between hand and grip is the single point of failure in wet golf. Carry two spare gloves in a sealed bag, or rain gloves, which grip better wet than dry. Keep one towel inside the bag, dry, and one outside for the club face.
The umbrella is for the bag, not for you. Park it over the clubs between shots and the grips stay usable.
Into the wind: more club, easier swing
Swinging harder into wind adds spin, spin makes the ball climb, and a climbing ball into wind falls short. Take two more clubs, grip down slightly, and swing at three-quarter effort with the ball a fraction back in the stance.
Downwind, the ball flies further and stops less. Land it short of the target and let it run.
Crosswind: aim into it, do not fight it
The instinct is to hold the ball against a crosswind, which requires a shot most amateurs cannot repeat. Aim into the wind and let it bring the ball back, accepting a twenty-yard window rather than a precise target.
On exposed Canadian courses, especially on the prairies and the coasts, this single adjustment saves more shots than any swing change.
What rain does to the ball
A drive that normally finishes 240 yards out stops where it lands on a soaked fairway.
Wet fairways mean no run, so you are playing a longer course than the card says. Water between face and ball reduces spin on full shots, so approaches fly further and land hotter, then stop dead in soft greens.
The net result is that distance control gets harder in both directions. Aim for the middle of the green and take two putts.
Club selection off wet ground
The ball sits down on a wet fairway, which makes long irons and fairway woods difficult and hybrids easy. Take one more club and swing at eighty per cent: a clean strike from a wet lie beats a full swing that catches turf first.
Around the greens the ground game stops working, so pitch to the flag rather than landing short and hoping for release.
The mental half
Everyone in the group has the same weather. Adjust the target rather than the effort: on a wet, windy round, playing to your handicap is a good day. Play for the middle of greens, accept bogeys, and let the others chase.
When to stop
Standing water on greens, lightning within earshot, or a course lifting and placing are signals rather than challenges. Ring the pro shop before driving over on a bad morning; a course playable at nine can be under water by eleven.
The kit that earns its place
- Rain gloves, or two spare gloves sealed in a bag.
- Two towels, one kept dry inside the bag.
- Waterproofs you can actually swing in, tested before the day.
- A bag hood, and spikes with grip left in them.
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