Wet-weather golf: how to play, and enjoy, a round in the rain
Dry hands, one more club and a target adjusted to the conditions: the wet round costs two shots, not eight.
Rain does not cost you shots. Being unprepared does. A properly equipped, methodical golfer loses two or three shots on a wet round; one who discovers at the third hole that his grips are slipping loses eight. Here is what matters, in order.
Keep your hands dry, everything follows
The single point of failure in wet golf is the connection between hand and grip. Carry two spare gloves in a sealed bag, or a pair of rain gloves, which grip better wet than dry. Keep one towel inside the bag, dry, and one on the outside for the club face. The outside towel will be soaked by the sixth hole; the inside one is the one that saves the round.
An umbrella is not for you, it is for the bag. Park it over the clubs between shots and your grips stay usable.
What the ball does in the wet
Wet fairways mean no run: a drive that normally finishes 240 yards out stops at its landing point, your drive stops where it lands, so you are playing a longer course than the card says. Take that into account before you reach for a club you cannot hit off a soft lie.
Water between the face and the ball reduces spin on full shots, so approaches fly further and land hotter than expected, then stop dead in soft greens. The net effect is that distance control gets harder in both directions. Aim for the middle of the green and take the two-putt.
Club selection changes
Off a wet fairway, the ball sits down. Long irons and fairway woods become difficult, hybrids become easy. Take one more club than the yardage suggests and swing at eighty per cent: a controlled strike out of a wet lie beats a full swing that catches turf first.
Around the greens, the ground game stops working. Wet approaches check rather than run, so pitch to the flag rather than landing short and hoping.
Kit that earns its place
Waterproofs you can actually swing in, tested before the day rather than in the car park. Spikes with grip left in them: worn soles on wet slopes are how people fall over. A bag hood, or at minimum a plastic bag over the clubs. And a hat with a brim, which keeps rain off your glasses and out of your eyes better than any hood.
The mental half
Everyone in the group is playing the same weather. The player who complains from the second hole plays worse than the one who accepts it, and this is measurable in scores rather than mystical.
Adjust your target: on a wet round, level with your handicap is a good day and anything better is a story. Play for the middle of greens, take bogey when it is offered, and let the others chase.
When to stop
Standing water on the greens, lightning within earshot, or a course that has closed the buggies and is asking you to lift and place: those are signals, not challenges. Ring the pro shop before you drive over on a bad morning, because a course that is playable at nine may be under water by eleven.
Where to get the kit
- American Golf: 94 stores across the UK and Ireland, waterproofs, rain gloves, umbrellas and bag hoods.
- Your club professional, who will have rain gloves in stock on exactly the day you need them and can dry-fit waterproofs so you can swing in them.
- Golfbidder for a spare bag or a second-hand carry bag to keep as a wet-weather setup.
Panxis Golf has no commercial relationship with these retailers and earns nothing from your purchases.
