Closing the season: an hour that saves your spring

The last round of the season is usually played and forgotten. An hour of work in the fortnight afterwards protects the equipment, keeps the handicap honest and makes the following spring considerably shorter.

Clean everything before it goes away

Wet grass, sand and mud left on clubheads over a winter corrode ferrules and pit grooves. 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 an old grip slick is dirt rather than wear, and a scrub with warm water buys another season.

Store the bag somewhere the temperature does not swing

An unheated garage or a car trunk takes clubs through repeated freezing and thawing, which is hard on epoxy and harder on grips and glove leather. Inside the house is better. Take the balls out too, because a season in a freezing garage does the covers no good.

Fix the things you noticed in August

Everyone finishes the season knowing about a wedge with dead grooves, a grip that turned, a driver they never trusted and a gap in the bag. The off-season is when a workshop has time and last season’s stock is discounted. Booking a fitting in November costs less and takes less time than booking one in April.

The handicap and the record

Post every score you were supposed to post before the season closes, including the bad ones and the nine-hole rounds. A handicap that reflects a full season is a handicap that will not embarrass you in a spring competition. If you keep statistics, this is the moment to add them up: fairways, greens, three-putts, up-and-downs and penalty strokes across a whole season point at the practice plan for the winter.

Rest is part of the plan

Three or four weeks with no golf at all is not lost time. Anything that has been aching stops aching, and enthusiasm recovers, which matters more than most training plans. Golfers who play through the off-season without a break tend to arrive in spring flat.

Then choose one thing for the winter

Not four. One. A grip change, a putting stroke, a wedge distance chart, or getting genuinely fit through the winter. Whatever it is, it has four months to become normal, which is the single biggest advantage the off-season offers and the one almost nobody uses deliberately.

The end-of-season list

• Clean heads, shafts and grips; dry them properly.
• Store clubs and balls indoors, not in the garage.
• Book the regrip, the wedge or the fitting now, at off-season prices.
• Post every score and total the season’s statistics.
• Take three weeks off, then pick one thing to work on.

The season starts in the two weeks after the last round, not on the first warm day in spring.