How many of you fellow golfers would tee it up in the rain? You don’t play during rainy season? On Tour we have to play in the rain until the greens are unputtable or the fairways are underwater. We get wet! How do we play to the best of our ability in the rain?
We don’t wear our leather footjoys, but a good waterproof pair of shoes and of course our rain suit. I always like to carry two umbrellas so the caddy could have one and I could walk alone under my own. Under my brolli I hang a dry towel and my wet gloves to dry. I also take my glove off after each shot and hang it under my umbrella. Yes, I always carry a few all-weather gloves for these days when wet leather ones became useless. Naturally I have several dry towels and in a plastic bag many extra gloves– even old dry practice gloves are better than wet new ones. Save your old gloves for a rainy day.
Another reason I use cord or half-cord grips on my woods and long irons is for less slippage with full power during wet conditions. In practice though, they will hurt the office hands, but make the strong ones stronger.
The chip ‘n’ runs don’t work well when the greens are wet, so use the sand wedge and pitch the ball straight to the hole. Wet fairways cause a lot of ‘fat shots’, as the ground is softer a slight miss-hit will send the club deeper into the turf. Avoid this by standing slighter further away from the ball at address.
Casual water allows you a free drop. Your ball lies in casual water or when you take your stance and you see water = free drop to the nearest dry area and no closer to the hole. However you can’t stand on one leg and jump up and down to draw the water out! In a sand bunker the same thing applies, but you must drop your ball in the bunker at the nearest dry area no closer to the hole.
When your ball lies on the green and there is water visible on the line of your putt you are allowed to move it an equal distance from the hole to a dry portion of the green.
I seem to outplay 80% of fellow professionals in the rain because I am prepared, but mainly because I focus better, becoming more deleiberate. I get wet yes, but I have never been one to get depressed because it’s raining. I hope that some of these wet weather tips and rules will help you on the course in the coming rainy season.