Fall foliage in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic can be spectacular. However, cool and damp days can change the way venues play in October and Novembre. Venues that were fast and firm in summer can now feel mushy and soft. Golfers no longer have to worry about heat and humidity. Instead, they must deal with cold conditions, morning fog that can last for hours, and a mushy, soft turf that will never dry out.
Wet conditions make it easier to drive the fairway, as drives tend to stop quicker after landing.
Moisture can be a problem for your short game.
Imagine the grooves on your wedges to be tires, and your golf ball as the road. You can control your car when the road and tires are both dry. If the road is slick and your tires are unable to handle the amount of water, your car will skid.
When the conditions are dry, your wedges’ grooves can produce a lot of spin and enhance your control and stopping power. When the grass, ball, or wedge face is wet the grooves cannot grab the ball so efficiently. The ball slides up the wedge face at impact. This results in a shot with a much higher launch angle, but less spin. It is less predictable and less controllable.
Wedges don’t produce the same amount of spin or grip when the golf ball and grass are wet. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Greg Cesario is a wedge designer for TaylorMade. He noted that turf interaction under damp conditions was also important.
Cesario explained that golfers should learn to “pick” the ball to minimize the impact with the ground and keep the ball as low on the face as possible. This will prevent the dreaded “climb up the Face” shot without spin .”
Roger Cleveland, Callaway’s chief designer, and a long-time expert in wedges, says, “It all depends on your shot. Whether you’re in the rough or fairway, the ground is much more resistant when wet.” You need enough bounce so that the club can move through the soil without digging .”
Jacob Clarke is a Ping design engineer who specializes in wedges. He echoes Cesario, Cleveland, and other designers.
Clarke stated that “when it’s raining, the friction changes on the face and the spin optimization is different, there’s absolutely no doubt about this.” Clarke said that golfers who are proficient often compensate for wet conditions by moving their stance further back and using a steeper stroke to make sure the ball makes contact first.
Dan Grieve, head professional at Woburn Golf Club, England, has produced a fantastic YouTube video that explains how to hit short game shots in wet and soft conditions.
Golf club manufacturers are always looking for ways to remove water, grass, and debris from the face of their clubs to help golfers maintain spin. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
You can now understand why equipment manufacturers spend a lot of time and money researching the different types and treatments for surface roughening and microgrooves. It is relatively easy to generate spin in dry conditions with a 60-degree or 56-degree wedge from a fairway, but it is difficult to maintain high spin rates on wet fairways and rough. In wet conditions, any feature or technology which can minimize spin loss or channel water away from the hitting surface will give you more control.
When it comes to equipment, you should keep in mind a few important things when playing in cool, damp conditions:
1. You should always have new grooves on your wedges if you play frequently (three to four times per month). If they are older than two years, the grooves won’t produce enough spin when playing on wet surfaces. If you’re looking to extend your season, but have old wedges then invest in some new ones.
2. When moisture is present in bunkers, high-bounced wedges may skip over the sand, making solid contact difficult. Low-bounce wedges will dig into damp fairways and rough. You can give yourself more options by having your sand and lob wedges bounce differently. One should be a low-bounce and the other high-bounce. Choose whichever combination you prefer, but make sure to give yourself choices.
3. Use a wedge with less loft. This may seem counterintuitive but Clarke says that a wedge with less loft can generate more spin for greenside pitches in wet conditions. Why? A club with a loft of 50 or 52 degrees will allow the ball to slide down the face more easily, allowing the grooves to grab the ball better. The gap-wedge shot will have a lower trajectory but, with the retained spin on the green and the softness of the surface, it can be a good option.
Here are some excellent wedges that you can find in the pro shop and which have been designed to help golfers better handle soft and wet conditions.
