WHEN winter arrives, the majority of golfers pack their clubs away until the weather improves, and for good reason.
The main underlying issue with playing golf in the winter is how drastically the weather affects play.
Golf is a sport that relies heavily on the conditions to be playable, during the ‘golf winter’ months of October to April, there’s no doubt the number of active golfers decreases.
The problems a golf course can face during this period are:
- The fairway is turned into a more ‘green – like’ surface, due to the grass being ruined by a mix of rain, and golfers tearing up the grass with their shoes, so the green keepers are forced to mow the grass into a temporary putting green.
- The bunkers fill up with rain water, turning it into a mud bunker rather than sand.
- The course as a whole is wet, slippery and difficult to play on.
The Municipal Golf Course in Southampton has attempted to adapt to the new winter ruling.
They’ve done this by adding astro turf mats to replace the tee – off boxes, in order to protect the grass from being ruined.
Students Ben Brees, Ed Groves, and James Mann tried and tested the Municipal Course, to see how difficult golf is in the winter.
See the video to find out more.
