Think Your Golf Season Is Over? Why Your Best Round Is Still To Come This Autumn

In many parts of the world, including here in the UK, we enjoyed a summer of marvellous sunshine, months of dry weather and very little rain. While it was wonderful to play golf in a t-shirt, the dry course conditions widespread across the country made scoring extremely challenging.

Yet those who took advantage of the longer, lighter days by going out to practise late in the evening when the air temperature had cooled will have improved their skills over the summer. And now’s the time to reap the rewards of your hard work. With the colourful autumn leaves falling comes a change to the course conditions that is very advantageous to scoring.

Those firm summer fairways have softened, the greens that were super fast are more receptive. Its target golf now and although daylight hours are shorter the temperature is still mild enough to wear a t-shirt with maybe just a gilet or lightweight jumper so that you can still swing freely.

In my opinion, autumn offers the ideal conditions to shoot low scores. Analysing the scoring average from my handicap record shows a trend that doesn’t surprise me at all. I always shoot my lowest scores of the year in September, October and sometimes well into November. I play better golf now than in any other season of the year.

As a low single-figure handicapper, the autumn conditions suit my style of play. The accuracy of my approach shots is the biggest strength of my game. I tend to hit my irons with pinpoint precision next to the flag. I know my carry distance numbers accurately and when the greens are soft the ball spins and stops quickly so I get my club selection spot-on.

My putting average also improves. The greens have a little more grass growth so they are also usually running at a more manageable speed on the stimpmeter. The difference means that I can be more aggressive and attack putts that I would have lagged with caution on lightning fast greens in the summer. When the greens are slower, a miss simply means that the ball rolls just a few inches past the hole, leaving a make-able length return.

Shorter hitters may argue that they’ve lost the advantage of the firm fairway run out on the ball. It’s certainly true that higher handicappers can come in with remarkably good scores in the summer because if they hit the ball straight it can run a long way, but in my opinion, finding fairways off the tee is just as beneficial as an extra ten or twenty yards of run.

In fact, I played several courses this summer where the fairways were so firm, fast and links-like that the ball only stopped when it hit the rough. Good drives were punished for landing on the fairway. It’s one of the cruelest elements of summer golf.

A few weeks into autumn and courses have returned to lush green, allowing tee shots struck down the middle to stay on the short grass once again. Find more fairways and you’ll set up many more chances to hit every green in regulation, along with eliminating horror high scores from accidental bad bounces that led to lost balls in the summer.

The other big advantage of the autumn is that courses bring preferred lies into play. From October 1st until the end of March (sometimes later) the Rules of Golf permit you to lift and clean your golf ball from closely mown grass and replace it on a nice lie within six inches of that spot, no nearer the hole. You can effectively and legally use the rules to make the game easier. Choose your lie wisely and it can feel like cheating!

Fairway woods are far easier to sweep away when the ball is sat on a nice lush patch of grass than a tightly mown fairway or bare lie. Striking irons off softer grass is also easier. Cleaning the golf ball will ensure that it flies aerodynamically, so you’ll maximise your chances of hitting the ball with precision.

Conversely, think of how often the ball rolls out into a bad lie in the summer, something punishing like a divot in the middle of the fairway (the one remaining unchanged Rule of Golf I think is totally unfair). We have to take these bad breaks on the chin in the summer, it’s just tough luck.

On a crisp autumn morning you’ll often find tracks on the greens left behind from the ball roll of previous golfers putting through the dew. This gives you a great green reading advantage as you can see the break of previous attempts at holing a similar putt.

Although the days are shorter, sunlight isn’t as bright, so you’re less likely to struggle to see the ball. The heat isn’t so oppressive either. I saw many golfers walk in on really hot days this year, struggling for energy in the heat, suffering from exhaustion and dehydration. The cooler autumn temperatures put us in a peak physical state for playing well. Our bodies are more equipped to cope in mild weather than extremes. We feel fitter and more agile in the autumn.

I mentioned this to a medical friend and she added that our natural circadian rhythm is calmer at this time of year, as our bodies prepare to rest and slow down - like preparing to go into hibernation! So we play at a slower pace. You may not notice it but approaching the course with a calm mentality can encourage a more fluid, rhythmical swing.

In the summer there can be so many distractions, family commitments, holidays and other thoughts going on in your mind when you arrive at the golf course. Not conducive to a calm and ready to play state. I know that I juggle many different responsibilities as a parent in the school holidays. When the kids go back, golf becomes my ‘me time’ again, a weekly escape from the pressures of daily life and it’s far more enjoyable.

As cooler temperatures arrive, the grass doesn’t grow as thick so you get shorter rough. The brutal long grass we had to endure throughout the summer months has long gone. Greenkeepers tend to cut the grass down and give it an autumn hair cut. Shaving it short makes it both easier to find your ball in the first place (and quicker) plus much easier to hit the recovery shot back out into play. Win-win.

Many courses revert to playing competitions off forward tees as the nights draw in to encourage a quicker play and allow more golfers to get round in daylight. Greenkeepers also position tee markers forward of the blocks to protect the teeing grounds, give the grass a rest and make the game more enjoyable for the vast majority of players. Shaving 10 yards or more off every hole can really add up. Any distance you’ve lost in run-out on soft fairways is made up here. In a similar way you’ll see a lot more friendly pin positions in winter. Front pins also protect the greens.

If you are a lower handicapper your chances of winning are higher at this time of year, especially if you are one of the longer hitters who carries the ball further than other players, you don’t rely on those extra yards of run out.

In my experience, competition fields tend to be smaller as the ‘fair weather golfers’ drop out on rainy days, only a handful of hardcore players will go out and mark a card in bad weather. Less opponents means that the chances of winning increases. Playing well in bad conditions increases your chances of getting a handicap cut when others struggle and score badly, affecting the course index for the day.

Along with the colourful trees it’s actually the thing I love the most about autumn golf - the courses are just a bit quieter and some days I even get to play when no one else is out there. Pure bliss.