7 Shots That Will Save Your Game This Winter!

7 Shots That Will Save Your Game This Winter! 

Winter golf comes with its own unique challenges. As golf courses get wetter, fairways usually take distance off drives, bunkers often become more compact, and greens tend to get slower, therefore it's important we adapt our game in the right areas to keep playing at our best.

Here, I'm going to detail seven key shots you need in your armory to save your game this winter. We'll cover everything from identifying certain lies, how to strike the ball in wet conditions, and how to get your putting pace right on slower greens. Work on getting these techniques right, and I'm sure it will save your game in some vital situations this winter. 

WATCH: Adam Harnett talks through seven vital golf shots you need to have in your armoury this winter 

Hitting from different lies

One of the biggest mistakes club golfers make in the winter is not assessing the lie. Often, amateurs get a yardage, pull a club and then hit the shot, without even judging how the ball is sitting. You’ll never see a good player not have a good look before they hit their shot – so this is lesson number one.

Faced with a bare lie, perhaps where it’s also wet and muddy, amateurs will often try and help the ball into the air, because they’re so fearful of hitting the ground first and fatting it. In this situation, the radius of the swing shortens, which tends to lead to thin strikes and tops. Another common fault is leaning onto the back foot, again in an attempt to get the ball up. To ensure that you get a clean strike, make sure that you’re moving forward aggressively onto the front foot.

Using hybrids and fairway woods

When the air is cool and the fairways are soft, the course is going to play longer. If you don’t feel so comfortable hitting long irons, try using a hybrid or fairway wood. Because of their wider, flatter soles, they can glide through the ground a lot easier than a long iron. So, put the long irons away and give the hybrids and fairways an extended trial over the winter. The only adjustment I’d make is to grip down slightly, which will give you a bit more control and take a little distance off.

Quality ball-striking

Now we’re into the scoring zone (approximately 150 yards and in). This is where we can fritter away shots if we’re struggling for a clean strike. There’s a really effective drill I like to encourage students to use on the range and out on the course, which is to simply make a few practice swings with a focus on where you’re going to make contact with the ground. Remember, the strike that we’re looking for is ball then turf. 

Here, I’m making my practice swing and trying to make contact with the ground forwards of the ball. This is going to encourage a downward hit and prevent ‘backing up’ or lifting, which is that attempt to try and scoop the ball off the ground. If you need a stronger visual, try popping a towel down behind the ball. The idea is that you strike the ball without making contact with the towel. I find this exercise helps a lot of golfers to develop a much cleaner strike.

70-yard pitching

If you find yourself fatting wedges from this kind of range, it might be because you’re getting very narrow. I often see this fault, where the club comes in towards the player going back and the shaft gets vertical. From there, the club comes down really steeply. This drill is going to help you get more width. 

Simply take a three-quarter swing. Note that when I take my right hand off the club, I can’t reach my club head. This shows me that my backswing has a nice amount of width. Keep working on this feeling and you’ll soon find yourself picking the ball off the turf using the bounce of the club. In other words, no ‘digging’ with the leading edge into the ground.

Compact bunker shots

With a fluffy lie, the type you get more in the summer, you want to use the bounce of the club. In the winter, the sand is often wet and compact, which makes it easy to bounce off the hard surface into the middle of the ball – and there’s your thin strike. 

For the winter months, I’d encourage you to carry a wedge that has a low bounce, so six or eight degrees. This will help to keep the leading edge down in the sand. In this scenario, we actually want the leading edge to dig a bit. To encourage this, make sure the ball is a little bit more central, and square the face up

Short chips

When the ball is sitting down in the wet rough, we still need a little bit of a downward angle of attack to get to the bottom of the ball. However, we don’t want low bounce at the same time because that’s just going to encourage a dig. With a bit of bounce on the club and a steeper angle, we’ll be able to just ‘pop’ the ball out.

With tight, wet lies we want to use high bounce. I like to get golfers comfortable with hitting the ground and feeling how it interacts with the turf. When you know that it’s not going to dig in, you’ll start to appreciate how the bounce works for you and how it can slide through in wet conditions. 

Long putts 

A common mistake club golfers make on slower, winter greens is to hit at the ball. To be a good, consistent putter we want the club to be moving at a nice constant speed – so no sudden acceleration on the downswing. To combat this, try to be more aware of the length of your stroke. We want the backswing and the downswing to be the same tempo. On the putting green, work on matching up the backswing length with the length of putt that you’re facing.