As the temps begin to lower in most parts of the country and the color of the tree leaves starts to change, many golfers are quick to pack away the golf clubs for the season.
Maybe it’s because they think they can only golf when they can get a sunburned neck. Or maybe they feel they can’t play their best game unless wearing some khaki shorts and sunglasses. Or just maybe they feel that their game has tanked so much over the summer that it is time to call it quits (maybe for the year, maybe for life).
Whatever the reason, many golfers bid their local course adieu before fall, the time of year that many players call the “low shoulder of the golf season.”
But that shouldn’t be you. Instead, you should keep playing in the autumn months to take advantage of the cheaper greens fees, great course conditions and a chance to reflect and prepare for the spring.
Matt Just, Class A PGA Professional for the Life Time Fitness Golf Club in St. Louis Park, MN, said too many golfers are too quick to pack the clubs away in the garage in the fall when there are still plenty of great opportunities to golf and get better.
“Fall golf in any state … is by far the best,” Just said. “The courses are always in really great shape and with the changing leaves it’s really nice to be out there. Plus, they’re less busy; there’s just not as many players out there.”
Just said most golf courses also have fall playing rates where the greens fees are usually cheaper than during the summer. That fact alone is quite interesting because the courses are probably in the best shape they’ll be in all year, Just said.
However, Just said, many golf clubs will aerate their courses in the fall, which usually make the greens a little bumpier. So, golfers should be sure to ask the course staff about the course’s aeration status before setting up a tee time, Just said.
One thing many golfers have to remember about playing in the autumn, Just said, is that it is also easier to lose a golf ball that went into the rough or trees when there are plenty of red, orange and yellow leaves on the ground.
“If you’re playing by the rules of golf, if you lose your golf ball in some leaves, you have to go to your original lie and hit another one,” Just said. “You can’t just drop one down.”
Besides playing to take advantage of better rates and playing conditions, Just said, more golfers should play into the fall months to shorten the offseason and develop a plan for the winter that will help them improve their game.
Just said many golfers fall into the “End of the Golf Season Blues” during the early part of the autumn, usually finding themselves evaluating all their goals they didn’t accomplish and concluding whether they improved from the year before.
Instead, those golfers should develop a plan for getting better in the offseason that is filled with swing practice, instruction, physical fitness training and development of good attitudes and habits, Just said.
“If you don’t develop a plan in the fall and quit playing in the fall, then you’re going to be right back at Square One in the spring when everybody’s all excited,” Just said.
One of the goals players should include in their offseason plans is to find the sweet spot of each club, Just said.
“Find the middle of the clubface in the offseason,” Just said, explaining how golfers should repetitively swing a club in the mirror during the winter to maintain and improve their swing.
“(The middle of the clubface) should be worn out on your golf club and you could do that for 10-minutes a day.”
Just said many players also neglect to take a golf lesson with a certified professional after the summer, usually thinking it won’t help them at that point in the year.
“Just because the summer’s over, doesn’t mean you don’t want to keep taking lessons from a qualified teacher,” Just said.
Ultimately, Just said, when so many golfers are stowing the clubs away, fall is actually the perfect time to get more excited about the sport.
“People are gearing down instead of gearing up,” Just said. “So, take advantage of when everybody else is slowing down. That’s when you need to kick it into the next gear.”
