Hands up who switches golf balls between the summer and winter months? Go on, admit it, the concept hasn’t even crossed your mind. Well, I’m here to tell you why switching from a soft summer ball to a firmer winter ball will do wonders for your scores.
I played golf with a woman last week who had an Aladdin’s cave of golf ball varieties in her bag. Every brand, colour, compression, you name it, came out of her ball pocket. She claimed that she had never bought a new golf ball, as she walks her dog around the course and finds hundreds of balls (actually Buster does!) every year. Most of them end up in her golf bag.
Now while this is a marvellous cost-saver, I was keen to point out to her that at the least, she should sort through her myriad of ball choices and then just leave a dozen or so of the same ball in her bag. I’m not just talking about the same brand, Titleist, Srixon, Callaway etc, I’m talking about the specific ball too – Titleist Pro VI, Callaway Soft Feel, Srixon AD333.
I explained that by playing with any old random golf ball she would never have any control over the distance she hits her shots and the yardage they fly would be inconsistent. To add to that, her touch and feel on the greens and spin control on her approach shots, chips and bunker shots would be dramatically different from ball-to-ball.
Every ball has different spin characteristics and different cover properties, resulting in very different performance and feel. In other words, by not sticking to the same golf brand and model for an entire round of golf she was doing her game (and scores) some serious harm.
Taking this one step further, I’m a big advocate for switching my golf ball between summer and winter months because the conditions are so different. In the summer my golf ball of choice is usually a premium high-spin multi-layered three or four-piece golf ball like a Titleist Pro VI.
These golf balls give me the very best spin control, touch and feel around the greens when the ground is firm and the greens are fast. They are, generally-speaking, the most expensive golf balls to buy, but they really do give a wonderful feel and response. No matter what standard of golfer you are, you will benefit from the improvement in skill control from the added spin and stop a premium golf ball delivers in the summer.
Conversely, come the winter months, these golf balls become less useful. Conditions are very different. The greens are soft and slow, the course plays longer, there is very little run on the ball. There’s no benefit to carrying on playing your super soft, spinning summer golf ball, because you’ll end up leaving every putt, chip and bunker shot short. They are harder to hit on slow greens. You will also need a distance boost on your long game to counteract the cold weather that causes the ball to travel less distance and when the ball lands, it stops, with little to no run.
Carly Cummins uses the Titleist Pro V1 ball during summer months
(Image credit: Future)
In the winter months I switch to playing a firmer feeling, lower compression two-piece golf ball like a Srixon AD333. Firstly, because it fires off the clubface faster, so while the course is playing long, my drives fly just a few yards further in the air to counteract the lack of run-out. Secondly, and most importantly, to help me get the ball closer around the greens. I find a firmer-feeling ‘clickier’ golf ball, with a harder cover, easier to hit to the hole. It stops me from leaving every putt short.
I also don’t want a tonne of spin on my chip shots in the winter. The greens are so soft and slow that the ball already stops dead. Instead, I want something that runs out a little more, so that I’m not having to force a wedge shot to fly further. I can maintain a nice rhythmical short game tempo and I don’t have to force my chip shots (and end up fatting them.)
I play golf with many men who would benefit from making this simple golf ball switchover in the winter months but their ego won’t let them do it. They’re the golf ball snobs who play the Titleist Pro VI all year round because they are good players. Their view of the cheaper 2-piece golf ball is that it’s for hackers. But I’m telling you now, if you change balls when the course conditions change, you will shoot better scores.
Carly Cummins switches to Srixon’s AD333 ball during winter months
(Image credit: Future)
As a point of practice, my editor asked me to prove this by playing two rounds of golf in December on my home course, a few days apart. The first with my winter golf ball of choice (Srixon AD333) and the second with my summer golf ball of choice (Titleist Pro VI).
My scores were dramatically different. To say I found having to use my summer golf ball on the second round frustrating, would be an understatement. It cost me many shots – a gross difference of 10 in fact. My drives were shorter, so I was going into the green from further out. There were a couple of par 4s I can usually reach in two where I came up short. I had to hit one iron more into the par 3s.
The putting was infuriating. No matter how hard I tried, I left every single putt short. The greens were soft and slow. I hate having to ‘hit’ putts. My technique is more of a pendulum action, smoothly, rhythmically rocking the putter to roll the ball, without having to bring my hands into play to add a hit. I three-putted several times, simply because I could not get my first putt up to the hole.
(Image credit: Howard Boylan)
The point I am making is a simple one. You should absolutely switch golf balls with the seasons. When the summer conditions disappear, the ground softens, courses become wet and waterlogged. The greenkeepers aren’t able to cut the putting surfaces as short, so greens are woolly, soft and receptive – the ball stops dead. They are slow to putt on. That’s your cue to switch golf balls.
Trust me, put your ego aside and just try it! No-one is going to really notice if you’re using a Titleist Pro VI or a Titleist Velocity. It’s still stamped Titleist. And even if they do, they’ll have quickly stopped ribbing you for it, after your front nine score has beaten theirs by several strokes, when your putts drop and theirs come up short, and when you come in with a competition winning score. It might just be the single (yet simplest) piece of advice I give you this winter. Try it!