Golf is a wild game that requires every player to adjust their game to combat the different course conditions. If you are like me, weather watching is a sport unto itself because of the impact it has on our golf game. I have played in torrential rain, scorching heat, snow and all types of weather in between. Regardless of the conditions, I play my game as best as possible without hesitation. It is what golfers do and I will admit that weather has gotten the best of my from time to time. Recently, however, I played in conditions that tested every part of my game and I am a better golfer for it!

If you have not guessed it from the picture, playing is foggy conditions is a challenge that I enjoy. I have played in worse conditions than above (picture taken from 75 yards to the green) with the same basic results. If you are wondering why I like playing in the fog, well it all comes down to TRUST! Yup, that one word encompasses all aspects of our golf game and forces us to focus on the basics in order to score well.

How does trust fit into all of this you am ask? That is an fantastic question. Trust is key to playing successful golf regardless of the weather conditions. The basics is this, we need to trust our swing, yardages with each club, our ability to aim, our ability to complete our golf swing and finally (but, not an exhaustive list) our mental ability to play golf blindly.

Swinging a golf club without being able to watch the completion of our golf shot is tough. So many doubts creep into our minds that it is almost paralyzing. Well, I can tell you that if you let your FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real) fall to the wayside, good things can happen to your game.

When I played the other day in foggy conditions, I focused on hitting the middle of the green, hitting the middle of the fairway, and swinging within myself. I focused on targets near and as far as I could see. I allowed my swing to happen without over thinking the results. Many hazards were removed from my sightline. It was a relaxing way to play golf because on focused on the immediate and less on what could happen.

Here is another shot of the same hole as above from 100 yards. As you can see, I am almost blind for this shot. I do have course knowledge so I know where to aim (sort of) and I needed to fully trust my swing and yardages to make my approach shot.

In both cases I hit the green because I trusted my swing and club yardages. I found that my focus was better and I thought slightly different than my normal game. It opened new thought processes that I carried over to when there were ‘better’ playing conditions. Overall, playing in the fog helped improve the trust in my game.

There are always benefits from playing golf in challenging conditions. Fog is on where if forces players to trust their golf game. It is a challenge sometimes to let go and allow our swing to win the day, but it can be very rewarding if we succeed in making great golf shots. If you find yourself in challenging conditions, trust your game. You never know, unexpected magic could happen.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!