Colder air is more dense than warm air. Meaning there is more drag. A cold ball and cold golf club mean less transfer of energy. An average male golfer with 90mph club head speed with driver, will lose about 2 yards of distance per 10 degree drop in temperature.
How Does Temperature Affect Golf Ball Distance?
The loss of distance seems to work across the board with all clubs. While not equally, whether you are hitting driver or 9 iron, with a 40 degree drop in temperature you will see close to a 7-8 yard loss in distance. So how does temperature affect golf ball distance? I need it to be 90 degrees all the time.
Approximate Carry Distances at 90mph Club Head Speed
| Temperature | Driver | 5 iron | 8 iron | Pitching Wedge |
| 90 | 235 | 156 | 129 | 109 |
| 80 | 233.1 | 154.2 | 127.2 | 107.2 |
| 70 | 231.2 | 152.4 | 125.4 | 105.4 |
| 60 | 229.3 | 150.6 | 123.6 | 103.6 |
| 50 | 227.4 | 148.8 | 121.8 | 101.8 |
| 40 | 225.5 | 147 | 120 | 100 |
| 30 | 223.6 | 145.2 | 118.2 | 98.2 |
Why do I bring this up today? Well, I walked into my golf cave this morning to hit some balls. My latest outing while testing two different 8 irons showed I was developing too much of a draw and the large majority of balls were going left.
Cold Golf Balls
A quick check on YouTube and with the knowledge that my grip was way too strong, I decided to head back into the golf cave and see if I could get some better results. But then this happened below. The temperature outside is the temperature in my golf shed, until the point I turn the gas heater on. It was 75 degrees out yesterday and then high 30’s today. Nah… it wasn’t so much the cold temperature as I can handle that. Well up to a point. This time it was the golf balls. They were cold. When hitting the balls they felt like hitting little pieces of concrete. I tried one brand after another, including soft feel golf balls but they didn’t make much of a difference. Felt like hitting rocks. I was seeing the decrease in distance mentioned above with my 8 iron.
I decided to bring in a couple of balls and let them warm up to room temperature. The balls were going to sit in the house from about 10am til 5pm at 67 degrees (darn natural gas bill). I felt they should warm up I went back out into the shed and hit about 60 golf balls. The golf balls no longer felt like rocks and after warming up I felt like I was hitting with good distance. Note to self: I think I should have brought my golf clubs inside as well.
But what if you don’t have hours to get the golf balls warmed up, even to room temperature in the house?
HotHands
Let me start by saying this is in no way a recommendation to cheat on the golf course. So what I am recommending is to be done before playing a round of golf. Sure, you can continue to use HotHands in your jacket, etc.. to warm your hands but not in your golf bag warming up the golf balls during a round. After shaking the product, it takes about 15-30 minutes for HotHands to activate where you can feel the full strength of the warmth.
So before you leave the house to play your round, put one or two HotHands in the golf bag with your golf balls. I usually sandwich a few golf balls between a couple of HotHands and sometimes wrap a towel around everything. By the time you get to the course, check in, practice putting for a bit, and tee off, the golf balls should have warmed up. Remove the HotHands before your playing partners see what you are doing (let them hit cold golf balls) and put in your jacket.
Hot Water Works in a Pinch
Took golf balls out first thing this morning. Was about 28 degrees in my shed and after a handful of minutes inside, the golf balls read what you see below. I measured the temperature with this infrared thermometer.
Take out a pot and put it on the stove. Wrap a handful (you’re not going to lose any more golf balls than that?) of golf balls in a towel and put them in a pot.
We aren’t going to boil these golf balls although some people do. Typically what I do is to run my hot water from the sink for a couple of minutes. Water from my sink hits about 140 degrees. I pour enough water in the pot to get the towel completely wet, which is surrounding the golf balls. I remove the balls from the water after about 15 minutes. As my wife said, the good hand towel seems to hold heat. Just make sure the water isn’t too hot to scald you. Here’s the temperature of a golf ball after it has been warmed up with this method.
Keep a Spare Ball in Your Pocket
This one is a no brainer. Most of us have a breakfast ball or mulligan we might take in a round. Well, keep that ball in your pants pocket. If you are playing and it is 40 degrees outside, your golf balls sitting in the golf back will acclimate to that temperature. Instead, keep a spare ball in your pocket which is pressed against your body. Can only help.
If you are like me and play late into the year, very early in the spring, or in your golf shed during the winter, you’ve most undoubtedly noticed the lack of distance versus a nice warm day out on the course. Heck, I notice the difference in my golf cave. So yes, temperature does affect golf ball distance. Do yourself a favor and have nice warm golf balls ready for your next round as well as warm clubs.