By Terry Koehler, The Wedge Guy

Terry Koehler has been in the golf industry for over 30 years and currently spends his days as the President of EIDOLON Golf, a small premium wedge company in Victoria, Texas. He's been blogging for over 3 years and has written hundreds of articles ranging from golf tips to equipment issues. His blog will appear on ClubSG twice per week. You can reach Terry to have your golf questions answered at askme@thewedgeguy.com.

Maybe this seems like a strange topic for me to write from South Texas, because we are blessed to be able to play golf year-round. That said, I sympathize with all of you who have to completely put the sticks away for a few months each year. Down here, we might have to pick our days, but the unplayable ones are not that often (depending on your tolerance level). What prompted me to write is because it was pretty darn cold this past week, and we had some of our seasonal howling north winds. And I’m seeing more and more emails from golfers who are talking about “the end being near”, or already here . . . for their golf, that is.

Whether your clubs go to the garage for the next few months, or just get used less often, winter doesn’t have to be a time for rust to form and golf to get tougher. You can use these cold months and shorter days to work on things that will make next spring something to look forward to even more than usual.

If you live in a southern climate where you can play through the winter, realize that cold air and dormant grass makes the game a little tougher. Lies will get tighter on courses that don’t overseed with rye grass, or wetter and softer on those that do. That requires more impact precision, and the best way to get that is to flatten out the bottom of your swing path. If you’re playing it dry and fast, move the ball back a bit to sharpen impact. If your course overseeds and keeps the fairways moist, try moving the ball a bit further forward and make a shallower swing path with a smaller divot.

Also realize that your scores are going to go higher in the winter. You’re playing less, conditions are tougher and that’s just going to happen. Accept it.

Now, for those of you who are going into hibernation from golf for a few months, all is not lost. This is a great opportunity to work on skills away from the golf course, particularly on your short game and putting. Here are my suggestions for doing just that:

1. Study. Get some of the better books on putting and the short game and focus on learning a better technique. Dave Stockton’s book on putting is one of the best, and Stan Utley has penned two excellent ones, “The Art of Putting” and “The Art of The Short Game”. There are many more.

2. Invest in a putting zone. You can get a scrap of office-texture carpet about 2’ x 7’ and build your own putting track cheaply. Just glue or tack it to a board and paint a 3” white circle on one end (putting to a small target all winter will make the hole look huge next spring). That size will slide under a bed or go against a closet wall to put it out of site.

3. Build a short game setup. All it takes is a few pieces of PVC to build a backstop over which you can drape an old sheet, and a small fiber mat off of which to hit balls. This can set up in your den or garage, even your bedroom. The Almost Golf balls are good for indoor practice, and you can hit real golf balls if there is no fear of taking out a lamp or window. The idea here is to work on technique (which you are learning from the books). If you perfect the ball-striking aspect of chipping and pitching this way, when you get to the course next spring you can focus on the shot.

I know it’s not a great substitute for playing, but off-season practice will pay big dividends when it starts greening up next spring.

Final Weeks to Get Hi-Spin Wedges

Well, we’re down to the wire for being able to build and sell EIDOLON wedges with our legendary spin. The good news is that we still have some and we need to move them to make room for new 2011 inventory. So we’re beginning a special sale with you SkyGolfers. Click on the EIDOLON banner and you’ll find a landing page with Coupon Code offering you an exclusive discount on all EIDOLON wedges – they start at $79! Click away, buy away, and forward this special opportunity to all your non-SkyGolf buddies.

Thanks for bearing with me these past couple of weeks while I get back on track with this dang computer. I’m finally almost there.


* The Wedge Guy's views and opinions are his own do not necessarily reflect those of SkyGolf.

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Terry Koehler is "The Wedge Guy" and President of SCOR Golf- The Short Game Company.

Click here to learn more about Terry.