golfrewind.com

I usually play golf in the afternoon - partly because the weather is nice in California in the afternoons, and partly to catch twilight rates.
However, once in a while, if I have a morning off work I'll play the early tee time as I did today. The only thing is is that I noticed that the conditions are drastically different - the morning dew, everything is wet, ball doesn't roll as much, and it was downright cold so I felt my swing was stiff - couldn't loosen up! By the time I was finished (playing with seniors who played quite fast! - 3 1/2 hr. round), the sun was finally showing itself.

Do people like to play in the morning or afternoon, and in the a.m., how do people get used to the conditions and how do you warm/loosen up?

I love playing in the late evening. During the summer, I show up some evenings at 6 or 6:30 and finish by dark most all of the time. It usually goes fairly slow for the first nine but I can go the last nine in an hour and fifteen usually. Plus I like the fact the sun goes down, because for some reason my shadow bothers me a lot when I'm swinging. I only very rarely play in the early morning since I work at the golf course most days, but when I do go out early I guess I get loosened up like I would on a cold fall day. Just get there a little earlier and stretch a bit more than typical, take a few more full practice swings the first couple holes to get into the flow. At least that's what usually works for me.

I never really cared for early am golf for many of the reasons you mention. I have enough trouble with my putting without having to deal with the wet, dewy greens ever changing condition as they dry. Also, I'm not a morning person, though I will get up to get to work before 6 so I can shoot out early and make the turn before the leagues start. It's early afternoons for me & home by 6 to keep the wife happy.

I like playing in the morning............BUT I rarely do it.
Played at lunch today(9holes) 70-degrees, little humidity(for here anyway)

Here in June, July and August it is so hot at mid day and into the evening that it just takes it all out of you, at 6 or 7 pm it is still in the 90º plus range temp and humid. But come Spring and Fall the best time to play is late afternoon earlier evening, in the winter months mid afternoon is the best.

DITTO THAT! I play almost all my rounds in the late afternoon/evenings, for several reasons:

* Crowds - most courses are much, much too crowded to play in the morning anyhow.

* Single Guy - I have no children or spouse, so.....my evenings/days are open for anything I want to do, which is mostly playing golf.

* Work - I work a strict 8am-5pm schedule, I can't play during the daytime on weekdays anyhow.

Well, I guess I'm with everyone else here. I usually tend to play in the afternoon but I do enjoy playing in the mornings when the chance comes. The problem for me with playing in the mornings is the courses are so far from my home. I know, I live on an island. How far can the courses be? Well, for me, anything longer than a 15 minute drive is far. I also like to take advantage of twilight or afternoon rates, too.

It's almost enough to make me want to move to Alabama. We have another 5/6 weeks of play here... if we're lucky. Good thing I ski.

Wow, I'm surprised with the amount of people that will play in the afternoon. I mostly play in Bergen County, NJ and you will be lucky to finish a round in five hours in the afternoon. It is way too crowded. The premium tee times are the early morning hours which is very difficult to get. I'd rather play in the morning for the sake of time. You will definitely play in 4 hours if you're tee time is before 9:30 am. Ideally, I would rather play in the afternoon since I'm not really a morning person, but you play with the cards you are dealt with.

best time to play?

anytime!!!!!

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You took my answer

Morning guy, myself. Basically I want to get home around noon or so. Sure, it's a pain to get up early on a day I'd rather sleep in, and sometimes on my way to the course I'm not that psyched to play. But I'm always good to go when I get to the tee.

As to the warm-up question: just some simple stretching and swinging a couple of wedges (or a weighted club) is usually sufficient. Possibly that's not really adequate, though. For some reason, on the first hole I have more of a tendency to pull my tee shot, then top my approach shot.

That's exactly what happened to me on a couple of my drives - I was so cold in the morning that I think through my rigid stiffness I pull-hooked 2 of my drives into the trees - **** when you're hitting 3 on your 2nd tee shot.
Also, carting it in the cold doesn't help...

Sounds like people play when it fits into their schedule. Since epark99 and I are in the same area, I've been playing very early morning AM back 9 since Early April. I prefer early AM on Saturdays since:

1. fits into my only schedule :(
2. I'm used to it after a month
3. spring and fall, the weather is mid 50s upon tee time. Summer time can be upper 50s and low 60s at start time! Even with mid 50s, long pants, I'm warmed up after 2 holes. I only got dew the first two greens. Yes, it does slow it down.
4. NO WIND!!!!! (Did I mention ABSOLUTELY no wind?)
5. Nice to hear the roosters wake up homeowners up at the crack of dawn. Really, I heard roosters this past weekend at Sumitt Pointe :)
6. Oh, this should be higher in the list: no slow pokes in front of us!!!
7. Very nice to see the sun rise
8. After I'm done, I felt like I accomplished something already for the day.

I thought the course was deserted in the mornings, seeing as a big chunk of the golfers out there don't want to wake up very early. My course is pretty crowded in the twilight hours. Is it crowded on a morning weekday? Because I might be going in the morning on Monday for our little match me and my friends have planned. We can get the early bird special too, but I'm not going to go if it's super-crowded in the morning.