Rymer Bites: Fall Golf Tips from the Big Timer (and His Dogs)

This week, Charlie Rymer is joined by his golden retrievers as he offers two helpful tips to benefit your game, as you experience the Grand Strand golf scene during Myrtle Beach’s Second Season this fall.

Charlie Rymer out on the golf course today. My home course here in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, Wachesaw Plantation. Yeah, I’m not looking so good today. It’s bath day for these guys right here today. That’s Buzzy, he’s a little shy. He doesn’t like to be on camera that much. And that’s Gunner. Gunner, look at the camera. Oh, look at Gunner right there.

So we’re out walking the golf course, and these guys told me, “Hey, why don’t you help the folks out with some nice fall golf tips today?” So I thought, “Dogs, that’s a pretty good idea.” So let’s talk a little bit about reading lies this time of year.

I got a golf ball sitting right down here. I want you to look at that golf ball. See how the grass this time of year is starting to lose the green a little bit? You’re starting to see some brown creep into that grass. Well, what’s going on in the springtime and the summer grass is really luscious. Bermuda grass is. It’s got a lot of water in there. So when you hit a ball out of the rough in the spring or the summer that water essentially fills up the grooves and takes the spin off the golf ball and you hit what we call a flyer where the ball might go 10, 15, 20 yards farther than it normally would.

But in the fall, there’s not that much water in that grass, so what happens is you get the ball, it comes out, and it “poofs” a little bit. So plan on in the fall when you see a little bit of brown, go ahead and plan on that ball coming out very soft and not traveling very far.

Okay, and the other thing that I think it’s a nice time of year to do is take a look at your wedges. That’s my three wedges right there. I play a 48, a 54, and a 60. Notice that in those wedges, I have six degrees in difference between them. A lot of people might have a pitching wedge in their bag and depending on the manufacturer and the make might have 44, 45 degrees. Then they throw in a sand wedge that’s 56. Well, you do the math on that. That could be 10 or 12 degrees in difference. And boy, it makes it really hard to get a good feel for your wedge game. So go ahead and take a look at your wedges. Ask your local PGA pro to help you gap your wedges. Dial them in a little bit. It’s a nice time of year to do that.

Alright, I’m back out on the golf course with the boys. I think they got some business to attend to, don’t you guys? You guys have a great fall!