Playing in rain
How to Build a Pre-Round Plan for Playing In Rain
A practical checklist for preparing your bag, targets, and expectations before rain golf tests you.
Ten minutes before the tee time
A rain plan should cover gear and targets: keep one towel dry, allow for less rollout, and decide which carries are no longer worth challenging.
Build the plan around rain gloves, two towels, waterproofs, and landing spots short of trouble.
Warm up for the round you will play
On soaked turf, warm up for the round you will actually play. Rehearse clean contact, extra club, and tempo while the rain gloves and dry towel are doing their work:
- On soaked turf, hit three smooth wedges to specific landing spots.
- In rain golf, hit two controlled mid-irons with a balanced finish.
- On soaked turf, choose a conservative first-tee target.
- When the course is wet, decide your “automatic lay-up” situation before you face it.
A useful watch note
FocusGolf works well as a quiet record keeper in wet rounds. Using only your Wear OS, Apple Watch, or Garmin watch, it tracks shots and distances without extra club sensors to dry off. After the round, the session history can show how much the soft fairways, heavier lies, and no-roll landings changed your normal yardages.
Keep the plan flexible
A rain plan should adjust as the course softens. On soaked turf, if the course is softer, firmer, windier, or calmer than expected, adjust. On soaked turf, the value is not predicting everything; it is starting with a calm framework so every decision is not invented under pressure.