I'm wet and cold. Why? I've been out playing golf by Ping K15 Irons in the rain. Not just rain but cold rain driving in from the south that numbs the extremities and turns grips to soap. For seven holes, golf was bearable but this was real Golf Nut behaviour.

A few others were on the course enduring the rain. A group of guys ahead were from Bridge Pa in Hastings and had come down to Christchurch for a week of golf. I don't think the forecast is great most of the week so they might be sitting by the fire wishing they'd stayed in The Bay.

Even making the decision to head out was a strange one. The itch had been inspired by a few days watching the guns playing Ping K15 Irons in our national amateur championships at Russley Golf Club. Golf seems an easy sport watching from the sidelines so I ambitiously thought I'd have a whirl trying to bomb it as far as Ryan Fox. In practice, it wasn't to be.

Lack of ability aside, it got me thinking about a question I was asked recently - is golf made easier by the wind or by the rain?

Ordinarily I wouldn't entertain playing Ping G15 Irons in the rain. Mostly because without the foresight to have a brolly, wet weather gear, an extra towel and a spare pair of socks (for afterwards) it becomes a rather unpleasant experience. But after travelling through Ireland with the requirement of playing a full round each and every day, I grew accustomed to, even untroubled by, a spot of precipitation.

For a month the wet-weather gear was the first item in the golf bag (even though it was oft still damp from the pevious day's lashing and carried a rather fusty odour). Long story short, with the adequate preparation I found that the rain didn't hamper the scoring too badly. Any golf course will play longer but the ground softens up, allowing shots to stop with more precision on the green. Provided you can keep your hands and grips dry, she'll be right.

Then there is the wind. The unsighted hazard that grabs one's golf ball and throws it unmercifully to all corners of the golf course. Wind turned Rory's 63 at St Andrew's into a stop-start 80 the following day. It was stop-start because the ball wouldn't stay still on the greens in the gusting winds to the extent that the course became unplayable and play was delayed.

Everyone knows how hard it is slogging away into the wind hitting consecutive woods and still coming up short all day. But I think the downwind pitch may be about the toughest shot going around. I recall playing Ping G15 Irons with three adept golfers on a very windy and dreich day in Northern Scotland. We were all in the fairway with only 70m or so to the pin on a par four and the wind was hurtling from behind. We each played our wedge shot but not one of us could keep the ball on the large green and not one birdie was made. Of course it's not only full shots that are affected and in a stiff breeze the art of putting becomes even more infuriating.

The wind ruins your golf swing as you contort your body every which way in an effort to keep the ball low. One day I was paired with a Scottish chap who played off a 7 handicap. His golf game would be best described as pragmatic. He would nudge the ball from the tee about 150m on the fly but with tremendous forward momentum such that sometimes it'd roll half of that again. It barely seemed to matter what direction the wind was coming from for him off the tee.

Compare that with a long, flowing swing of an American brought up on a diet of resort golf in Florida where long carries over the water are the norm and for whom wind is the ultimate evil. I've seen a 7 handicapper of this kind who would have shot 120 by Ping G15 Fairway Wood when a mild breeze was added to the equation.

But even for my more acclimatised Scottish friend the wind still has a significant impact on his score - particularly around the greens. This is why in the UK they still use the old "daily standard scratch" system of calculating handicaps using the average score for each particular day as the benchmark rather than the arbitrary figure of par.

I love playing golf in the wind. Far more than playing golf in the rain. But if it's simply a question of what is easier - I'd take a shower over a gale any day. Lets hear your thoughts.

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