The easiest way to make cold-weather disc golf enjoyable

I live in Utah.

Home of “The Greatest Snow On Earth.”

Once upon a time, our license plates claimed as much.

Still, come every October, I’m reminded of how much I hate disc golfing in cold weather. In and of itself, it’s not that I don’t like cold weather – I love it when the seasons change. I welcome warmth, but after months of nearly drowning in my own sweat, I’m ready for The Big Man upstairs to crank up the air conditioning a bit. As you can imagine, the inverse is also true.

Instead, it’s violently (and repeatedly) snapping a golf disc off the tips of my fingers that makes me want to head back inside to two-hand a cup of hot herbal tea by the warmth of a raging fire.

Can you relate?

When this happens, obviously, persistent, round-long finger pain is a problem. Furthermore, when the temperature drops, not only do my hands lose some of their dexterity, but the skin covering them feels smoother than normal, too. This might be a dry-environment kind of problem, but it undeniably happens in my Rockies-encompassed neck of the woods.

From there, the snowball effect is obvious: Just as night follows day, slow, slick fingers produce embarrassing results on the disc golf course – and naturally, a yearning for warmer weather.

Dear Polar Ice Caps …

Melt, baby, melt.

Sorry, Señor Polar Bear.

Thankfully, there is a mind-numbingly simple solution to this problem. I’m embarrassed I didn’t make it part of my regular, fall / winter-weather disc golf routine until late last year …

Hand-warmers.

HotHands, to be more specific.

To benefit, please do as follows:

• Place one in both front-pants pockets.
• Between throws, keep your hands in your pockets.
• Though the rest of you might be cold, what matters most won’t be.

HotHands work.

And the ungodly, Costco-sized version the brand sells at big-box outlets, to boot. Though setting me back a steep $170, the single box I bought last year offered 240 pairs of the d*ng things.

I’m happy to report I came nowhere near using all of ‘em. And given the fact unopened HotHand packs have a four-year shelf-life, one purchase like this’ll easily last you at least two or three off-season runs, with plenty leftover for the wife and kids to use while doing other stuff.

Additionally, HotHands sells their finger-saving pouches in 50-pair packs, as well. So if you’re looking for less of a hardcore, cold-weather commitment, making it happen is not an issue.

I store five or six pairs in my disc golf bag all times from October to February. Then, when I start running low, I pull a few more from the hallway coat closet, and I’m good to go for two weeks.

In the short-term, though effective, this is NOT the cheapest solution for frigid fingers.

But in the long-run?

It’s a no-brainer.

This much I know for certain, though …

* California Utah

There’s no need to off-season in Arizona.

Buy hand-warmers.

Disc golf happy.

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