Winter Downtime: You Can Still Improve With Hole19

The weather in many parts of Europe has been atrocious lately, and chances for you to play golf may have been thin on the ground. The 'course closed' sign may feel like a dagger to your heart, but spare a thought for golfers who live in regions where it's impossible to play at this time of year.

While that fact may be of little comfort to you right now, don't fall into the trap of letting your golf game stagnate by assuming there's nothing you can work on at home.

Your Hole19 app is jam-packed with features and stats that can help guide your off-course practice and prepare you for your next round. Use them correctly, and you can hit the ground running when winter finally retreats.

Check out this list of six ways to use your Hole19 app during this period of unwelcome downtime.

Use Stats to inform your practice

We've all enjoyed many an evening at the driving range smashing balls into the horizon. Does that achieve any real benefit, though (apart from getting rid of some pent-up frustration)?

You need to practice smarter if you want to achieve real golf improvement, so the statistics in your Hole19 app will prove invaluable. Something our golfers often mention is how beneficial they find the Performance section of the app.

The Overall Statistics section will show your Driving Accuracy (and where your miss is), GIR %, Average Putts Per Hole, Recovery Performance, and much more. You can also delve deeper into your Rounds overview to better understand your recent performance and where you've been losing shots.

You can even enter start and end dates if you'd like to filter your data, or select a golf course to see the corresponding stats for that venue.

Struggling with your putting? You need to hit the practice green. Recovery Performance not what it should be? Time to spend some time at the short game area.

Make your coach's job easier

Being unable to get a round in may give you the time to engage (or reengage) with your local golf pro, and your Hole19 data can make their job a hell of a lot easier. The app provides your coach with awesome insight into your game. At a glance, they can see your current miss off the tee, whether your irons are performing, how your short game looks, etc.

As you play more rounds over time, the data will show you and your coach what you should work on, where the most significant gains can be made, and how the lessons are helping you improve.

Plan your next round

While you're at home daydreaming about your next round, you could use your time better by actively mapping out a well-reasoned plan of attack.

Find the course you plan to play next and click "Preview Course" to see a mapped layout of the 1st hole. It's immediately easier to visualise that first tee shot in your mind's eye. Premium golfers can also add Notes to refer back to.

Use the arrows to move between holes and start to put together your strategy. Remind yourself of holes where it pays to tread carefully and the others where it's 'bombs away'. Where are the safe misses? Where is long 'dead'?

How many shots have you lost through the years due to poor decision-making? More than you care to remember, right? While you are waiting for winter's woes to pass, now's the time to build the blueprint for your career-low round.

Discover new courses

The Courses section of the app lets you set off on a voyage of golfing discovery. Inside you'll find your closest golf courses, as well as the most played and most popular. There's even a list of your local 9-hole courses.

Thinking of chasing some golf in the sun next year? What better way to prepare for your 2023 golf getaway than by using your Hole19 app to discover your destination's best golf courses?

Choose a course and get a feel for what to expect from its profile page. Next, delve into the Course Preview function to get a better understanding of its full layout. It's a great way to explore the best golf courses in any region, and possibly find some hidden gems along the way.

Relive past glories

Missing a few rounds (or a few months) of golf is never nice, but we bet a reminder that you've got game will bring a smile to your face.

Use most of your downtime to focus on ways to improve your golf, but daydreaming over past glories never hurt anyone. The Highlights section of the app lists your greatest fist-pump moments to date.

Check out your lowest score, your longest drive, fewest putts, best scrambling performance... the list goes on.

Getting a memory jog of bygone achievements can be particularly helpful if your last round sucked. If that was the case, take a look at our tips on recovering from a bad round.

Check out your buddies' scores

We all love having a 'creep' around someone else's social pages to see what they've been getting up to - so why not look at your friends' recent rounds on the Hole19 app to see how they've been playing recently?

You might find some data for your local course that shows where they're picking up shots. Or you may get a few clues as to why they keep taking your money. Either way, it could make for some interesting reading.

If you enjoyed this article, take a look at our recent article on drills and tips to improve your golf game at home. You can read it here.