How we score playability
The seasonality matrix gives every course a score out of five for each month. Here is exactly what that number means, so you can disagree with it.
What goes in
Four things, weighted by how much they actually spoil a round: wind, rainfall, temperature and crowding. A still, dry, 21°C day on an empty course is a five. A 31°C afternoon in July is a two — playable at dawn and punishing after ten, which is what a two is meant to convey.
Heat is scored as a problem, not as a virtue. That is the single biggest difference between this and a weather chart: 31°C is a better beach day and a worse golf day, and the matrix is about golf.
The scale
- 5
- As good as it gets here. Book it.
- 4
- Very good. Something is slightly against you — usually wind or price.
- 3
- Fine. You will enjoy it and you will notice the weather.
- 2
- Playable early, hard work later. Go if the price is the point.
- 1
- We would tell you to go somewhere else that month.
Where the numbers come from
Temperature, wind and rainfall are climate normals, not forecasts — they describe a typical year, and any individual February can ignore them. Crowding, price tier and maintenance windows come from the clubs themselves, and every course page shows the date that group was last checked and who told us.
Where we have not checked something, the matrix leaves it blank rather than estimating it. A blank cell means we do not know, which is a different thing from a low score.
The best window
The bracket above a matrix marks the longest unbroken run of months scoring four or better, wrapping across the year end. It is derived from the same numbers printed underneath it — we do not curate it, so it cannot quietly disagree with the table it sits on.
What it does not know
Ramadan, local holidays and one-off tournaments move crowding sharply and are not in the score. Your specialist will tell you about them for your dates — that is the sort of thing a person is for.