It is hard to put a number on how your cold muscles and clothes effect the result. We're all different in that respect. For example, the other day I was playing in 55 degree weather here in Northern California wearing long pants and 4 layers on top. There was a guy out there at the same time playing in shorts and a golf shirt! He must have been from Minnesota. Obviously the two of us might have a quite different swing.
There are two things that we can measure: cold dense air and ball temperature.
Cold Dense Air is heavier which creates more friction and drag on the ball in flight. The effect, according to the folks at Titleist, is a slightly higher and shorter trajectory. Former USGA technical director Frank Thomas has said the difference is about 2 yards for every 10 degrees change in temperature
Cold Ball Temperature affects the velocity with which the ball comes off the club. The colder the ball the slower ball speed you will get. Titleist has estimated you lose approximately 1.5% of distance for every 10 degree drop in temperature below the optimum ball temperature (between 70-80 degrees).
Both are figured into the Distance Calculator To use the Distance Calculator you simply plug in distances you hit for each club at 75 degrees by double clicking on the appropriate cell and entering your distance. Then plug in the temperature you'll be playing in by double clicking the yellow temperature box and enter the new temperature and click again. Once you've done that the chart automatically calculates your new distance for each of your clubs. Since most of us aren't pros our swings can be a little different each time so these new distances are an approximation.
You can see why, because of the shorter distance in cold weather, you may have to add an extra club to your shot to get the distance you need.
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