Playing in the wind

Par72

Anyone got good tips for playing in the wind? I was playing yesterday and the wind was vicious!

The obvious advice is to try and hit the ball lower so that the wind doesn't have as much of an effect on the flight.

When playing in a cross wind do you try and draw and fade the ball? e.g. hit a draw into a left-to-right wind (assuming you're right handed) or do you just aim more left to allow for the wind?

whatawaster

Par72 wrote: »

Anyone got good tips for playing in the wind? I was playing yesterday and the wind was vicious!

The obvious advice is to try and hit the ball lower so that the wind doesn't have as much of an effect on the flight.

When playing in a cross wind do you try and draw and fade the ball? e.g. hit a draw into a left-to-right wind (assuming you're right handed) or do you just aim more left to allow for the wind?

Grip well down the club, ball back in your stance, half backswing, stunted follow-through.
My natural shot is a low right-left, and i never change this even with a right-left wind. I just aim to compensate. A fade is just too un-natural for me, perhaps my grip is too strong.

I also think bump and runs are much underused. If you're 100 yards away don't hit a full wedge, or even grip down on a 9 iron. I'd often take out a 5 or 6 iron and hit a quarter swing and run it onto the green. Much easier shot to control than a full shot and ideal if there is a clear path to the green.

ShriekingSheet

Par72 wrote: »

Anyone got good tips for playing in the wind? I was playing yesterday and the wind was vicious!

The obvious advice is to try and hit the ball lower so that the wind doesn't have as much of an effect on the flight.

When playing in a cross wind do you try and draw and fade the ball? e.g. hit a draw into a left-to-right wind (assuming you're right handed) or do you just aim more left to allow for the wind?

I'm aware that you're a at a little more advanced a stage than most. Personally, I was always one for allowing for wind. I hit a straight-ish ball. I draw generally it but it's not very pronounced and I also hit it very high so I thought those attributes favoured a shot aimed away from the target, allowing for wind.

But I started going to a good pro last year who was/is an awesome ball-striker and iron player himself, and he specifically advised the use of holding shots that fly more or less straight at the target. Obviously, the skill here is to draw the ball the right amount into a slice-wind so te nett result is a straight flight - though to be honest, the ability to do this has more to do with talent and feel, as opposed to learned mechanics. And you've gotta be unbelievably decisive. If you start the ball at the target in a left-to-right gale, and hit through with anything less than 100% commitment, you're toast

It's one of those things that's not a percentage shot per se, but if you've gotten to the stage where getting it on the green is not a problem, and your aim is to progress to getting it on the right part of the green, then IMO allowing the wind to guide the shot requires more luck and less skill than the holding shot. Of course, if a player is at the stage where getting it on the green in the wind is still a challenge, playing holding shots is probably not advisable.

Forgetting about cross winds, I'm always amazed at how many good players cannot play a really low shot. Equipment doesn't help given the growing use of Callway & co heads, but it's still a shot you need in your bag. The "back of your stance" mantra is a bit ridiculous to be honest because half the time I see guys try it they end up just getting steeper on the ball, hitting it harder, creating more back spin meaning the ball flies low for the first quarter of it's journey and then balloons skyward - probably ending up the same distance as a stock shot would have.

Funnliy enough, I learned my into-the-wind shot on an old tree-lined course with very little wind I used to play on. I used to spray it off the tee but the ground got so hard in the summer, if I had a swing in the trees, I found I could fire a waist-high turnover shot under the branches that ran along the fairway and got me in the ball-park of the green. A while later I began using the same technique into strong winds. The point of realisation for me was understanding how extreme you could be to get as much as possible out of the shot. Take loads of club, not just one more. Play it with and open stance, and the ball right back. Shut the face right down and hook it in if you need to, letting the hands turn over it giving the ball top-spin rather than back spin.

JohnHenry

I enjoy playing in the wind because i naturally hit it lowish but they key things i try to do in the wind is grip down, generally go a club more and concentrate on a solid contact with good tempo, not try to hit it harder or anything, just a solid contact, this helps hold the ball on line into a wind and is probably a better precentage shot than trying to draw/fade to suit wind conditions which you need to be a very good player to do well. Keep it simple and commit to the shot

thewing

Played on saturday as well, and the wind was indeed vicious...

Par72

Thanks for the replies guys. Sheet, I guess I am mostly interested in the "holding the ball" in the wind theory. I have always just allowed for the wind in the past but I might try working the ball in the wind a bit more now and see how that works out.

ShriekingSheet

Par72 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys. Sheet, I guess I am mostly interested in the "holding the ball" in the wind theory. I have always just allowed for the wind in the past but I might try working the ball in the wind a bit more now and see how that works out.

Yeah give it a go. Note that you'll be losing a few yards when cutting it against a right-to-left wind.

I've also found that having the right type and flex of shaft is pretty crucial. I used to have Dyamic Gold but when I changed to unflighted Project X I couldn't get over the difference. Found them much easier to keep down when I needed too, despite the fact that I bumped down a notch in stiffness (6.0 from x100).

I'm not saying PX are better than DG - but I definitely think different types of shafts work better for different people and having the right ones for you makes all the difference when it comes to playing in rough conditions.

gorfield

My opinion. Generally i hit it right to left so ill fight the left to right wind and use the right to left to help. This leaves you never trying to hit a shot your not comfy with........Into the wind swing it easy....if you put it back in your stance and hit down on it you will increase spin which is a disaster in the wind.

Dolph Starbeam

I wish i knew, i played yesterday and my brother, playing of 3 was hitting little low drivers down the fairway, taking a little divot and all, great shot to play but i wasn't losing much distance.

With a cross wond i allow for the wind to move the ball a small bit, on par 3's i'd draw or fade the ball into the wind and hit 1 extra club. I won a matchplay against him so i must have been doing ok lol

ShriekingSheet

gorfield wrote: »

Generally i hit it right to left so ill fight the left to right wind and use the right to left to help. This leaves you never trying to hit a shot your not comfy with........Into the wind swing it easy....if you put it back in your stance and hit down on it you will increase spin which is a disaster in the wind.

Unsurprisingly given your handicap, you're talkin alotta sense there. I'd very much agree.

stockdam

It's very hard even for the most skilled golfers.

I can hit the ball either way although a draw is my natural shot.

I do try to hold the ball into the wind but it can go horribly wrong.......for instance when I try to fade the ball into the wind it can just start left and never come back. A fade isn't my normal shot and so it sometimes doesn't work.

So as a compromise, I try to draw the ball into a left to right wind and then for the right to left wind I try to allow for the wind and hit it straight (no draw).