I Am Terrible In The Wind And I'm Sick Of It

Orikoru said:
I cannot play golf in the wind. It looks set to be another breezy one this weekend, ruining an otherwise lovely spell of weather, so I thought I might try and get some tips before I go this time.


Problem
I can only hit a fade with driver, 3 wood, etc. Whenever I play a left-to-right wind, or straight into it, I'm completely screwed and have no answer to it.


What I've Tried
Using a lower tee - idea is to keep it under the wind more, but I've heard that a lower tee just promotes more fade so that might be cancelling it out. Maybe even adding spin as well? (I'm using a 9° driver.) Should I stop doing this and just stick with my normal tee height?

Aim further left - other slicers will be very familiar with this concept, but the more left I am, it's like my subconscious takes over and opens the face of the club without my permission to 'guide it' back to the fairway - making the slice action even worse and end up further right than ever. It's very difficult to aim at the left trees and actually commit to putting your normal swing on it, seemingly.

Another factor that my subconscious is killing me on, particularly straight into the wind, is that my calm, measured backswing disappears and it's like my brain says "need to hit it hard to get through this wind" and I end up with a longer backswing that I don't want - which promotes more slice.


What's Next?
Strengthening grip - my grip is already pretty strong but maybe I should strengthen the right hand round a little further for these particularly drives?

Closing stance - might have more luck if I shift my right foot back a little, coupled with the grip change, and basically try and hit straight-left pulls?


Just at my wit's end at the minute at the way my game crumbles in 25-30mph winds. Generally speaking my driving has improved on last year (couldn't get much worse) but the wind brings me right back to earth with a bump. Many of you are links or coastal players so you must have some gold tips for me??


(Note: Using an iron isn't the answer since my longest iron is a 6 so that will go absolutely nowhere. My 3W & 7W are high-launching so probably wouldn't be much help.)
Click to expand...
I looked this up once before going to play in Scotland. The advice was to do a swing that sort of stops short of following though and sort of lifts the club straight up. It worked. I'll have a look for it.......in a bit
 
It was windy again today, but it turned out to be blowing the opposite direction, so in fact on all the holes where it normally sends me Oscar Bravo, it was actually nice and helpful. 😄. Still, I tried strengthening my right hand anyway because I didn't get to the range this week and wanted to try it out as a feel, and it was quite helpful. I drove the ball rather well, apart from one massive slice - which was on our long par 3. I think because it's a par 3 though I subconsciously try and 'guide' it more resulting in the face staying open.
 
moved to a links last year, really enjoy it but yeah the wind can be a nigtmare, and constantly changes direction depending on what the tide is doing.

Things I have had to work on, for longer shots, learn the stinger, not as difficult as I thought, keeps it low but still has distance and lots of roll, I can only do it with irons, but if that's all I have in my arsenal that's what it has to be.

Punch shot for into the green. again keeps it low and adds a load of spin to negate the loss of height
 
r0wly86 said:
moved to a links last year, really enjoy it but yeah the wind can be a nigtmare, and constantly changes direction depending on what the tide is doing.

Things I have had to work on, for longer shots, learn the stinger, not as difficult as I thought, keeps it low but still has distance and lots of roll, I can only do it with irons, but if that's all I have in my arsenal that's what it has to be.

Punch shot for into the green. again keeps it low and adds a load of spin to negate the loss of height
Click to expand...
Whenever I try and hit one low, I get my hands forward, ball back in the stance - and it just fires out to the right with a big fade, so not particularly helpful. I guess when I move my hands forward, it opens the clubface, and I struggle to then get it closed again.
 
Orikoru said:
Whenever I try and hit one low, I get my hands forward, ball back in the stance - and it just fires out to the right with a big fade, so not particularly helpful. I guess when I move my hands forward, it opens the clubface, and I struggle to then get it closed again.
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Was blowing a hoolie today so it would have been a test to have been out in that wind. Felt like February's heavy winds we seemed to get each weekend
 
Orikoru said:
Whenever I try and hit one low, I get my hands forward, ball back in the stance - and it just fires out to the right with a big fade, so not particularly helpful. I guess when I move my hands forward, it opens the clubface, and I struggle to then get it closed again.
Click to expand...
Practicing such shots on the range would improve your success and scores. :)
 
HomerJSimpson said:
Indeed. Same with sloping lies, bad lies and different lies in bunkers. If you don't play them in practice how would you expect to play them off the cuff in a round
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Sadly I have no opportunity or facility to practice any of those.

PJ87 said:
Pfft that's just a moderate breeze you wuss
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You don't get to say that, your course isn't a proper links. 😛
 
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