Playing in the wind..

[vkurup]

Yesterday it was too windy to play, but that should not stop the foolish from getting out there. Tall bushy trees back the P3 160y 18th green. The trees are all very full as they block the car park.

Was standing on our 18th. Wind going Left to Right, however the flag was almost horizontal but Right to Left We debated which way to play. My theory was the ball would be more affected by the direction of the wind nearer to the green rather than the tee. So we should play right and let the wind bring it back.

My partner went first and he pushed his way right. So I had nothing to guide me. So I started on the flag, only to see the ball fade a fair bit!! Just cant see how we got it so wrong.

How do people read the wind?

 

[Doug1]

Guess if there was an easy way to read the wind then the 12th at Augusta would be a regulation par 3. Its easy from a helicopter, we just fire a smoke flare out the door! Guess thats not a practical solution here though!

 

[Foxholer]

Allowing (a lot) for a left or right wind backfires far too often - as it did yesterday a couple of times when the ball went rocket straight into unfriendly territory!

 

[Bobmysterkaymer]

It was windy for us to, kept aiming to allow for the wind only for the ball to go straight!

Club up (or2) and swing easy!

 

[rosecott]

The received wisdom is that side winds have little effect on good shots.

 

[AmandaJR]

Blowing a flipping gale again today. Found myself getting very frustrated with it yesterday so heaven help me today!

 

[guest100718]

The received wisdom is that side winds have little effect on good shots.

It certainly makes a bad shot much worse

 

[Oddsocks]

The received wisdom is that side winds have little effect on good shots.

I'd agree with this, but playing on a downs course I have to be a little more precise. Yesterday we played in what was 35-40mph gusting wind and with no tree coverage our course on the downs gets blowy big time. We played with a 7 capper who was trying to hit things harder and harder into the wind and it just wasn't working.

For me I do the traditional grass test, then look at everything around,tops of trees, flags, small bushes... Get as much info as poss, then club up by at least one and swing 3/4 or even 2/3 if the winds are very strong. I find these knock down shots don't spin and get effected very little.

A 3/4 or 2/3 punched iron will generally move about 10 - 15 feet if into cross winds.... That's about it.

 

[Scooby999]

We had a our monthly medal yesterday, gustin 45mph winds. To say it was horrendous was an understatement. Only three net scores under 80! With wind like that I think it is just pure guess work, possibly worse going downwind. My plan which I stuck to was to play my normal game, into the wind it was always going to be more shots to the green, once you start trying to hit the skin off it is when it all goes wrong. Shot a 97 gross which i was well happy with as I came third.

Our biggest issues were on the greens as the ball was being blown away as soon as you placed it.

but that links golf ;-)