Strong winds and the high handicapper

[wookie]

Off out to play in Captains Day competition shortly with winds off just over 20 mph forecast - which will feel a lot more than that around 13 - 15 coming off the airfield at our place.

Obviously I havent developed much of a range of shots and just concentrate on trying to strike the ball well.

Any simple advice other than taking more or less club and aiming slightly left or right. I play the odd punch to get out of trouble but its not really very accurate.

Cheers

Simon

 

[pbrown7582]

if youve not played that many punch shots its not ideal to start playing lots in a comp but if you give one or two a go early on and they work stick with it.
Take notice of the wind direction more club and and swing normally into wind dont try and hit it hard can produce high stalling ball flight.
Maybe downwind hit 3 wood off tee and ride the wind?
Most of all enjoy regardless!

 

[Region3]

The shorter the club the less the wind will affect it.

I try (emphasis try) to keep the ball lower by taking 2 extra clubs, ball back a bit, half a backswing, and low punchy follow through.

I can understand after today why a lot of cat1 players don't bother in these conditions. I think I'd have had to have played out of my skin just to avoid 0.1

 

[garyinderry]

i played in quite a bit of wind and rain all day and managed to shoot well under handicap. pity i couldnt enter the comp as two other boys cryed it off with the weather. soft greens were to a joy to shoot at!

 

[louise_a]

It was quite blowy on Thursday, I hit a couple of 200+ drives with the wind betwen, just put up with it when the winfd wasnt directly behind, not clever enough to be able to manage wind.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

20 mph is a zepher not a wind.

When the wind does blow...swing slow.

 

[wookie]

I shot 31 points in the end - second out of the 9 of our roll up who were playing so not too bad and about a third of a way down the leaderboard for the comp which was max 18.

Its certainly different playing in that sort of wind but other than the ones where you're playing directly into it and the ball seems to go nowhere I quite enjoyed the challenge.

 

[ScienceBoy]

I played today and had two rounds at a 9 holer with holes are around 80-140 yards long. After a decent warm up I headed out in the strong gusty winds. I decided to try and play my normal game for the first 9 and low 1/2 7 irons & 8 irons off the tee for the second round.

Normal shots in the first round I scored +7 gross, made worse by a poor bunker shot leading to a triple, should have been just +5 gross at worst

The second round I found a lot more greens with the low runner off the tee, lipped out for birdie twice and hit the flag twice with chips! The first I hit some great shots but they just tended to get whipped around or pushed off the back by a strong gust.

In the 2nd round I scored +2 gross, should have been +1 but I missed a three footer.

The moral is, when its really gusty keep it out of it! Much easier to find the short stuff! If it had been a mild not so gusty wind I would not have played half shots, but this time they worked perfectly. I did hit a couple of full shots, a PW from 140 yards down wind and a 5 iron 130 right into its teeth!

 

[Andy808]

20 MPH is bearly a breeze at our place. Played a match Thursday evening with steady 30 wind gusting to 45 plus.
Best thing to do is to go out and practice in it when it is windy. Even better if it's not raining then it's just one element to contend with. We had the additional hazard of torrential rain along with the wind, stood on the 9th tee was more like being blasted in the face with a jet wash from 4 feet away.
Get out there and practice when it's windy, it's great when you get a feel for it and your opponents haven't.