Socal wind

[jenhaoyen]

Jeez, 50 - 60 mph wind, was pretty hard to play. NOthing stayed on the green.

Need some advice for playing in the wind.

 

[otto6457]

Advice for you....or them?

I play in one of the windiest places in the country. I'll be happy to offer what I know.

 

[spktho]

I played a few times during the Santa Anas, where I live they regularly get to 50 mph, and have hit 100 yrd. drives into the wind with a driver. For me it's not worth playing when they are this strong. It might be a different story if I were a tournament player.

 

[jenhaoyen]

Advice for you....or them?

I play in one of the windiest places in the country. I'll be happy to offer what I know.

1. What would be an optimal drive? Hit it low?
2. If it's a slice wind, should i play slice? vice versa hook wind playing a hook?
3. Putting is hard as well, sometimes it's right to left but with the wind it becomes left to right (that's how strong the wind was)

thanks

 

[SteveT]

Only carry two clubs ... a 1-iron and putter ... hit a lot of 'stingers', and putt out quickly before the wind moves the ball or before you topple...!!!

 

[dschultz6072]

Go bowling instead.

 

[mgranato]

Need some advice for playing in the wind.

If that's you in your avatar... eat more sandwiches.

 

[spktho]

If that's you in your avatar... eat more sandwiches.

Or, as my dad used to say, carry a safety rope.

 

[otto6457]

1. What would be an optimal drive? Hit it low?
2. If it's a slice wind, should i play slice? vice versa hook wind playing a hook?
3. Putting is hard as well, sometimes it's right to left but with the wind it becomes left to right (that's how strong the wind was)

thanks

I don't change much till the wind gets over 20-25mph. If it's a steady 30 it gets pretty tough. Anything over 40 becomes a survival test.

For drives into the wind I tee it down and play the ball a little ahead of center. I take a little less than a full swing to take some of the spin off. It's more of a knuckle ball if that makes sense. Roll is your friend in the wind on tee shots. Even downwind I try and keep the ball down a little. I figure your going to have a shorter iron in anyway so play for position. Maybe let it fly on a long par 5 if the fairway is wide.

I also take the hybrid out and put the 3 iron back in. I can't keep the hybrid down like the 3 iron.

On approach shots I always try to hold my shots into the wind for more control. If the wind is right to left, I'll hit a fade. Left to right, a draw. I play it back maybe a ball. I don't go crazy with playing it back. I seem to generate a lot more spin if I play it back very far and I'm trying to spin it less in the wind. Again, when the wind gets over 40 I'll choke down on a longer club and almost bunt it around. If the course you're playing has a lot of forced carries over water or bunkers it makes it even harder since you can't roll balls up on the green. Luckily out here in West Texas most of the courses are built for the wind and we always have a opening to run balls up.

Putting in high wind is a crap shoot. You really can't accurately factor how much the wind will move your ball. We had an Aimpoint Clinic out here recently and it was brutally windy. Steady wind of 30, gusts over 40. The instructor was excited because he never gets to teach in this sort of wind. He laid out a 20 foot putt and stuck toothpicks with little strips of cloth on the tops at 2 foot intervals. On that 20 foot putt 3 of the little flags weren't moving at all. The wind completely missed them. He explained that you can't accurately estimate any extra break from wind because you have no idea where or when the wind will effect the roll. A putt on one side of ridge may not have any wind at ground level. On the other side it can be blowing faster than the average speed of the wind due to how the wind interacts with the ground. Wind speed at the hole is the critical factor and there is no way to know how much wind is actually moving at the hole when your ball arrives. Also stimp and slope near the hole is VERY critical for this. A stimp of 10 and above makes the wind MUCH more of a factor. Add in a 4% slope and your miss can be in feet instead of inches. But you still have no idea how much wind is reaching your ball at any point during the roll. For reference a 1% slope looks as flat as a pool table. A 4% slope is where it looks like your ball will roll off on it's own if you blow on it. The Texas Golf Association won't set a pin on a 4% slope. I've seen very few on a 3% slope. But if the greens are slow (stimp at 8 or so) you might see a pin on a 4%.

I had a feeling what he showed us was true before he explained it because of my experience playing in the wind all my life. But it was interesting seeing it actually displayed. I never figure any "wind break" on my putts unless I've had the putt before and know that the wind near the hole is pretty consistent. (hole #3 on my home course is VERY exposed to the wind and when the pin is in the back left and the wind is howling, all the putts will move towards the front left bunker if the wind is out of the southwest) BTW our greens stimp around 10. For the Club Championship and Big 12 tournaments they speed them up to 11+, so when the wind gets up it gets tough in a hurry.

For me, playing in high wind is as much mental as technical. You have to accept on the first tee that you're going to miss greens and fairways. Your up and downs are going to be harder. And putting is going to be an adventure. But, keeping your emotions in check and sticking to a game plan makes it a little easier. The wind will beat you down if you let it.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[jenhaoyen]

If that's you in your avatar... eat more sandwiches.

I'm blown away

 

[jenhaoyen]

Or, as my dad used to say, carry a safety rope.

catch me if you can

 

[Kevin Shields]

Low isn't the answer all the time. Unless there's trees around the wind is blowing just as hard in your face as it is 100 ft in the air. Solid contact with minimal spin is what you need.

Try to curve your ball into a crosswind on approach shots but expect a loss of distance. Ride the wind if possible on drives.

In a crazy wind, get the ball on the ground as fast as possible and resign yourself to the fact you'll face a lot of 5 to 10 foot par putts. If you can hole those, you can make a score in those conditions. It's all about keeping a huge number off your card. I honestly think that some players still think they'll shoot the same score in those conditions so they are not prepared to deal with it. It's all about pre round planning and expectations.

Know in advance what a good score on a particular day is. Tough conditions could be used to your advantage because it keeps you from looking ahead and focused on the shot at hand

 

[golfdad]

My kids are not from socal, but they have played there before, as well as other areas by the ocean where unless one is used to it chronically, it is very unnerving at times.

I remember one par 3 next to the ocean and across a pond. The wind was howling and twirling. My kid played a club that is 3 club up, but ended up short anyway into the pond motto: playing up one club is certainly not the rule!

Another tricky one is this setup: severe side wind, 70-100 yd to the pin. to have a chance on the green, the alignment must be way out of the green, directly at some hazard such as water. In retrospect, that is indeed the case, but at the moment, it is so tempting to play it "safe" and just aim for the side edge of the green. And see the ball blown all the way into the deep bunker on the other side.

is looking at the flag a reliable indicator of how much wind may affect the approach shot? ummmm, no!

Not sure how factual this clip's info is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaibYxMd0P8&feature=endscreen&NR=1

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Low isn't the answer all the time. Unless there's trees around the wind is blowing just as hard in your face as it is 100 ft in the air. Solid contact with minimal spin is what you need.

Very true, but i always seem to find (guessing not verified) that the higher you hit a shot into the wind the more potential that ball has to balloon further up into the air rather than going forward somewhere. Can trackman be setup with a head wind? Be interesting to hit shots with various AOA/LA/spin rates to see the ending distance.