Gauging Wind

[saevel25]

So, I was watching some YouTube golf. Ryan Ruffels mentioned that the Australian National Golf Team brought in the sailing team to teach them how to read wind. They said that anything above 60-FT in-the-air basically fallows the wind currents. So, picking up any grass and throwing it in the air is basically pointless since most all golf shots are going to be above 90-FT in the air. He did make the comment that if you do play on courses where trees are routinely above 60-FT, then the swirling wind matters. That is why, like on the 12th hole at Augusta, it's a pain. The trees down there influence that shot. If your shots are getting near the top of the trees, or above the trees, look up the direction of the wind.

If you want to get a better gauge of the wind. Go to the national weather service. If you type in the zip code for the location of the course, at the bottom of the page there is a clickable image for a graph of the weather, Hourly Weather Forecast. 

The graph will have surface wind (33-FT above ground), but it will tell you the direction the wind is coming from (i.e. out of the north). If you want to be really technical about it. Going from 33-FT to 100-Ft in height, you are increasing wind speed by about 25% as well. 

Edited Saturday at 10:35 PM by saevel25

[iacas]

The wind might be different above 60 feet, but peak height for many golfers is 80-90 feet, so it's spending a good chunk of its time being affected by the wind below 60 feet.

But, yes, judging the wind is one of the toughest things. We've had a very windy spring, but it's been a bit more normal lately.

[Shindig]

I'm glad to know that picking up grass and letting it go doesn't help.  It felt like it shouldn't, but I'm glad to hear there's a good reason why.  It makes sense that wind is different higher up than it is near the surface.

For a while, I was in the habit of checking the prevailing wind direction before playing.  That helped if I wasn't sure.  However, I still am not really sure whether something is a 5% wind or a 10% wind (and, of course, I know that a "helping" wind helps about half as much as the same wind hurting).   One of these days, I'll learn how to figure out what to do differently if the prevailing wind is 10mph vs 20 mph.