Driving into a strong headwind ?

[Gerald]

Today we had a lot of wind, with the wind from behind..... it is easy to benefit from, just tee it up high and make sure you hit the ball in the upswing........ but against the wind I normally hit it a bit further to the right ,,,,, but doing that I still have a shorter low ball climbing high by the added backspin ....... One of the guys I played with today told me I was doing this wrong .....

He said to tee up at normal height and try to hit it on the lower half of the head in the upswing, for a less backspin lower ball .....

Any ideas ?

[newtogolf]

I was told to position the ball further back in my stance when driving into a head wind, but maybe that's just for high handicappers.

[GaijinGolfer]

Originally Posted by Gerald

Today we had a lot of wind, with the wind from behind..... it is easy to benefit from, just tee it up high and make sure you hit the ball in the upswing........ but against the wind I normally hit it a bit further to the right ,,,,, but doing that I still have a shorter low ball climbing high by the added backspin ....... One of the guys I played with today told me I was doing this wrong .....

He said to tee up at normal height and try to hit it on the lower half of the head in the upswing, for a less backspin lower ball .....

Any ideas ?

Sounds like BS to me.

[golf4fun12]

I agree with newtogolf. keep the ball low. like a punch shot. that's what I try to do when hitting into the wind with driver. if you balloon it, it won't go anywhere. pretty much the case with any club into the wind.

[Gerald]

Hmmmm ........

Originally Posted by TitleistWI

Sounds like BS to me.

........ took me some time to think what BS stands for ...... LOL

OKay, but the guy plays from hc 0.3 ....... so I figure he's not giving BS advise .......

[Gerald]

Adds more backspin and the ball climbs higher than normal.......

Originally Posted by newtogolf

I was told to position the ball further back in my stance when driving into a head wind, but maybe that's just for high handicappers.

[Roblar]

I was told to "tee it low and swing slow".

I keep the ball in the same place, but I just tee it a tiny bit lower (maybe even less than a quarter inch?  I just make sure the equator of the ball is below the top of the driver.) and I swing about 15% (just a guess) easier than normal.  I keep my swing thought to, "Just swing smooth."

I play in Oklahoma, so I get the chance to play into wind a lot, and this has worked well for me.*

I've also played around with trying to keep a low follow through but I think that's putting too many thoughts in the head --- I've had very mixed results there. (I'm guessing it's more about my relatively low skill level than anything else.)

I'm looking forward to reading the other advice you get.

*I also am a high-handicapper, so take what I say with a golf-ball sized grain of salt...

[westcyderydin]

What about hitting a pull draw into the wind...if the hole sets up for it?

i have choked up a few inches on my driver when trying to hit is a shorter distance.  it goes a lot lower... i guess it depends on how much distance you would lose hitting it like this compared to losing distance with the ball up in the wind.  very controlable tho...goes a bit further left, too.

[clubchamp]

I've tried a lot of different things that I have read or people have told me to try when driving into the wind. Honestly I usually just play it like a normal drive and deal with it on my second shot since it seems to be easier for me to play a low runner, draw or fade etc with an iron. Plus if I can just get my second shot close to the green I like my odds of getting up and down rather than messing with my driver and stuffing it in the woods. I also think your friend is BS'n you I just don't see how you could plan a shot hitting the top half of the ball I'd think that would really up your odds of topping it quite a bit. I mean I get his theory but I just don't buy it.

[phillyk]

I think your friend is BSing you.  With no spin on the ball the wind can destroy its distance.  My normal drive is fairly low normally, but with wind in my face I try to put backspin on it, because it'll cut into the wind and keep the ball in the air longer giving you more distance.  I don't know if that works with other people, but I know putting back spin on it works for me to get distance into the wind.

[zeg]

Originally Posted by phillyk

I think your friend is BSing you.  With no spin on the ball the wind can destroy its distance.  My normal drive is fairly low normally, but with wind in my face I try to put backspin on it, because it'll cut into the wind and keep the ball in the air longer giving you more distance.  I don't know if that works with other people, but I know putting back spin on it works for me to get distance into the wind.

I think you normally want less spin into the wind.  With a headwind, for the same groundspeed (i.e., launch velocity), the ball has a higher airspeed.  That's going to increase the lift it gets from backspin, so will lead to the ball flaring if your still-air shot has at or near optimal spin.  If you normally spin less than optimal, perhaps you'd get better results that way.

If there's a cross-wind component, though, the extra air time is going to get you blown farther off your original path, though.  If you can play for it, it may not be a problem, but it also exposes you to more unpredictability due to gusts, etc.  I don't have a lot of direct experience playing in the wind, but my inclination would be to keep it low where there's likely less wind and let it spend more time rolling on the ground if the conditions allow.

[phillyk]

Originally Posted by zeg

I think you normally want less spin into the wind.  With a headwind, for the same groundspeed (i.e., launch velocity), the ball has a higher airspeed.  That's going to increase the lift it gets from backspin, so will lead to the ball flaring if your still-air shot has at or near optimal spin.  If you normally spin less than optimal, perhaps you'd get better results that way.

If there's a cross-wind component, though, the extra air time is going to get you blown farther off your original path, though.  If you can play for it, it may not be a problem, but it also exposes you to more unpredictability due to gusts, etc.  I don't have a lot of direct experience playing in the wind, but my inclination would be to keep it low where there's likely less wind and let it spend more time rolling on the ground if the conditions allow.

Actually, hitting into the wind with no spin causes the ball to be thrown around a lot more and goes shorter than with spin.  If you tee the ball low and hit the ball with spin, the ball flight will stay low and penetrate the wind.  The ball won't rise all that much if you start it out low enough, so it's better to hit the ball with spin.  But, you have to make sure you're starting it with a low ball flight.

[Gerald]

This is getting an interesting discussion, because there are different views more or less backspin, normal or lower tee height, normal or 85% ss.

Personally my experience with more backspin is a ball climbing up higher and being shorter, also sidespin being multiplied by the head wind.

So my prefs might be lower initial flight and maybe hitting it from a lower or normal tee height and a slower ss to reduce backspin....... still not figured it out yet.

Surfing the internet for instruction movies, also a mix of techniques.......

[battler]

On a driver, the spin varies ~2000rpm from top to bottom of the clubhead. So hitting the ball at the bottom of the head will give you 1000rpm less spin due to the 'gear effect'. How this alters the ballflight, I'm not the one to answer.

Andreas

TrackMan Inc.

[Blades4me]

When I have that shot, driving into the wind. I tee the ball low & back a little, so it hits mid face, chock down a little and do a smooth 3/4 swing. Sometime I'll rip it, but still tee it low and back. "When its  breezy, swing easy".

[yetanotherbogey]

i dont change the ball position in my stance but i do tee the ball slightly lower than normal .What i do change is i stand slightly closed and start the ball right and work a low draw back in to the fairway. the biggest change though is i finish my swing very low , almost flat , the ball wont carry as far as normal but it will run more than usual.

[TourSpoon]

Normally into the wind I just try to put a smooth swing on it resisting the urge to go after it.  If it is really windy I will move the ball back slightly, tee it down slightly, and swing smooth for solid contact which usually gives me a medium flighted draw.  The most important ingredient is to resist the temptation to hit it harder than normal because this will lead to swing faults being exposed and increased spin.

[lumpuckeroo]

I will tee the ball slightly lower, choke up on the grip an inch or so, and then try to make smooth, easy swing.  What I have found it a well struck ball will fight the wind, it doesn't have to be hit hard, and any side spin will be increased hitting into the wind.  So I attempt to hit the ball in the sweet spot with a square club face.