Side Wind and club selection

[newtogolf]

I was at the range today and the wind was blowing pretty heavy left to right.  I noticed that with my PW I was consistently short and to the right of the target (about 120 yards).  PW is the club I usually use and it's usually right on.  Today I had to use my 9i to hit get the ball there consistently.

The wind at the range usually blows right to left, so I was wondering if the left to right wind combined with my normal ball spin would cause it to die like that with the PW or was I just having an off day?

[Paradox]

Too many variables to say what it was exactly but I'm sure you're already aware that the higher a ball goes, the more the wind will effect it.

The wind could have been just slightly into you, you could have been making less than optimal contact, the balls coulda been bad, who knows?  I wouldn't worry about it if y ou felt the swing was still correct, though.

[boogielicious]

Think about the vector of wind force.  20 mph wind directly at you will have maximum force on the ball's forward direction.  At 90 degrees, there is still a component of the force acting on the ball's forward direction because the wind is changing the direction of ball flight.  The ball flight is curving and the total distance it travels may be the same, but on a curve and not straight.  So the distance from tee could be linearly shorter.  There are other factors that may affect the total distance from the tee.