How to decide how many clubs difference in the wind?

[ZappyAd]

The last few times I've been out the weather has been a little bit more wintry and there has been some wind.  As I haven't played many rounds this year it means I haven't played at all in the wind and it has really messed up my approaches into the greens!  I'm not even hitting the greens on some approaches with the wind with/against because I don't really have a method for judging how much to club up or down.

I guess a lot of it is going to be down to practice but I was wondering if there is anything to add into my pre-shot routine that might help?  When you throw up a piece of grass does anyone measure how far away it falls or is it just for direction?  Should I be checking weather reports before playing to get an idea of the general strength?  If anyone has any ideas for getting more accuracy then please share.

 

[bkuehn1952]

I have not seen a chart or other calculation for distance and wind affects.  There are so many factors (gusts, actual direction, club being hit, etc...) it would be hard to have an easy decision chart.

As you said, it pretty much is experience and trial and error.  On a gusty day, most of us do not score as well because there is no exact approach to measure the affects.

I do recommend you determine exactly the direction of the wind.  Often a breeze may seem like it is directly into you when it actually is a cross wind.  Also factor in temperature.  Cooler temperatures reduce a shot's length.  Hitting into a cold breeze really kills the distance.

[imsys0042]

Part of it will depend on your ball flight.  If you tend to hit a high ball you will be affected more.   Also the amount of time that the ball is in the air should affect it.   The best way that I determine is how hard the wind is blowing in my face.   If there are trees around, a good way to determine how hard the wind is blowing is to look at how hard the tree tops are blowing.

With weather apps today you can also get a sense of how hard the wind is blowing in MPH.   A few rounds where you see how it affects your play you can use that as a common rule.   5 MPH = 1/2 club, 10 MPH = full club.   More might be two clubs, etc..   (those are just made up numbers).

It might also help to learn to hit the ball lower, or take one extra club and choke down a little bit.

Yesterday I had 10-15 MPH winds and on a 140yard par 3 it was gusting enough where I needed two extra clubs.   I could have hit one extra club and hit it harder, or even a three-quarter swing with a third extra club if it was really blowing and not have flown the green.   You need some time to practice and see for how you approximate the intensity of the wind, how much longer the shot plays.

 

 

[Club Rat]

Club selection should be based on Shot selection.

Rule of Thumb' - the harder you hit the ball, the more it spins. The more the ball spins, the further it flies!

Example - Most old guys I golf with hit woods & hybrids on approach shots. They don't hit the ball very hard, they have less spin, less spin = straighter shots and a lesser chance of the ball flying sideways or ballooning. This leads to the often heard term "when its breezy, swing easy"  Some players are strong enough and most likely skilled enough, can crush a shot and have little effect of wind controlling that shot. Other times they may use a longer iron, place it back in their stance, choke down, swing easy, hit a low boring shot which will be less effected by wind conditions.

Another example - Cross Winds. If the wind is going right to left, a player who hits a draw spin, the ball will "ride the wind" and push the ball direction left. A player who cuts the ball, the shot would most likely travel less distance and hold a straighter path as the ball fights the crosswind.

Having a broad arsenal of shot selections in your bag will make wind challenging days more fun.

 

[Patch]

About the only thing a golfer can do is to keep their ball flight lower while adding in previous experiences in  play or practice in different wind directions and speeds. 

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, ZappyAd said:

The last few times I've been out the weather has been a little bit more wintry and there has been some wind.  As I haven't played many rounds this year it means I haven't played at all in the wind and it has really messed up my approaches into the greens!  I'm not even hitting the greens on some approaches with the wind with/against because I don't really have a method for judging how much to club up or down.

I guess a lot of it is going to be down to practice but I was wondering if there is anything to add into my pre-shot routine that might help?  When you throw up a piece of grass does anyone measure how far away it falls or is it just for direction?  Should I be checking weather reports before playing to get an idea of the general strength?  If anyone has any ideas for getting more accuracy then please share.

 

 

Here are some references:

http://www.golfwrx.com/318416/how-the-wind-affects-your-golf-ball/

http://www.mytpi.com/articles/swing/playing_golf_in_the_wind

http://probablegolfinstruction.com/golf-wind.htm

I tend to play wind shots just like any other shot and treat it as a mishit, and at the same time "kind of" setup into the wind just a little bit. If one of my playing partner's ball flies the green, I'll get one to 2 clubs less, and club up if they hit short. That's one reason I tend to always let my partners play first, unless they really insist.

 

 

[David in FL]

Whatever you think it is, add one more club.  

[tcnbtx]

Hey Lihu:

These three links have some very helpful information. Thank you.

[natureboy]

Partly depends on the average wind speed magnitude, how high you hit the ball, and the local topography.

For the ball flight height I have (which is pretty high) at lower wind speeds (~5 mph) a hurting wind and helping wind will affect the shot by roughly the same %. But with bigger winds (~15 mph) hurting wind for me is like -20% and helping is around +10%, & 25 mph wind level is ~ -40% hurting while only ~ +12% helping.

The ball height matters, because due to friction and turbulence near the ground, wind speed tends to climb with height. The gradient with height is steeper if the surrounding land is very open and flat without many trees or structures (like seaside links or prairie type courses). Playing in the middle of dense, tall trees tends to lessen the severity of the wind at height (if you keep ball flight below the treetops).

I think a rough rule of thumb I've heard for typical windy conditions is -1.4 normal distance hurting wind & +.8 helping wind. That's to carry distance. Into the wind total distance will tend to be closer to carry than normal, but downwind, the total distance will increase because the ball is carrying further and landing a bit shallower with a bit more speed.

The lower the shot and the less spin, the less the wind tends to touch it.

Edited December 16, 2015 by natureboy

[Golfingdad]

15 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Whatever you think it is, add one more club.  

LOL ... this is pretty much what I was going to say.  I you think its a "one-club wind" go up two clubs, etc.  (And, if anything, swing easier, not harder)

[Lihu]

54 minutes ago, tcnbtx said:

Hey Lihu:

These three links have some very helpful information. Thank you.

Glad you find them useful.

 

40 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

LOL ... this is pretty much what I was going to say.  I you think its a "one-club wind" go up two clubs, etc.  (And, if anything, swing easier, not harder)

Yeah, adding hook or slice to that shot is not going to help much.

 

[dkolo]

4 hours ago, ZappyAd said:

The last few times I've been out the weather has been a little bit more wintry and there has been some wind.  As I haven't played many rounds this year it means I haven't played at all in the wind and it has really messed up my approaches into the greens!  I'm not even hitting the greens on some approaches with the wind with/against because I don't really have a method for judging how much to club up or down.

I guess a lot of it is going to be down to practice but I was wondering if there is anything to add into my pre-shot routine that might help?  When you throw up a piece of grass does anyone measure how far away it falls or is it just for direction?  Should I be checking weather reports before playing to get an idea of the general strength?  If anyone has any ideas for getting more accuracy then please share.

 

Make shots that lower your ball flight. So flighting an extra club down is the way to go. This lowers the ball flight, which reduces how much wind can affect the ball, and lowers spin, which is another factor that affects how much wind can affect a ball flight