How to Play Golf in the Wind

windy-golf

Perhaps the most challenging area in golf is the ability to play in rough and windy weather conditions. Each shot has to take the wind direction into consideration, if not your ball flight can go horribly off target. Also, a slight mishit on the ball can result in a massive exaggeration in the direction of it, horribly shooting off to the right or left and out of bounds.

To learn to combat the wind and learn to embrace it, use the following tips:

1. Be sure to check the direction of the wind before you hit any shot. Don’t just judge the wind direction on your body or from the trees close by. Look at the flag and the trees on the fairway and around the green.

2. Adjust your aim according the wind direction if it’s a crosswind. If the wind is blowing in to you from the front or from behind you won’t need to change your aim at all.

3. Tee the ball down an extra 1/4 to 1/2 an inch and play the ball in the position you always do.

4. Wind not only blows your ball over, it can blow you over too, so counteract this by widening your stance a little to get more stability.

5. Just swing as normal, don’t add any more power as you’ll tense up and hit a bad shot which will be exaggerated by the wind as well.

6. Choose your irons wisely. Choose according to the wind direction, if the wind is going to take distance of your shot then go down a few clubs and go for a 7 iron instead of a 9 iron for instance.

7. Master the knockdown shot. To perform a knockdown shot you need to position the ball back 2 inches in your stance and swing back just 2 thirds of the way and through the follow through just 2 thirds as well. This shortens your swing and keeps the ball low resulting in more control of your ball flight.

8. Play the wind on every occasion, and this means round the greens too. You’ll be able to hit a much better shot if you chipped into the wind on the green as it will stop quickly.

9. If it’s particuarly windy on the green, you’ll also need to take into consideration the affect on the golf ball, so if it’s blowing directly into you don’t be shy in adding more power to your putting stroke and vice versa if the wind is behind you.

If you use these tips for playing golf in the wind you’ll have a much better time playing golf in the roughest of weather conditions.

Good luck and embrace the wind!