How to Golf in the Wind

The wind and other weather conditions is just one more factor that can affect your golf game. Although you could have the ideal stance, the proper setup position, and the right club in your hands, if the wind is blowing excessively strong in one direction or there is a cross wind, your ball will not land where you think.

Golf Beginners

This can be really maddening for the beginning golfer. When the weather is ideal for golf, beginners can have trouble controlling the ball, so you can picture their annoyance when the wind picks up. To develop into a better golfer, you will have to find out how to golf in diverse weather conditions. Your local golf course could be wet or dry during different times of the year or it could be affected by strong gusts. If you also play other courses in a different state, you could face different wind and conditions.

The Links Courses

If you are serious about golf and want to become a better golfer then you will have to find out how to adapt your game to suit the conditions. As you might realize, the links courses of Great Britain can be really challenging due to their exposed position. That is why it took sixty years for an American to win The Open. Those first American Open Champions are still household names as they changed the story of golf evermore. American golfers like Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, and Ben Hogan all arrived on the shores of Britain and mastered the windy links courses. Since then, The Open has had Champions from many different countries.

The Wind Direction

As golf courses are not laid out in a straight line, each hole can be orientated in a different direction which makes it difficult to calculate the wind direction. So, the first step is to know where the wind is coming from. On a links course you normally get a prevailing wind that can be constant. From time to time, the wind direction changes throughout the day so you have to take that into account.

On several woodland courses where there are high and low areas of the course, you may be faced with unpredictable wind conditions. Also, you could be playing your approach shot from a sheltered position but the green is exposed to strong winds. So it's not always enough to check the wind speed and direction where you are hitting from, you also have to look to the flag or the trees near the green to get a sense of the wind conditions.

Golf Club Choice

Next, you have to select the right club. The first thing to realize is that a head wind will affect the ball's distance but not as much as a tail wind. Many golfers believe that a tail wind will help their ball fly further than it actually does. In fact, you will only gain approximately 10% distance when hitting with the wind but you will loose about 20% distance when hitting into the wind. The solution to hitting into the wind is to choose a lower lofted club and to not hit the ball harder than normal and to take a stance with your feet closer together for more stability. When hitting with the wind choose a higher lofted club than usual.

The wind can be a golfer's worst enemy, even the pros can find it difficult to predict the wind and how it will affect their ball. Possibly the most difficult wind condition is the cross wind; it takes lots of experience and practice to be able to know how much you have to compensate in your aim to the target. Playing golf in the wind is just another aspect that makes golf such a interesting and challenging game. To be a good golfer you will have to just learn how to control your ball in the wind, and that implies golfing more on windy days.