Wind Golf

Growing up on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada I can honestly say that I have seen some and played in some crazy wind storms.  At my home course it’s not uncommon to experience winds of 90 kh/m.  Despite the strong winds and very cold temperatures I REALLY enjoy playing in the wind!

Believe it or not that is the most IMPORTANT tip I can give you when playing in the wind.  If you find yourself getting upset with the conditions and the bad bounces/breaks that you will experience then you’re destined to play poorly.  No matter WHAT you do, you can’t make the wind stop with a snap of the fingers!  If for some reason you can then I will PAY you to move to my home city of Victoria Canada   The fact is why are you getting upset with something you have no control over?  This is just wasting energy and distracting your mind from focusing on things you can control.  The same can be said for the bad breaks that you WILL get.  Their going to happen when the wind blows so just smile, laugh and move on.

This is a cheesy saying but “swing easy when it’s breezy”.  Despite the cheesiness it’s so true!  Balls fly off line because of the side spin that is created when the club hits the ball.  Even MORE spin is created when you swing faster and guess what happens when it blows out and you hit shots with lots of side spin?  They get blown EVEN further off line. One thing we can to reduce the spin on the ball without any technical changes in the swing is to simply relax and slow the tempo down.

I have a great VIDEO DRILL you can do but first let me explain what to do first.  The best way to slow the tempo if the swing down it becomes more fluid and smooth is to bring the club back slowly.  Place a ball 8 inches behind a ball you’re about to hit like in the picture below.

If your take away is slow, the ball should only end up a 3-5 feet behind you. With a fast take away that ball would end up closer to ten + feet away from you.

The video below will show you how to achieve a nice rhythmic swing.

To accelerate your golf learning sign up for my free golf instruction email newsletter by clicking here!

Another thing that will help you become a better wind player is to have a stable base.  If the wind is strong then it will actually try and push your weight around causing you to become unstable.  You can easily do this by widening your stance.  Pretty easy right?  Good!

A great swing tip is to work on trunk rotation.  By trunk I mean your stomach.  All you have to do is follow through so that the front of your knee cap on your back leg and belt buckle face the target. Check below and easy video golf tip on body rotation.

Make sure to do this drill without a club and only focus on rotating to the target.

The LAST tip I will give is on playing in the wind is club selection.  If your playing into a wind, always select at least a club or two more.   Go down in loft and start to see the ball get closer to the hole.  I don’t have to give a reason besides tell you that 90% of my playing partners never have the right club when hitting into a wind.

When playing with the wind at your back, do the opposite because the ball will release and roll much more being down wind.

If you focus on these few things the next time you play in the wind, I have no doubts that you will PLAY GREAT because you will the right mindset and the essential tips to succeed when the wind is gusting!