Controlling your ball flight in the wind
Keep It Low
At this time of year the weather conditions are often more of a contributing factor to higher scores. Some of these factors you can’t do anything about, however others you can try to limit the impact that they have on your game.
Specifically I am talking about how to combat the wind. There are two main ways to play golf successfully in windy conditions. The first one is to play with the wind, which means you have to aim further off target and allow for the strength of the wind to influence your golf ball. A couple of negatives with this are that you may find yourself aiming towards trouble in the hope the wind does in fact bring your ball back towards your target. The other negative effect this strategy may have is that it can cause a huge amount of loss of distance.
The other option which I am going to discuss is how to play a “knock down” shot.
The set-up for this type of shot is vitally important. Firstly make sure your feet are around shoulder width apart. Once you have done that, put 60% of your weight onto your lead foot. The ball position can be experimented with but the lower the intended shot the further back in your stance the ball needs to be.
The next step in the set-up is to push your hands forwards as this causes the shaft to lean and the loft of the club to strengthen/reduce.
Now we move onto the swing itself. It is important not to try to make a big turn with the hips on the backs wing as this can cause you to sway and move weight back towards the middle of your stance. The majority of your weight has to stay on the lead foot as this effects the loft on the club at impact.
The other main aspect of the swing is to try and keep the shaft angle leaning towards your target as you strike the ball. In other words, make sure your hands are staying ahead of the club head through impact. If you do this correctly the ball will launch at a much lower height.
It is then a case of practising this shot so you can judge the distances of your clubs more accurately.
If you are a left-handed golfer everything should be reversed.
If you would like to learn how to control your ball flight in the wind, then you can book a lesson with one of our PGA professionals by Clicking Here.
