I hate the wind.

[HighSpeedScene]

Guys from Texas always think they are the only ones that have to play in the wind..

[Chief Illiniwek]

[quote name='HighSpeedScene' timestamp='1392469197' post='8672979']
Guys from Texas always think they are the only ones that have to play in the wind..
[/quote]

Haha agreed! I just googled "wind speed map" and according to that the average wind speed here in central Illinois where I am is just as strong as most of Texas (except North Texas which does indeed appear to have strong average winds). According to the map it's the guys in Nebraska and Kansas (along with the North Texans) who should be complaining about the wind speeds!

Edit: some pretty interesting things on that map. For instance I've heard plenty of Florida guys complain about their wind but it looks like Florida is pretty mild. I guess it's all relative to what you're used to.

Edit2: For some reason (snow boredom) I've delved farther into this. Lots of interesting stuff. Scotland also appears correct in their claims of strong wind. Most of England doesn't look to bad though.

Also, not trying to pick on anyone but Duffer you mentioned you're from California and basically told the OP to toughen up and that you enjoy playing in the wind. California is about the calmest state in the nation, and SoCal especially (don't know where you are from). Where the OP is in North Texas, the mean wind speed is around 20 mph. SoCal is less than half that. It's interesting because I don't think "typical" wind speeds around the nation are as understood as something like temperature. For instance, being from central Illinois I certainly complain about the winters, but if someone from the Dakotas is complaining about the cold I just keep my mouth shut because I know our winters aren't even in the same ballpark! When it comes to wind, Nebraska, Kansas, and North Texas are the "Dakotas" and if they start complaining about the wind, then you know it's frigging windy!

[martinbns]

I have lived on the Canadian Prairies where wind is very prevalent, my last course was windy almost to the extreme.

I found after playing there for 5 years, that when it wasn't windy I didn't play that well. I didn't concentrate as hard.

I love playing in the wind, some holes you get to attack, some you are playing defence all the way. Makes the game more interesting as soon as you accept that some days a long par four is actually a par five and vice versa.

[lumberman2462]

Texas guys are good wind players. In college I played a lot of golf with a guy from Texas and he could play the most amazing shots....his best rounds were always in bad weather or high winds. The rest of us would shoot 78 and he'd come in at even. Oddly he would hack when trying to play the ball high.

My rhythm suffers in the wind and then I'll start sliding the hips forward and then get steep.....

[GWD]

In another thread I mentioned that my playing area involves the Carquinez Straits in CA. A wind tunnel that the local AFB appreciates.

Liking or not liking the wind is irrelevant. Same with water hazards, OBs, sand traps, narrow fairways, long rough, (OK, enough of that). Those are the conditions so deal with it. The only thing you have complete control over is your perceptions.

The biggest problem most have to deal with is swing changes, whether realized or not, in windy conditions. The already mentioned quote of "when it's breezy, swing easy (sic)" runs through my mind between shots. The thought helps to keep the consistency in my swing.

Club selection may be different, aiming point may be different, results may be affected but it is still golf. Good ball-striking will be the best thing that can be done. Like with any other variable in golf...what happens, happens. Go find the ball and play the next shot.

As far as handicap goes, others in your area play under the same circumstances so their handicaps also reflect the conditions. The handicaps are essentially equalized. Now, if you went to San Diego to play in a tournament with the locals you'd likely have a large handicap advantage due to the calm conditions rather than the more harsh Texas weather. That may help think of it as a positive.

[Dpavs]

Was -10 with 20 mph winds recently... can't understand what you are complaining about!

[Roody]

I'm a lousy wind player, because I have a high ball flight. When I played Pebble last year, the first 9 I shot 38, and that was probably because the wind was pretty calm. Around the 9th hole the wind started picking up, and I shot 46 on the back. I don't really know how to hit lower driver shots, so any hole I was teeing off into wind was leaving me with long second shots into the greens.

[Medic]

I have to chuckle a little when talking about wind because of a round I played in 2004.

It was the worst hurricane season we had suffered in years. First Charley, the Francis - both lots of damage and a LOT of overtime for me and my department. Along comes Hurricane Jeanne - she goes up the coast and seems like will miss us but then circles back around and hits our coast almost directly.

My brother FF and I were already on call and due to go into work at 6 pm for "an indefinite period until the main portion of the storm has gone past". So he and I head to a course in the north end of our county - called Walkabout. It is really flat and not too many houses in the subdivision back then but since Jeanne seemed to be headed more towards the south end of the county we thought there would be less rain bands and maybe less winds.

We get there and it is cloudy but no rain. But the winds were incredible. Some gust of around 40 to 50 as the outer bands made their way towards land. We are the only ones on the whole course and, even with the ridiculous levels of wind, were having a blast. Hole 6 is a short par 4 that only plays about 280 from the tees we were playing from but it was directly into the wind. I hit a nice solid drive that went high and carried about 150 or so leaving me another 130 out. My pard is about the same position - we were both laughing at how bad the winds were killing the ball. I pull a 6 iron for my second and pure it. It goes up into the air, the winds start to kill it, and it drops onto the green - following by one bounce and it drops into the hole.

To this day this is the only eagle I have ever made on a par 4. I shot around 100 or so for the round. And afterwards Jeanne dealt us a REALLY bad blow and I worked for 5 days straight only getting a couple of hours of sleep here and there when I could. But thanks to some help from the wind, some divine intervention, and a LOT of luck I holed out for an eagle and made a golf memory of a lifetime.

[CBRADGO]

I enjoy the wind, it makes you hit GOLF shots instead of just shots. To prepare, plan, and execute a shot you visualize cross, down, or into the wind and execute it well is more thrilling than just about anything in golf, to me. I had about a 25 mph R to L wind last year from 150, just behind and to the right of a small pine, OB right wrapping around the back, and a large bunker in front of the slightly elevated green. Pin was back left, I had to work it with the wind. Hit the 3/4 hold off 8i baby draw and landed it to 12 ft. I can still see it in my mind like it's on TiVo, and it's probably a shot I'll remember the rest of my life. It was perfectly executed. Of course I missed the putt, but that's just minutia. It was Golf Nirvana for those 5 or 6 seconds of flight and bite...

[oiler45]

I live in Alberta and commonly play in heavy winds. I HATE playing in wind - I find my concentration suffers and I get an ear ache.
Maybe I'm just a wimp but calm days rule.

[oregongolf]

I love playing in the wind. I think it's one of the greatest equalizers in the game.

Obviously, I'm talking about the wind when it's not 35 degrees out... that's just bitter and it sucks.

[TomMorgan51]

I enjoy playing in the wind for the reasons previously stated by others. 3 footers can make you cringe sometimes in a heavy crosswind though if things aren't going well.

[Mitchell]

Find it interesting that here on Oahu most really good players tend to hit low draws no matter the conditions due to being accustomed to playing in trade winds. I personally enjoy challenge of flighting ball in wind and as others have stated, tend to change my targets and concentrate better. You can either dictate your attitude and expectations, or let conditions break concentration,I prefer to choose my own outlook, good luck!

[Literacola]

Yeah the wind was bad here a couple of days ago. I actually had to put on long sleeve pullover during the round

[martinbns]

[quote name='oiler45' timestamp='1392499129' post='8675417']
I live in Alberta and commonly play in heavy winds. I HATE playing in wind - I find my concentration suffers and I get an ear ache.
Maybe I'm just a wimp but calm days rule.
[/quote]

When we played in Leduc, my wife would occasionally wear ear plugs.

[MtlJeff]

Everyone has tough conditions, speaking of handicaps, quebecers for example have a handicap season from i believe april 15th until October 31st, though i may be wrong about those dates exactly but it's close

depending on the season (last season was not good, this one will probably be worse)....2 months of your season can be played in cold, windy weather in poor course conditions (poor bumpy greens etc). It's not uncommon for guys who have 0 handicaps in mid summer to be 2.5's or 3's by the time the season ends. We had some days in October where hardly anyone broke 80 in our sunday games out of multiple groups of A players.

In fact one of my pet peeves is guys who play that to their advantage. I have a friend famous for this, he'll always come into May a 9 handicap or something just in time for all the stroke'd tournaments, by July he's a 1 or 2.

[farmer]

You guys from the Metro area and Austin should come to the Panhandle. High plains, basically a cultivated desert, windy and hot, windy and cold. Unless it gets ridiculous, I don't mind the wind, because we play in wind all the time. As I've aged (aged out, some would say) I don't mind the wind, but cold and wind defeats me. The kind of Scottish weather, where it's cold, windy and wet would send me whimpering for a fire.

[Upgrayedd]

Central Oklahoma here. Play all kinds of shots and wind figures into almost all of them. Don't like anything more than a two club wind though. If the ball won't stay put on the green I stay home.

[epixep]

Here in OKC the yearly average is 15.3 mph... definitely a major factor on any course I play. Sometimes it can get up to a sustained 20-25 mph, gusting to 30. Playing in the wind has become fun, it exposes any mental errors tenfold and requires a great deal of patience along with a good attitude. I do enjoy the calm days (still going to be at least a breeze around here) but tough weather conditions separate the great from the good.

[epixep]

[quote name='Upgrayedd' timestamp='1392600434' post='8682919']
Central Oklahoma here. Play all kinds of shots and wind figures into almost all of them. Don't like anything more than a two club wind though. If the ball won't stay put on the green I stay home.
[/quote]

You should have seen Hefner yesterday... I hit an uphill putt a good six inches past the hole only to have the wind knock it back and in.

Planned it that way of course....

[Buzzkill]

Can't relate! I love the challenge and it's fun.

[Ghost_Orchid]

I hate the wind too...was at Mount Snow in Vt today, 12* (below 0* with wind chill) with 15-25 mph winds. The winds made things miserable, pair that with good snow and a holiday weekend = long lines and a packed mountain.

OP, just be happy you out playing, winds or not.

[mdgboxx]

[quote name='MtlJeff' timestamp='1392599145' post='8682751']
Everyone has tough conditions, speaking of handicaps, quebecers for example have a handicap season from i believe april 15th until October 31st, though i may be wrong about those dates exactly but it's close

depending on the season (last season was not good, this one will probably be worse)....2 months of your season can be played in cold, windy weather in poor course conditions (poor bumpy greens etc). It's not uncommon for guys who have 0 handicaps in mid summer to be 2.5's or 3's by the time the season ends. We had some days in October where hardly anyone broke 80 in our sunday games out of multiple groups of A players.

In fact one of my pet peeves is guys who play that to their advantage. I have a friend famous for this, he'll always come into May a 9 handicap or something just in time for all the stroke'd tournaments, by July he's a 1 or 2.
[/quote]

You're right about our season being from Apr 15 to Oct 31. I posted, in another thread, until Oct 15, I was wrong.

I played my last round at La Madeleine on Nov 18. The wind was a steady 60 km with gusts to 90 km. I had my StewartGolf cart, the bag sit more upright than on my Sunmountain, and it litterally fell over on it's side. We played 27 holes that day. It was the Course's closing.

[scratchswinger]

Hate it! I can have a good round going until it gets super windy and my game sails away like a kite.

[duffer987]

[quote name='Chief Illiniwek' timestamp='1392469633' post='8673009']
[quote name='HighSpeedScene' timestamp='1392469197' post='8672979']
Guys from Texas always think they are the only ones that have to play in the wind..
[/quote]

Haha agreed! I just googled "wind speed map" and according to that the average wind speed here in central Illinois where I am is just as strong as most of Texas (except North Texas which does indeed appear to have strong average winds). According to the map it's the guys in Nebraska and Kansas (along with the North Texans) who should be complaining about the wind speeds!

Edit: some pretty interesting things on that map. For instance I've heard plenty of Florida guys complain about their wind but it looks like Florida is pretty mild. I guess it's all relative to what you're used to.

Edit2: For some reason (snow boredom) I've delved farther into this. Lots of interesting stuff. Scotland also appears correct in their claims of strong wind. Most of England doesn't look to bad though.

Also, not trying to pick on anyone but Duffer you mentioned you're from California and basically told the OP to toughen up and that you enjoy playing in the wind. California is about the calmest state in the nation, and SoCal especially (don't know where you are from). Where the OP is in North Texas, the mean wind speed is around 20 mph. SoCal is less than half that. It's interesting because I don't think "typical" wind speeds around the nation are as understood as something like temperature. For instance, being from central Illinois I certainly complain about the winters, but if someone from the Dakotas is complaining about the cold I just keep my mouth shut because I know our winters aren't even in the same ballpark! When it comes to wind, Nebraska, Kansas, and North Texas are the "Dakotas" and if they start complaining about the wind, then you know it's frigging windy!
[/quote]

I'm from Canada, but currently live in the Bay Area of Northern California. See it right there above and below my avatar?
You're welcome to come out here and play a month's worth of twilight rounds at a couple of my locals and see if I'm 'qualified' to comment on playing golf in the wind. I'm not paying for your accomodations though

By no means do I go looking for windy conditions every round I play, but if it's up I am going to enjoy it. And I stand by my original post that if you don't approach the experience with a positive mindset you're setting yourself up to play poorly.

[Chief Illiniwek]

[quote name='duffer987' timestamp='1392612813' post='8684449']
[quote name='Chief Illiniwek' timestamp='1392469633' post='8673009']
[quote name='HighSpeedScene' timestamp='1392469197' post='8672979']
Guys from Texas always think they are the only ones that have to play in the wind..
[/quote]

Haha agreed! I just googled "wind speed map" and according to that the average wind speed here in central Illinois where I am is just as strong as most of Texas (except North Texas which does indeed appear to have strong average winds). According to the map it's the guys in Nebraska and Kansas (along with the North Texans) who should be complaining about the wind speeds!

Edit: some pretty interesting things on that map. For instance I've heard plenty of Florida guys complain about their wind but it looks like Florida is pretty mild. I guess it's all relative to what you're used to.

Edit2: For some reason (snow boredom) I've delved farther into this. Lots of interesting stuff. Scotland also appears correct in their claims of strong wind. Most of England doesn't look to bad though.

Also, not trying to pick on anyone but Duffer you mentioned you're from California and basically told the OP to toughen up and that you enjoy playing in the wind. California is about the calmest state in the nation, and SoCal especially (don't know where you are from). Where the OP is in North Texas, the mean wind speed is around 20 mph. SoCal is less than half that. It's interesting because I don't think "typical" wind speeds around the nation are as understood as something like temperature. For instance, being from central Illinois I certainly complain about the winters, but if someone from the Dakotas is complaining about the cold I just keep my mouth shut because I know our winters aren't even in the same ballpark! When it comes to wind, Nebraska, Kansas, and North Texas are the "Dakotas" and if they start complaining about the wind, then you know it's frigging windy!
[/quote]

I'm from Canada, but currently live in the Bay Area of Northern California. See it right there above and below my avatar?
You're welcome to come out here and play a month's worth of twilight rounds at a couple of my locals and see if I'm 'qualified' to comment on playing golf in the wind. I'm not paying for your accomodations though

By no means do I go looking for windy conditions every round I play, but if it's up I am going to enjoy it. And I stand by my original post that if you don't approach the experience with a positive mindset you're setting yourself up to play poorly.
[/quote]

Honestly wasn't an attack, more of a commentary on perspective. For instance I'd call anything over 20 mph windy, and I'm in a pretty windy area of the country. The OP being from North Texas, that's a typical day of wind. When he complains about windy days, I'm assuming he's probably talking 30 mph plus, and that's sustained winds. Probably means gusts in the 40's.

Someone in SoCal probably thinks 10 mph is windy. I mostly browse the forums on my iPhone and avatars are pretty small, can't read yours without clicking on your profile.

But like I said, didn't want to come off as attacking you, or anyone really. Just noticed that your post, along with several other replies were telling the OP that he should stay positive and learn to love the wind. But I wonder how many of them are thinking "Windy? Heck ya I love 20 mph winds" versus what he's thinking, "God I hate playing in 40 mph gusts!" :-D

And I understand you not paying for my accommodations, but can I at least crash at your house? I haven't seen grass since I don't know when!!! Bay Area sounds amazing right now!!

[duffer987]

^Oh I know, I didn't take it as such
I will concede, I wouldn't want to be in 40mph wind week in week out and I do have the choice to play more sheltered courses if I so choose. I don't want the ball to be falling off the tee and the like.

But some 'sporting' wind can help provide variety to a course, especially where I might play it 20-25 times a year. For instance we just finished up a two-day, two-person club NCGA qualifier, and on one par 4 yesterday (with just about the same quality of drive both days) I went Driver 20* Hybrid to a middle pin, while today it was Driver 9I to a front pin on the same hole. It also meant on the subsequent par 3 yesterday I went 7I and hit a 4I today.

Ya I don't know how any of you Mid to East folks can get into any kind of groove until June. One of my best mates (who is a wind complainer by chance, haha) now lives in Maine and is like some of you guys who can cram 100 rounds into a 7 month season.

[eons]

I used to hate it but the more I got into golf the more I loved the challenge. Taught me to work on a different shot which I can now play pretty well. Ball back in my stance, weight on my front foot and a half to 3/4 swing. Nothing better than the wind behind you, teeing it up high and watching the ball get carried by the wind. Love it.

[clamberto]

Played yesterday in central OK wind was blowing pretty good (like every day). I've lived in Chicago, Indianapolis, Philly, and NYC and I have never seen as much wind as I do here. It's always blowing 20-30!

Regarding golf in the wind here: I find it very frustrating to club up and flight the ball only to realize I should have hit a 6 iron versus an 7 iron from 105. Which happened twice yesterday. Scoring is tough. Pars are good scores.

[MizzyMan]

The problem with the wind in North Texas is that it's the windiest when the temps are the best. March-May, the wind blows the hardest. Come August and 110* heat index and you're searching for a breath of wind. Then it blows again in Oct. and Nov. during the temps of the 70's and 80's before calming down after the first ice storm. So basically it's pretty calm when it's freezing or sweltering and howling when it's 50-90*.