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Low Winds Question

• Cicero733 2,312 Posts

  Fri, Mar 12 2021 12:44 PM

  Have been encountering difficulties with low winds for the past 5 - 6 months and cannot work my way through it. By low winds I mean any winds 12 mph or less. They either have no effect or over effect. Examples:

  BPB #8 7/9 mph r to l crosswind - from tee offset 15 yds right for tee shot, ball lands 10 yds left of pin (ball travels 25 yds in crosswind)

  Congo #18 9/11 l to r crosswind - from fairway offset 15 yds left, distance 195 to the pin, ball lands 7 yds right of pin (ball travels 22 yds in crosswind)

  PH #9 9/12 mph r to l crosswind - from tee offset 15 yds right for tee shot, ball lands 15 yds right of the pin (no wind movement)

  Several times yesterday and today hitting 75 yd shot to pin, 6/8 mph crosswind, 1 yd offset, ball lands 3 - 4 yds down wind from the hole (ball travels 4 - 5 yds in crosswind)

  All of these shots except for the 75 yd pitches were hit with FBS

  And it’s not every time, very sporadic. All these examples were dinged shots. All of these shots have been previously mapped so I am comfortable with the distance and offsets. It’s just sometimes the wind has no effect on the ball and other times it has an exaggerated effect. I can play for days and the the low winds work as advertised. Then there are these other days. Am I missing something in setting up shots in low crosswinds?

• 362 Posts

  Sat, Mar 13 2021 6:28 AM

  i have same problem. hit the same shot , conditions & so on. No shot the same. You may get help in here . Best of luck getting a answer.

• TheSpark4 42 Posts

  Sat, Mar 13 2021 7:19 AM

  Your first two examples are both holes with a pretty severe drop (approx 25’ and 30’+ respectively) - therefore the approach will be airborne for a long time, hence considerably more wind drift than ‘normal’. BPB #8 is also a finicky little beast in any case, sometimes app’s there do leave you scratching your head a little....
  That’ll all be further compounded by you playing FBS always - means the highest flight possible and max wind drift. See too you’re playing a Titleist ball = lots spin, ditto......

  A lot of the best players in all but v low winds or with direct head/tailwinds play off-ding in any case, give that a try.
  By deliberately mis-dinging into the prevailing wind the effects of the wind can be considerably negated, often with little/no loss in distance.

  In short - you’re quoting holes where crosswinds will always be amplified. Either try and play less with FBS and/or switch away from trying to ding so much and miss into the breeze instead. 
  Good luck 👍 

• Cicero733 2,312 Posts

  Sat, Mar 13 2021 7:43 AM

  Thanks for the suggestions. I will follow up on the lessening of backspin. Understand about the increased effects backspin has on tee shots, but for whatever unknown reason never thought of adjusting it here. I do use the off ding in higher winds and I’ll give it a try in the low stuff. I’ve Also been looking at some videos of ranking players using the punch on par 3 tee shots.

• Bluto346 83 Posts

  Sat, Mar 13 2021 10:15 AM

  Cicero...

  As Spark noted, all three of your examples are of holes that require approaches from a well elevated position down to the green. The longer the ball has to stay in the air, the more it is affected by surrounding wind conditions.

  I know that the seemingly accepted baseline adjustment for crosswinds is 1ft for every 1mph of wind, multiplied by your shot distance. Well, unless you're playing a ball that doesn't spin, I'm here to tell you that it's not enough.

  Playing a ball that spins, I personally use 1.35ft for every mph, and even still, that's just the jumping off point. I add 15% or so when hitting wedges (again, because of the higher ball trajectory from the wedges), and I also add  from that baseline when using FBS with heavy crosswinds, and off of tees, which tends to accentuate spin.

  Also, when hitting downhill to a target, I take the elevation - in the case of BPB #8 with the front pin, it's 29ft downhill.....I divide that by 3 (like most do), and then take half of that number, and adjust my aim even more.

  Some adjustments you simply make by feel and experiences with certain holes that you've played over and over again.

  And sometimes, no matter how good you are with your adjustments, it still doesn't work out the way you want. Some shots the wind doesn't seem to affect the ball at all....and you're either long, short, left or right. It happens.

• Cicero733 2,312 Posts

  Sat, Mar 13 2021 1:10 PM

  Bluto346:

  Playing a ball that spins, I personally use 1.35ft for every mph

  Thats about what I use. If from the tee the crosswind is 10 mph, I adjust 10 yds plus 5 more and maybe a little more or less depending upon club and distance. That usually works. But what I have recently encountered is I set up for the 15 yds offset and the ball moves 0 yds or it moves 20 yds. Can’t understand why that happens.

  Bluto346:

  Also, when hitting downhill to a target, I take the elevation - in the case of BPB #8 with the front pin, it's 29ft downhill.....I divide that by 3 (like most do), and then take half of that number, and adjust my aim even more.

  Never tried that especially with BPB#8.  I might play around with your idea. Currently I use a “formula” but rely more on experience and feel for these shots. As with the tee shot, I’m comfortable with my shot set up, and it usually works, but am just totally befuddled in low winds when it doesn’t because I cannot find a reason for the deviation. Don’t encounter this much with medium to high winds, just the lower winds. 

  I had one suggestion awhile back that was basically low winds have little to no impact, just ignore them or add/subtract just a yard or two. I usually don’t find that to be the case.

  Appreciate the helpful suggestions.