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How much do you club up or down? (For Wind or Elevation)

GrantD

GrantD

Formerly Known as DMB012
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How much to you go up a club or down a club due to elevation or wind?

With the elevation part, do you judge one club per 20 ft?

With the wind part, do you judge one club per 10 mph?

What are your judgments and how do make the judgment if it is case by case decision?
 
dmb012 said:
How much to you go up a club or down a club due to elevation or wind?

With the elevation part, do you judge one club per 20 ft?

With the wind part, do you judge one club per 10 mph?

What are your judgments and how do make the judgment if it is case by case decision?
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I would say you are pretty close to what I do normally. I'm all about playing by feel, so I can't put a firm number on either elevation or wind.
My home course has one par 4 where the green is 18 ft higher than the fairway and it is a shot facing the west which is often into the wind. I often club up 2 clubs for that hole and I hit the green often.
 
I dont really have a set formula that I use. I play often enough that Im pretty good at being able to pick a correct club just based off of a visual estimation of how far away something is though I do prefer to use yardage markers in ideal conditions. That being said when it comes to elevation changes in good conditions I just estimate the height of the slope and then add or subtract the yards and pull the club that best fits that distance. When it comes to wind I tend to base my decisions purely on feel. Its not very scientific but I must have a fairly decent internal calculator because I usually judge it correctly more times than not.
 
I think wind is harder to judge than elevation is? What do you think?
 
dmb012 said:
I think wind is harder to judge than elevation is? What do you think?
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Without a doubt. Wind is by far the hardest condition to be consistant in, it can change direction and speed in a heartbeat and you will rarely ever have an accurate reading on it unless you carry a tool that measures wind speed and even then you couldnt take into account how much the wind will change as your ball rises. I hate the wind but have to play in it far more than I would like.
 
dmb012 said:
I think wind is harder to judge than elevation is? What do you think?
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I agree. Wind has so many variables. With elevation changes, I'm pretty good a judging the change, but wind can change directions between the tee and the hole, gust at any time etc. I'm a good player in the wind as long as it is less than 15 mph or so. Anything up around 20 mph or higher, and I would just as soon be home. We get some pretty windy days in Indiana, so I worked over the years on learning to hit knockdown shots, or to keep the driver low when needed.
 
dmb012 said:
I think wind is harder to judge than elevation is? What do you think?
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For sure. Elevation is fixed (at least the courses I play), but wind is a variable. I can judge side winds quite well, but I am terrible at judging wind in the face.
 
dmb012 said:
I think wind is harder to judge than elevation is? What do you think?
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id rather play uphill all day long than in any kinda wind... man i hate wind
im always either too long or too short when its windy
i would hate to play true links courses because of wind
 
Elevation changes I'm usually guessing unless I'm playing with someone that knows the course. Wind I love. I guess because I've only played here in Florida and I usually play on courses that are directly on the water I've learned the game in the wind. I play all different shots when it's windy. One thing my friend was trying to teach me the other day is that the wind and your lie are going to affect your shot every time and instead of trying to fight it or play against it just factor them into the shot, hit your normal shot, and let them do their thing. It has worked very well for me and he has played almost every Open Championship course in crazy wind and his wind game is sick.


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One club for twenty feet elevation sounds like too much to me. I usually hit it pretty high so I only club up on uphill shots about half as much as I would club down on down hill shots. It is a lot of "feel" involved here.

Wind is kind of the same way. If hitting dead into the wind, 10-15 mph is about one club for me, 15-20 could be two clubs and so on. Dead down wind, I figure wind helps half as much as it hurts so 15-20 I hit maybe one club less. The real fun is when the wind is crossing and helping or hurting, things can get ugly when I guess wrong on whether its helping or hurting wind.
 
Elevation, and wind I just judge off feel, we get a lot of wind here, and most courses have a lot of elevation changes, so I have gotten fairly decent and judging them just off feel. Crosswinds I still have a little trouble judging which shot I will play.
 
For those types of situation I estimate how much yardage the wind is going to add or take away, as well for elevation I rarely encounter that type of situation except on one hole at my home course which I am above the green this is the weird part it actually requires 1 EXTRA club. not 1 less.
 
Gusty winds are the worse, for a great example just concentrate on watching the pros on #12 at the Masters today. It cleans their clocks.
 
i dont have a set way to go about it, its more on a gut feeling as to what i do!
 
For me its just a gut feeling.
 
On thursday here in Vegas we had a 30-40 mph wind with gusts up to 65 mph. Very VERy hard day at judging the distances. Though I did drive a 336 yard par 4 which was nice. 3 putted for par but that's not relevant. :D
 
I am reviving this thread instead of starting a new one.

I think this an over looked skill or exercise on the golf course. First off, pull a 6 iron from 150 into a two club wind take a lot of trust in your game and your skill level. or pulling a PW from 168 to a back pin with the wind blowing hard behind you takes the same trust. You need to know what your distances are and exactly how much to take off or add to reach your desired distance.

Do you have those numbers and that level of trust. Do you have enough knowledge in your game to hit your 190 club when you are only 150 club away form the pin but the wind calls for the larger number? Or do you try to muscle another club through the wind. I had these very shots and several others on Sunday where I had to hit more club to a pin and it paid off with the lowest round of the year. Do you know your game well enough? Do you have the self control?
 
This is a skill I have yet to master. Even a right to left or left to right wind can throw me off big time.
 
Does it get windy up by you?
Howzat said:
This is a skill I have yet to master. Even a right to left or left to right wind can throw me off big time.
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Tadashi70 said:
Does it get windy up by you?
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It can get windy but my home course has quite a few trees which protect it. There is only a couple holes where it is typically a factor. It is when I travel that the wind becomes an issue and my game suffers.
 
This is something I really struggle with Freddie. Something I am working on and trying to get dialed in.

It can get very windy where I live and most days there is always some sort of wind. I gotta make sure I have my yardages nailed down and just make sure I adjust accordingly and trust it.
 
One time when I was watching golf on TV, Tom Watson was talking about playing in the wind. I don't remember exactly what he said but it was something about how he sees amateurs swing harder when hitting into the wind. He explained that he does the exact opposite, swing easy and make good contact with more club. It was probably two years ago that I watched that but it really stuck with me.

Since then I have used his advice many times, being someone who loves to golf and lives in Las Vegas. The second best shot of my life happened with 15 mph wind in my face and I will remember it always. So going into the wind is not my worst fear, actually that's hitting down wind!

I'm amazed at how the ball will take off on a good trajectory and be knocked down out of the sky like a bird that got shot. Then of course sometimes the wind just takes it for a ride.

A strong cross wind is a nightmare for me because I hit my mid irons and hybrids thin more often than I would like to admit. So when I aim off the target line to let the wind bring it back and hit a low bullet under the wind I lose confidence, especially when making the decision to try it again. So I try to aim somewhere that will still be safe if I catch it thin, while still allowing for the wind to do its dirty work if I hit it properly. This strategy often leaves me stuck in the middle in no mans land.

It happened recently out at Paiute Wolf Course on a perfect day aside from the 30mph wind. I had 152 yards to and island green with the wind slightly helping but mostly just left to right. I pulled 8 iron and hit it well towards the left center of the green, the wind took it and it landed in the back right of the green and trickled off into the water where it belonged. Here's the disappointing video of that shot for your comedic entertainment.



I assume the way to get over this hurdle is to learn the art of the knock down "punch" shot, which has always been easy for me to do when I'm not trying to do it. So I need to work on that.

Freddie that is awesome to hear you're playing well in the wind these days, do you have any rules you use like the ones mentioned in the early posts on this thread? ie, 10 mph wind=1 extra club. Or do you go primarily by feel for these shots? I'm interested to learn more about how skilled players deal with these situations.
 
GregDan said:
This is something I really struggle with Freddie. Something I am working on and trying to get dialed in.

It can get very windy where I live and most days there is always some sort of wind. I gotta make sure I have my yardages nailed down and just make sure I adjust accordingly and trust it.
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Chad and I discussed this several times on the back 9 Sunday. Each time he was spot on. I hit my 3 hybrid from inside 210 to 3.5' feet based on his call. That is us llay a 4 iron. I think I would have pulled a different club had he not been there
 
I take it into account as much as I can. I sometimes have trouble feeling out if a wind is a one club or two club or more wind, but I'm always aware of it. I can't think of one time last weekend where I was ever shooting for yardage to the flag.
 
Anymore it's just a guess, especially playing these A12 heaven finders. Ball flies so high I have to add extra for the balloon effect.

HTC M8
 
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