Windy Golf

Well we trudged out for a round of golf yesterday and the winds were up to 50 mph. It was absolutely insane and it did whatever it wanted with your ball. It was just a helpless situation yet a ton of fun. The insane thing is we've played in worse conditions. Back in November of 2003 we decided to grab one more round in before the season finished. During that round, a 25 year old Christmas tree uprooted and toppled over next to the 18th fairway as we were on the adjacent 10th fairway.

Anyway, back to our thumping. It was a lot of fun in the sense that you really had to concentrate on your target and it was all the more rewarding when you made a good shot. Hitting into the wind was particular brutal for me because I have a notoriously high ball flight. Even with these so called 'low trajectory' irons I will still hit my 5 iron higher than you hit your pitching wedge. I was able to keep the ball a bit lower than normal playing a few knockdowns when we were into the wind. When the wind was at our backs it was 'get the ball up there and let it play'. Basically it was a lot of luck.

Club selection was fun also givin the wind conditions. I witnessed my playing partner crush a 3 wood that traveled only 190 yards. He's a beast and he averages at least 265 with his 3 wood. That's no exaggeration either. I, on the other hand, hit a 9 iron 175 yards with the wind at our backs. It was fun having to calculate how much the wind was a factor. Even in cross winds you could play your target way left of the green and the wind would carry the ball to the complete right side.

I got outta there with a respectable 92 and we'll just say I was the low round of the group. Being forced to not go for the career shot kept me in play. That score also includes a lost ball quadruple bogey on the 9th hole so it could have been better.

I also know that the pros play in some windy conditions overseas and sometimes here in the states and they still shoot under par. That's why these guys aren't given the credit they deserve. They play in these conditions and can still work the ball to almost take the wind out of the equation. They'll hit knock downs (wind cheaters) with wind in their faces, hit draws against a left to right cross wind, and hit fades against right to left crosswinds. It's so hard to do that yet they make it look easy.

Those commercials that say "These Guys Are Good" doesn't even to them justice. Those guys are on another planet.