Blowing Where The Wind Takes Me

I had the pleasure of playing two rounds of golf this past week.  One on Saturday, when the wind reached upward of 40 mph gusts, and again on Monday, when the temperature barely touched 58 degrees, without the 30 mph NWN winds.  

I'm not complaining, because as my brother-in-law would say, "It beats working."  But I am here to report that golf is frustrating and difficult enough when the weather is pristine, let alone when it's cold, windy and rainy. 

These last two rounds have given me resolve beyond anything mechanical or psychological.  They've proved to me the length I must go before anything remotely close to good golf is played.  Hitting a 5-iron 170 yards with wind in your face requires another gear I simply don't have.

Yet.

To avoid the effect the wind would have on a particular shot, a "punch shot" is needed.  To this point of my quest I haven't adopted this shot to my bag.  But even with the wind at my back, I stood over a 160 yard, slightly uphill shot, and pulled out my 6-iron.

As I made contact, I watched as my ball sailed wonderfully through the air destined for the green.  When it landed without any sign of a bounce, I began to think that perhaps I underestimated how much the wind actually carries a given shot.

When I approached the green, I finally found my ball twenty-five yards past the pin, lying in the rough on the downward backside behind the green.  

Now in my readings on golf, many preach how important it is to forget about distance and instead concentrate on contact.  With this in mind I focused on the trajectory of my shot rather than the end result. (Perhaps I should have worried about my up-and-down because I left my "up" four feet from the hole and missed my "down" par-putt.)

The point being that wind is a factor of the game, and unless you can learn to equate how much of a factor it actually is, you should forget about considering yourself a good golfer.  I don't mean this in a jaded way, but only that golf's elements demand that you play at your best regardless of the conditions.  Going out on a beautiful sunny day as opposed to a treacherous one separates the men from the boys.  

I used to think that because the rain had such an impact on my psyche when I played in it, I could never consider myself a legitimate golfer when encountering slippery clubs and sloppy lies.  

Now it's the wind disrupting my ability to see myself clearly.  

I'm sure I'll get some feedback on how to adjust in it - and for that I'll be forever grateful - but here's what I gathered from two days of averaging 35 mph winds:

-Never mind trying to hit "punch shots" through the wind or changing anything in my stance or grip.  For now, all I can do is be myself on the golf course and one day hope for more productive results when the weather calls for it.  If I hit a high arching shot with a 5-iron or 6-iron and the wind takes it someplace else, oh well.  At least I can try and counter that movement by aiming left or right of my target.  

-A handicap, like age, is simply a number.  The next time someone asks me mine, I'm going to reply with, "It's around 17 in good weather.  But if it's rainy, windy or cold, then your guess is as good as mine."  

I consider myself a decent golfer in nice weather.  But if Mother Nature doesn't cooperate, then my confidence takes a significant hit.

And with that said, maybe working on my confidence is where I should be channeling my energies.  

Hours of practice: 399

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