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Wind on single round tournaments

• columbiacgt 565 Posts

  Wed, Jan 27 2010 10:13 AM

  I wonder if anybody knows if  all players (at least in the same tier) get the exact same wind (direction and speed) on each hole for each round of a tournament. I am asking this because, especially with the high wind setting, there is a big difference in having a front or tailwind, on par 3's for example. If it's just random within a certain range some players will get an advantage, and actually play a different course. In St.Andrews, where the high wind will presumably be REALLY high, this factor might be critical.

• nivlac 2,188 Posts

  Wed, Jan 27 2010 10:30 AM

  We get the same range of conditions (High, Moderate etc) but the actual directions and speeds will vary.

  It is true that some players will get advantageous winds in certain situations (headwind on 17 bp for example) and some players do not.  That's the luck of the draw.

  Keep in mind though that it's really very similar to the PGA Tour.  Since players go off the tee from 7am until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, it's likely that the wind (and weather) conditions can change from morning to afternoon.  That's usually a big deal during the Open Championship because I believe the winds generally tend to get more vicious from morning to afternoon.  Recently the "Tiger Wave" in last year's US Open had to play anywhere from half to a full round in absolute slop while the second wave of players didn't tee off until the next day, when conditions were far far better than the day prior.

• columbiacgt 565 Posts

  Wed, Jan 27 2010 12:09 PM

  You are right about the 2009 US Open, but those conditions are what organizers, given the possibility, would rather avoid. Since we are in a 'controlled environment' why not make sure that everybody gets the same treatment, maybe having the wind from a definite direction respect to the North, thus from different angles respect to the hitting direction, and letting the wind speed vary within a certain range ?? After all I am sure architects pay a lot of attention to the possible wind directions in the area when designing the different holes of a golf course.

  Maybe it's even easier from a programming point of view.

• Crazyman2 731 Posts

  Wed, Jan 27 2010 6:02 PM

  I find chewing a few of these during the round cures the problem

  

  make sure the packet stipulates the courses you wish to play

  I believe they will be putting St. Andrews on the packet soon

  Happy Golfin'