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wind and elevation?

• dustin646 2 Posts

  Fri, Jan 29 2010 9:58 AM

  Is there a rule of thumb for wind with or against you? Meaning for example if the is a 10mph head wind do i add 1 yard per 1mph ect...? Also the same for elevation. Something like add 1 yard per 1foot elevation? help

• Infinito3010 3,689 Posts

  Fri, Jan 29 2010 11:22 AM

  Elevation compensation for distance is club specific.  Wedges behave differently than medium, versus long irons.  You ask one tough question. As for wind affects, it is also club specific.  Short irons behave differently than long irons. 

  What I would do is use practice mode on BethPage Black.  The seventh hole can be invaluable to determine carry and impact on wind on various clubs.  Just hit the ball up and down the fairway.

  The 15th, and 18th holes can also be used if you lay up on the 15th in the fairway to determine elevation impact to reach the green. 

  I hope this helps, but really the rule of thumb applied if you search the forums is generic. 

  The generic rule is take half the elevation in feet and convert to yards.  It is a starting point, but you'll note the impact on wedges is different than long irons. 

  Thus the trajectory (loft of club) play an important role in determining both wind and elevation effects.

  Secondly, ball type has a great impact of these affects also.

• danohi50 1,020 Posts

  Fri, Jan 29 2010 12:27 PM

  Good subject here!

  The differences in how the elevation plays towards the different irons make this tricky to have a formula..Experience does help along with taking good notes.

  What still has me a bit frazzled is playing into the wind which sometimes effects the ball flight greatly and other times not so much.

   

• g433a 28 Posts

  Sat, Jan 30 2010 10:44 AM

  As far as elevation changes affecting length of irons differently goes, think of it like this....

   

  As an example, draw on a piece of paper the flight path of say a 5 iron and a sand wedge, with the landing area the same elevation as the hitting area.

  Now draw a guesstimated line about 20ft above where your drawn ball lands on each one, as if the green were elevated.

  You should see that you lose a lot more distance on the longer iron than the wedge because of the flatter trajectory.

  I hope that helps anyone that's struggling to understand the differences between different clubs when allowing for elevation changes. Sorry if it sounds like I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs!  ;o)

   

• jeffdos924 1,085 Posts

  Sat, Jan 30 2010 12:08 PM

   Nice example, g433 ... the same illustration will also explain the loss of spin to an elevated green. Spin is greatly affected by the balls angle of descent ... the more vertical the drop, the quicker the ball will stop. Shorter irons & wedges always stop quicker because the mid & long irons flight path is flatter. And the ball will hit an elevated landing area in a flatter part of it's flight, reducing the effective spin.

• PugsAce 1,825 Posts

  Sat, Jan 30 2010 12:35 PM

  As far as headwinds/tailwinds go... start with 1 yard power for every 3mph wind, either added or subtracted for headwind/tailwind. This is a very general starting point when applying it to all the clubs in your bag, though. Through practice, the actual +'s and -'s for each club will begin to become apparent. BUT... take note that this is just for "pure" hw's and tw's. Angled winds need to first be reduced, then accounted for.

  A further suggestion would be to try to determine the differences in flight and roll of balls struck with your individual clubs when using topspin and backspin under both wind conditions. BIG DIFFERENCES. Especially on approach shots to the green.

  Good Luck. :]