#4 BLOWING IN THE WIND
IT GIVETH AND IT TAKETH.
One of the biggest shocks of our research was in how much the wind really altered carry distance when all other factors remained identical. As little as a 10mph headwind – not uncommon in Australia – reduced carry distance by 16.5 metres with driver, 15.8 metres with 7-iron and 12.3 metres with 54° sand wedge. It’s worth noting that our pro was hitting his stock shot rather than trying to punch the ball lower and reduce the spin as he normally would to negate a headwind.
Another interesting point that came up in our discussion while reviewing the numbers is that this was a steady 10mph wind directly into his face. It’s not often that you’d be playing dead straight into the wind and real-world conditions are often gusty, so the wind will constantly be up and down with the speed you’re given in a forecast usually indicative of the very strongest gusts. Even when taking this into consideration, the decrease in carry distance was more than we expected.
The research also threw up several other notable findings, confirming that a headwind increases how far offline a ball with any sidespin will finish because it magnifies any curve you put on the flight, and that your ball will also have a higher apex and land softer because it climbs more into the wind.
Perhaps more surprisingly, as shown below, we found that as the wind increases by 10mph increments, the carry distance decrease gets larger. For example, the difference with 7-iron from 0mph to 10mph was 15 metres, from 10mph to 20mph was 22 metres and from 20mph to 30mph was 26 metres.
It would be nice to think that what a headwind takes away from our shots, a tailwind would give back. But, sadly, that is not the case. When we repeated the same test for a tailwind, the equivalent wind never increased carry distance by as much as the same wind speed had decreased it into a headwind. While the ball did noticeably fly further downwind, there was also an element of the ball flight being knocked down as the wind got stronger.
With a 10mph tail wind, we picked up 12 metres with driver, 14 metres with 7-iron and 9 metres with the 54° sand wedge. The ball also rolled out a little further compared to playing with no wind because it was coming into the ground faster and flatter.
Assuming you hit the same stock shot, a steady 10mph headwind equates to around two clubs in mid-irons and longer, and one-and-a-half clubs in wedges and short irons. The same speed of tailwind is about one-and-a-half clubs in mid-irons and longer, and one club in wedges and short irons.
Our findings also revealed that as clubs become more lofted, shots are affected more as a headwind increases but less as a tailwind increases. This is quite a tricky concept to get your head around, but it can make a big difference to your club selection. With mid-irons to wedges, the reduction in
carry distance will increase exponentially as a headwind gets stronger, but it will decrease exponentially as a tailwind gets stronger.
As you can see from the numbers below, the di erences with a 7-iron go from 15 metres to 22 metres to 26 metres as the headwind increases, and from 14 metres to 11 metres to 6 metres as the tailwind increases.
In practical terms, this means you have to increase how much distance reduction you allow for as a headwind gets stronger, but decrease how much carry distance increase you allow for as a tailwind gets stronger.