Driving in the wind
1
Not like an iron shot
The drive I’m hitting here is from the spectacular 18th tee at Trump International, where the prevailing wind is into your face. If you had an iron in hand from tee or fairway here, you might think about leaning more on your left side at address to help deloft the club. But that approach won’t work very well with a driver, as you still need to launch the ball up into the air and make good contact.
3 Make hay downwind
The good news about downwind drives is that they typically fly straighter with less sideways curve. The best way to take full advantage is to hit it a little bit higher. To do this, take your usual set-up, with the ball just inside the left heel and the shaft more or less vertical. There are then just two small changes to make. Firstly, tee the ball up just a fraction higher. The second is to drop your right shoulder down a touch at address so your top half is a little more tilted away from the ball. From here, make sure you keep your head a little behind the ball at impact as this will help you launch it higher. The lower right shoulder will encourage this. 2
The simplest ways to control your driver flight into the wind are: 1) play for your normal shape and 2) reduce your swing speed by around five to ten per cent. The former is important as it’s often when you try to hit a shape you’re not comfortable with that things can go wrong. The latter helps to reduce the grip between clubface and ball at impact, thus reducing the spin and helping to keep the flight down a little.
Reduce speed and spin