Conference 7.286::golf

    	If you are able to move the ball right to left and left to right,
    try holding your shot into the wind.  What I mean by that is, if
    you have a shot where the wind is blowing from right to left, instead
    of starting the shot well off to the right and letting the wind
    bring the ball to the left, start the ball either right at the pin
    or even left of it, depending on how hard the wind is, and cut the
    ball into the wind.   Give yourself enough club though.  The good
    things about doing this, are you conrtol the flight of the ball
    more than the wind does, and the ball will land softer with less
    roll.  When you let the wind take the shot, it will also take the
    spin out if the ball and also be moving the ball faster when it
    lands forcing the shot to roll quite a ways.
    
    Beak

    
} Some things I figured out were:
    
}    1) try and keep the ball down.
    
	To do this in the wind try using more club and a 3/4 swing. If
	you have a 7 iron shot instead use a 5 iron, ball back in stance
	a little and choke down on the club and use a 3/4 swing. You'll
	get 7 iron distance but most importantly the ball will stay lower...







}    2) Hit the ball hard, it seems to buck the wind better.

	WRONG.....in the wind you should only hit hard downwind and only
	on the teeshot as you found out on 1st hole. Hitting hard into the
	wind causes too much spin on the ball and causes it to be affected
	more by the wind....


    
}    3) any draw/fade/slice/hook was magnified by the wind if you were going
       into it.
    

	true, that's why you don't try and hit these type of shot in a 
	strong wind...use a lot of punch shots as described in 1.


	Actually playing in the wind as it was yesterday is good for you
as you learn many of the things you found out and will be better prepared
when you have to play in it again. There is an advantage to this....

	Whenever I have to play and a strong wind is blowing I feel I
get an advantage because I take the attitude that half the field is
eliminated because they either can't play in windy conditions or they
let the wind get to them. Then I try and be extremely patient and make simple
shots...nothing fancy just use more club and be patient....

my $.02 worth    

    
    	The big boys, playing in Ohio this week, had worse conditions...!
    	Rocco Mediate had a shot of 115 yards, he hit a six iron and come
    	up 30 feet short of the green...! Norman hit a tee shot of 380 and
    	another with a 3 wood that carried 340...! Nicklaus said that the 
    	weather for yesterdays opening round was the worst weather he'd
    	ever encountered for a round of golf in his home state...
    
    		Info from the Boston Globe...
    
    	BTW, the leaders are...
    
    	Fred Couples 	69
    
    	Corey Pavin	73
    	Don Pooley	73
    	L, Wadkins	73
    	Norman		73
    	Persons		73
    	Irwin		73
    	Delsing		73
    
    	Azinger 	74
    	Stewart		74
    	Baker_Finch	74
    
    
    	Keep it low... Don't try to over-power it... Pray...!

    
    
    
    USE A PUTTER!!!!!!

     As long as you can hold on to it, you can play ! I played in Ireland
    several years ago and we had 20 mph MINIMUM all week. Wind is fine with
    me, but rain is another story...
    
    -- Jack

    
    My league started yeterday in that wind storm.  While we were on the
    2nd tee, two very large Hemlocks fell.  One in the fairway, the other 
    just missed the green.
    
    A tree next to the green was swaying so much that the ground was
    heaving up around it.  
    
    We played anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    
    Choked down on everthing and punched the ball!!!!!!!
    
    Shane
    

    
    Since I started this note and had to cut short due to a time commitment
    I would like to add anther thought.  When I played in college, at least
    18 holes a day 4-5 days a week, I could play in wind with no problem, 
    my ball striking was more solid etc.  Yesterday was the first time in
    a while I have had to manage wind like that, it took most of the round
    to regain the confidence swing to hit the shots and keep them under the
    wind.  As can seen by the score (+8 through 5, +1 for the last 4) I 
    did remember how to do it.
    
    I still disagree with .2, who says not to hit the ball hard. 
    Especially straight into the wind, I like to really hit it hard off the 
    tee, I just tee the ball alittle lower and move it back in the stance.
    Doing this I was not losing all that much distance on my drives, when I 
    hit a straight shot it went straight.  When I mentioned the part about
    fade/draw being magnified I forgot to mention that this was evident
    when you did not mean to fade/draw, they turned into a slice/hook.
    
    Then again I like .4's answer. :-)
    
    --Bob
    

    re:.2
    Right on.  I always try to stand just slightly straighter(sit down
    less) and play the ball back a little further, just as I would in 
    hitting under the trees.
    
    re:.7 
    .2 is correct, unless you are overestimating the wind.  At 40 mph he
    is absolutely correct - maybe under 20 mph you could be correct, but
    the possibility is that you will spoil the tempo of the swing, causing
    those bad things that are intensified by the wind.
    
    General comment - particularly important for contact lens wearers - get
    some goggles, ala Kareem Abdul Jabbar to keep the dust particles out. 
    You'll be able to much better.  If you need practice, come play our
    California desert courses in the afternoon.
    
    Big Mac

    My shots are even more random in bigtime wind! One thing not mentioned
    is changing balls. I think a surlyn ball is more predictable in
    breezes - especially a two piece if you can stand to play them.
    I would guess that's due to a slower spin rate which keeps the ball
    from flying out of control (and why you need to be careful about
    swinging harder).
    
    A pencil with eraser also helps ;-)
    
    Eric

    	Bob,
    
    	You were lucky you got to play the front side. The back at
    PCC was pretty bad too. #10 was a gem to start on, 500+ yards into
    the stiff breeze. I hit a driver, 2 iron, and 6 iron (all well spanked)
    to reach the back of the green. The long par 4's, thankfully they don't
    have the blue tees out yet, all had cross breezes so there were a lot
    of folks playing out of the wrong fairway.......  The only easy hole
    was #18. A driver and sand wedge with the wind at our backs.
    
    	You have to keep the ball low in that wind. Hope it never blows
    that bad again there. BTW, I had a 47 for my round. 4 pars, 1 bogey,
    2 doubles, 1 triple, and a quadruple. (#10 - first 2 tee shots OB)

	My two cents worth:

	Hit your 2 iron into the wind, hit your 5 wood with the wind.  Also
	learn to play bump & run.  Also learn to play bump & run.  Hitting
	a full wedge with/against the wind is too tough to control.  It
	always sails/drops.  On the other hand a bump & run 7 iron will
	cozy right up to the flag.  Of course that means you need to
	play course management, to avoid those 40 yd. shots over traps to
	the green.

	Larry

    
    re .11
    
    I was trying to bump and run whenever I could, but the layout of the
    holes at Pasaconoway looks wide open, but it pays to hit the
    fairway. Just about all holes have open entrance to the green from
    the fairway, if you are at all in the rough you usually have to 
    carry something, bunker, waste land, bush etc.
    
    As you said, course management is definetly the key to playing well
    in bad conditions.
    
    One other thing I noticed is that confidence had alot to do with how
    I was doing, more so that on a normal day.
    
    --Bob
    
    Keith, did you guys have any trouble with the ball being moved by the 
    wind while you were lining up putts etc?  What do you do then?
    
    

    	Bob,
    
    	None of the balls moved while lining up putts, but while standing
    over them I could see them sort of "rocking in the wind". Rather
    unnerving, I'd say.......
    
    
    Keith

    
     I find when playing in strong wind, especially approaches to greens,
    that it's far better to cut or draw into the wind rather than play
    with the wind.As has been said before you have greater control and
    a much better chance of keeping the ball on the green. If you play
    with the wind on an approach you have to be very accurate when
    aiming as the ball will not hold when it hits the green. Therefore you
    must allow for the run and obviously this is very hard in the wind.
     I also change from a balata ball to a harder two piece ball in
    the wind simply because I try to punch nearly every shot and in
    doing so a soft ball would not stay in shape for too long.
     If you can adapt your game playing in the wind shouldn't cause
    you too many sleepless nights.
    
                                 The Insomniac.