Chris O'Connell on Playing in the Wind

I don't know about the rest of you, but we've had quite a bit of wind around here lately. So I dug up this Morning Drive segment on wind play featuring instructor Chris O'Connell, who teaches Matt Kuchar (among others).

The neat aspect about this is that O'Connell lists a number of approaches you can carry your ball flight down -- that is, lower your trajectory. For example, you can:

• Flatten your swing plane.
• Shorten your backswing and followthrough. (You can also use a longer club with this method, to make up for lost distance.)
• Use less wrist cock (less hand action, aka swing more like Steve Stricker).

When he demonstrates a low shot at the end of the video, note that he combines those last two -- making a shorter swing with less wrist action. That appears to be his preferred method.

One thrilling tip he mentions got here from Lee Trevino, who told Matt to visit the pinnacle of his backswing, take his trailing hand off while maintaining his lead wrist cocked, and notice if he could touch the clubhead with his trailing hand. If he should, he had an excessive amount of wrist cock for gambling in the wind.

O'Connell also notes that you could move the ball returned a piece for your stance and maintain your arms a chunk forward at effect, BUT he cautions not to rely on those setup things. Rather, you need to apply the swing strategies because they provide you with more control over trajectory.