If you play your golf in New Zealand, you play in the wind. It's as simple as that. Down here in the Bay of Plenty we get plenty of still, glorious mornings, but we also get afternoons where the flag is standing straight out and a good drive feels like it's hit a wall. Plenty of golfers I see in the shop tell me their game falls apart the moment it starts blowing. The good news is that playing well in the wind isn't about swinging harder or having some secret technique. It's about a few sensible adjustments and, honestly, a calmer head.
Here's how I talk golfers through it.
Club selection does half the work
The single biggest mistake I see into the wind is golfers reaching for the same club they'd hit on a calm day, then swinging harder to make up the difference. That's the wrong way round. When you swing harder, you add spin, and spin is exactly what the wind feeds on. The ball climbs, stalls, and drops short of where you aimed.
The old saying is true: when it's breezy, swing it easy. Take one, two, sometimes three more clubs than the distance suggests, and make a smooth, controlled swing at around 80 percent. An eight iron hit smoothly will hold its line into the wind far better than a wedge you've flushed with everything you've got.
Downwind, take the opposite approach, but don't get greedy. A helping wind flattens your ball flight and takes away backspin, so the ball lands and runs. Club down, allow for the extra roll, and remember the wind helps less than you'd think on a low shot and more than you'd think on a high one. All of this relies on knowing your real numbers, so it's worth understanding how far you actually hit each club before you start adding and subtracting.
Learn to flight the ball down
The other core skill is being able to take height off the ball on demand. A lower ball flight simply gives the wind less to work with, and it's not hard to learn. This is the classic knock-down, or punch shot.
Set up with the ball a fraction back in your stance, your hands slightly ahead of the ball, and a touch more weight on your front foot. Then make a shorter, more controlled swing with a matching shorter finish. The key thought is length of swing, not speed. Think three-quarter back, three-quarter through, and let the loft of the club do the work. You're not trying to jab or hit down steeply at it, just take the full, high finish out of the equation. Practise it with a seven or eight iron first and you'll quickly feel how much more the ball bores through the wind.
Playing the crosswind
A crosswind is where patience and course management earn their keep. You've got two options: ride it or fight it. For most club golfers, riding it is the smarter play. If the wind is coming left to right, aim up the left side and let the wind bring the ball back. Work with the wind and your margin for error gets much bigger.
Fighting it, by shaping the ball into the wind to hold it straight, is a lovely shot when it comes off, but it takes real control and it's high risk. On a windy day the whole game is about removing big numbers, so pick the option that keeps the ball in play, not the one that looks good.
The ball you play makes a difference
This is where equipment quietly matters. Golf balls are not all the same in the wind. A high-spinning ball will climb and balloon into a stiff breeze, while a lower-spinning ball flies flatter and holds its line. If you play a lot of your golf somewhere exposed, it's worth thinking about whether your ball is helping or hurting you when it's blowing.
The same idea applies to your driver. Too much spin off the tee is a real problem into the wind, and it's one of the most common things we sort out on the launch monitor, so if your drives climb and drop short in a breeze, it's worth reading up on why your driver might spin too much. If you're not sure which ball suits your game and your conditions, have a look through our range of golf balls or read our guide on which golf ball you should use. Getting the ball right won't turn a gale into a calm day, but it takes one more variable out of your hands.
Patience is the real secret
If I could give you one thing to take out onto a windy course, it wouldn't be a swing tip. It would be patience. The wind makes golf harder for everyone in your group and everyone on the course, not just you. Scores go up across the board, and that's completely normal.
Accept that par is a great score into a strong wind, that a green in regulation might mean two putts from 15 metres rather than a birdie chance, and that the odd bogey isn't a disaster. The golfers who score well in the wind aren't hitting miraculous shots. They're the ones staying calm, taking their medicine, and not turning one bad hole into three. If you tend to get ahead of yourself on tough days, our thoughts on unrealistic expectations in golf are worth a read.
Bringing it together
Playing in the wind comes down to four simple things: take enough club and swing smoothly, learn to flight the ball down, work with a crosswind rather than against it, and stay patient. Do those and you'll not only score better on the rough days, you'll probably start quite enjoying the challenge. Some of the most satisfying rounds I've ever had have been in a decent breeze.
If you'd like a hand dialling in a lower, more controlled ball flight, or you want to check your ball and driver are working for you rather than against you, come and see us at Golf 360 in Mount Maunganui. We're more than happy to help you get set up for the conditions we actually play in.
Happy golfing,
Scott Pickett
PGA Professional
Founder – Golf 360
Mount Maunganui
