How does wind impact your drive?

We all know that the wind influences your drive, but some cool modeling from Dave Tuttleman might help with the details. I'll post the article at the bottom of this post, but the quick summary of the data is that drives into the wind are influenced by about TWICE AS MUCH as drivers downwind. This influence is not just on distance, but also direction.

Downwind, you will drive it further and straighter (up to about a 40-mile per hour tailwind).
Into the wind, you will drive it shorter AND more crooked.

The more crooked part was the eye-opener for me. My high school coach taught me, "swing easy when it's breezy". I took that to heart and generally adopted a more conservative strategy as well. Now I have a better understanding of why that advice paid off.

Next time you need a solid drive into the wind, swing a little easier and play a more conservative line and your average expected score will likely go down!

Happy Golfing,

Tyler

https://tutelman.com/golf/ballflight/windSpeed.php?fbclid=IwAR2c-n4hHEBgaKAqavFk8-MY2s9SoN75ioZy3e31M-ZIKYsaKlJm3_CGszM

For downwind shots, would you get more roll due to the lower trajectory? I wonder if it's enough to meaningfully impact the 2:1 ratio effect...

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One other thing that I have always wondered about modeling the impact of a headwind is:

Whether someone immersed in the subject has bothered to model a variable wind speed (starting low & increasing as a function of the ball height), and compared the projected carry distance vs. a constant wind speed model (10 mph, 20 mph, etc.)

And to make it more fun, with an added input variable for how tall the trees are on any given hole, with the assumption that there could be a step function increase in wind speed once the ball eclipses the height of the trees.

An example where this could be super interesting is for the 12th hole @ Augusta National.