Okay, let me walk you through how I went about figuring out who the best golfers are when the wind really starts howling. It wasn’t exactly a scientific process, more like me just getting curious after a few tough rounds myself.
My Starting Point: Getting Blown Away (Literally)
So, I was out playing a couple of weeks back, and the wind was just brutal. My shots were going everywhere, ballooning up, getting knocked down, curving like crazy. It was frustrating, you know? Made me think, who actually thrives in this stuff? It can’t just be luck. Some players seem to handle it way better than others.
Hitting the Books (Sort Of)
First thing I did was just some casual searching online. Typed in stuff like “best wind players golf” and “golfers good in wind”. You get a lot of opinions right away, lots of articles mentioning the usual suspects. I also started thinking about tournaments famous for bad weather, especially The Open Championship over in the UK. Those links courses are notorious for wind.
I tried looking for specific stats, like maybe fairways hit or greens in regulation specifically in high winds, but honestly, that kind of detailed data isn’t always easy to find, or it’s buried in expensive databases. So, I ditched the super analytical approach pretty quickly. It felt like too much work and probably wouldn’t give me a clear picture anyway.
Watching and Remembering
What felt more useful was actually remembering and re-watching old tournaments. I spent a few evenings pulling up highlights on YouTube from windy Opens or Masters tournaments where the conditions got nasty. I started paying attention not just to who won, but how they played.
Things I looked for:
- Did they hit a lot of low, penetrating shots (“stingers” as they call them)?
- How was their scrambling? Could they still get up and down when they inevitably missed greens?
- Did they look frustrated or calm? Mental game seems huge in the wind.
- Were they smart with club selection and strategy, playing for position rather than firing at every pin?
Names That Kept Popping Up
From reading articles and watching footage, a few names consistently came up in the conversation. Obviously, legends like Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson were mentioned a lot, especially Watson with his incredible record at The Open. Lee Trevino was another name – famous for his control and lower ball flight.
In more modern times, Tiger Woods often gets brought up because, well, he was Tiger Woods. He seemed to have every shot, including the knockdown. Padraig Harrington also came to mind; watching his Open wins, he seemed incredibly gritty and masterful in tough conditions. Players like Stewart Cink, who won that windy Open at Turnberry against Watson, showed they could handle it too.
My Personal Takeaways
After digging around and watching clips, I realized it’s less about raw power and more about control and mentality. The guys who really impressed me were the ones who could manage their ball flight, keeping it under the wind when needed. They didn’t try to fight the conditions; they adapted.
They also seemed to have this incredible patience. Bogies are going to happen in strong winds. The best players seemed to accept that, grind out pars whenever possible, and avoid the big, card-wrecking numbers. It’s a different kind of golf – more about survival and strategy than just bombing it.
So, who’s the absolute best? Hard to say definitively, and it probably changes depending on the era. But based on my little research project, the players who consistently showed up in discussions and looked solid on video were the ones with superb ball control, creative shot-making, and a rock-solid mental game. Guys like Watson, Trevino, Harrington, and yeah, Tiger in his prime, certainly fit that bill from what I saw. It’s fascinating stuff!
