Why You Need This: In this video, you'll learn how to putt when it is windy.

You'll get some great tips about what adjustments you need to make with your setup and putting stroke.

First, you'll want to widen your stance a bit if you normally putt with a narrow stance.

A good measurement would be to have your feet 2 inches wider than your shoulders.

With a wider stance, you should have plenty of stability even if a 20 mph gust of wind hits you.

Second, if you normally grip near the top of the putter, grip down 3 or 4 inches to increase the feeling of more control.

Third, consider the distance of the putt.

If it's within 10 feet, the wind won't affect the break much at all unless you fancy playing a round during a hurricane (probably not a good idea).

Past 10 feet though, you may want to adjust slightly for a cross wind that's over 10 mph.

Putting into the wind won't affect your distance much, so don't feel that you have to whack the putt.

This may not sound right, but remember that we're all accustomed to hitting iron shots into the wind that lose tons of distance...

So it's tempting to think that putting into the wind would kill our putts.

On the greens, the wind won't affect the distance as much as you think.

Watch this video now to discover how to putt when it is windy!

Golf Pros Featured:

Instructors Featured: Clay Ballard    

Video Duration: 3:21

Video Transcription:

Hi guys, welcome back. I’ve got some great tips for you when you’re playing outside, you’re putting, and there’s a lot of wind outside.

I’m going to make a few adjustments to my setup and my stroke to feel a lot more confident.

So the first thing, a lot of times I’ll see players that have fairly setup, so their feet are fairly close together.

That’s completely fine, I can putt with my feet really close together or really far apart, it’s all personal preference when there’s no wind outside.

But if I have a really narrow setup, my feet are close together, as I get a gust of wind, maybe a 20 mile an hour gust, all of a sudden, I’m getting blown off line, I’m feeling like I’m losing my balance.

I want to go ahead and widen my stance. I recommend a couple inches, a few inches wider than shoulder-width apart.

I’m really wide with this stance, I’m going to get a little extra knee bend, and I feel so much more stable. If a 20 mile and hour wind gust hit me right now, I’d be completely fine.

Also, normally I grip my putter all the way at the end of the grip with my normal stroke. I like to grip up two or three inches when it’s really windy outside. I feel like I have more control of the putter head, my hands are closer to the head.

If a wind gust does happen to hit my putter head, it’s really just not going to have as much affect on it if I’m gripping up on the grip a little bit. I just have a little bit more control.

So that’s a bit more of a mental thing, when you set up that way, you just feel like you’re so much more in control.

Now if I’m putting outside of 10 feet, so if I’m inside of 10 feet, I’m not going to play any difference in the break for the wind. If it’s crosswind, in to the wind, any of that that happens, I’m just going to play the normal amount of break.

As I start to get out here 10 feet or farther away from the hole, now I’m going to play a little bit of break for the wind. If I have a crosswind going in either direction, I’m going to play slightly for a little bit more break.

So let’s say this normal putt, if I play it dead center, it’s going to break maybe an inch to the left. If I have a 10 or 15 mile and hour crosswind, I may not play for it to break hardly at all.

I’m going to play it dead center in the hole. I know that wind is going to hold it up.

Same thing in the opposite direction, I’m going to play a little bit extra break. That’s only if you’re more than 10 feet away, and only if you have more than 10 miles an hour wind. That wind’s got to realy be blowing for it to affect the golf ball.

Now if I’m into the wind, or downwind, I’m not going to play any different.

When we set up over top of this ball, and we have a 20 mile and hour wind in our face, we’re used to hitting iron shots that get up in the wind, and that 20 mile an hour wind coming right back at it just beats that shot up and makes it fall straight down, and we lose a ton of distance.

Subconsciously, we kind of have that engrained in our brain that if I have wind in my face, a really strong wind, I’ve got to really hammer this thing and hit it hard.

With a putt, it’s not going to play that much different. It will maybe affect it two or three inches, but since we’re already rolling it past the hole every time, we’re not going to need to really play any account for that.

Same thing with a downwind putt. Unless you’re downhill downwind, I wouldn’t play any difference there at all.

Let’s go over this again. I’m going to widen up my stance two or three inches wider than shoulder-width apart. I’m going to bend my knees so I feel really nice and stable. If a gust hit me, I’d be fine.

Gripping up on the putter two or three inches. Then from there, if it’s crosswind I’ll play a little bit difference in the break. If it’s in to wind or downwind, I’m just going to g head and play my normal stroke.

There we go, guys. Get that good stance, that good set up, and you’re going to rain putts no matter how much wind there is.