Wind, control your shots and improve accuracy

I just returned from a golf tournament in northern Florida. If you are not familiar with the weather down there at this time of the year, the wind can blow pretty hard. I was standing on the par 3 sixth hole on the final round when the wind was picking up slightly into us. The best way I like to examine the wind is not by throwing grass in the air, if you think about it, the ball will get much higher in the air then how high you can throw that grass up. Look at the tips of the trees (if you are on a tree lined course, a wide open course the grass throw will work). The tops of the leaves on the trees are a great indicator of which way the wind is truly blowing, especially if the wind feels like it is swirling near you. We had 165 yards to this pin on 6, the first guy took out an 8 iron not feeling much wind into his face, he came up well short into the green-side bunker. Before even seeing what he had hit I was already equipped with a 7 iron in my hand and flighted the ball lower to keep the wind from hitting it. The key was looking at the tips of the trees and seeing a steady wind blowing it towards me. Now there are a couple theories out there offering suggestions on how to hit into the wind. Tom Watson was a big fan of just clubbing up until he felt like he had enough club. I am not a big fan of this, it takes to much feel and not relying on your golf swing, by swinging just as hard it also gives you a greater risk of spinning the ball into the air and coming up short. Whenever there is a windy day, and you have a luxury of hitting into the wind on the range, go out and do it! I want you to focus on not swinging the club any faster than you normally would, this is actually a bad thing. By trying to compress the ball harder with a faster swing speed, you may actually cause the ball to spin harder and in turn have the wind throw it up in the air quicker. Take half shots with all of your irons and practice on your follow throw only going half way up. This will make the ball go a little straighter and keep it from spinning left or right. The next thing is ball positioning, make sure that ball is close to your back foot and this is where your alignment rods will come in handy. This allows the club to be de-lofted and in turn lowering ball flight. I think practicing these shots also help your tempo more and make the down wind shots, or no wind shots a lot easier, practice into the wind on the range every chance you get, it is a big game improver. The last thing I want to say is embrace a windy day, if you have a good mentality about it, then you already have an advantage over the guy who is complaining about how strong the wind is.