TROON, Scotland — The wind has been cooking early at Royal Troon, and watching pros navigate it is revealing something rather interesting.
It comes courtesy of Sky Sports' new wind-adjusted graphic, which is exactly what it sounds like. It takes data from various anemometers scattered around the course on various holes to measure the wind speed, then provides an adjusted yardage for the shot players are about to hit.
One thing that stands out? The effects of the wind are far more severe than you might expect.
1.5 yards * 1 mph = New Yardage
Generally speaking, many amateur golfers operate on a rule of thumb that every 10 mph of wind into their face adds about 10 yards. The same is true for every 10 mph downwind.
But if the anecdotal evidence being provided by Sky Sports this week is any indication, that rule of thumb pretty much underestimates the strength of the wind by about 50 percent.
Based on this anecdotal data, adding (or subtracting) about 1.5 yards per 1 mph of wind is a better way of calculating the effect of the wind.
You can see how that aligns with a variety of the shots below.
A 13 mph wind adds almost 20 yards. So this 160-yard shot plays closer to 180 yards.
Multiply 1.5 by 15 mph, and this 172-yard shot plays 198 yards.
Again, not a perfect formula, but an informative one. The wind plays more of a role than you think, especially for pros, and as Brian Harman explains, sometimes the best way of navigating it is trying to go under it.
"I think that's probably one of the most important things when you're playing links golf, being able to hit a piercing golf shot that stays underneath the wind," says defending champion Brian Harman. "If you let a ball kind of go with the wind, it has trouble stopping going that way...that's what makes this my favorite major to play in because that's still a skill that I think is very important and sometimes gets lost in some other places."
A skill that's on full display at Royal Troon this week.