At what mph does wind really become annoying?

[Kent18]

I am planning a disc golf camping trip this week and I noticed both days there will be wind of 15 mph and 20 mph with gusts probably more. I know any disc golfer needs to learn how to play the wind but I am just wondering at what point is it just annoying to play in the wind and at what point does it drastically impact the beauty of the game? Should we reschedule?

 

[Dfwdscglfr]

nothing wrong with it i think it makes it more fun you can flip x-cal's and feel like you got some muscles

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Depends on the course - densely wooded not such a big deal. Shorter and open can be worse, and long and open, worse yet.

Seems anything from about 15 mph and over really starts adding strokes to a round scores to climb. Makes long putts a nightmare. I don't know about specfic speeds, but I find cross winds to be a bigger PIA than head and tail winds.

 

[mabraddock]

you'll notice any thing sustained over 10MPH... think of riding your bike... cross wind sucks the worse but watch it putting into the wind, disc will magically pop up and over the basket...
don't not play though, get out your heavy stuff and have fun using the wind to your advantage...

 

[scarpfish]

At our home tournament last week, we had the most befuddling wind ever. Sustained 20 MPH all day, with 35 MPH gusts which would hit at precisely the wrong moment, and the occasional lull which would hit at precisely the wrong moment. Everybody, including the Open players, struggled with it.

That being said, if I rescheduled my rounds every time annoying wind was a factor, I'd lose two thirds of my playing time. Today will be no exception.

So I say read this helpful article on dealing with various types of wind (oddly enough the guy who wrote it won the aforementioned tournament), pack some overstable plastic (although those won't be the right choice in every situation) and go do your trip. Once you learn to deal with the wind, and try to manipulate it to your advantage, it becomes less annoying.

 

[optidiscic]

heavier plasticsprovide more control in the wind
nothing better than wind to help learn your discs
wind putting is really not so fun..if its windy I usually cut my putting range in half and rely more on approach type shots

 

[eegor]

At our home tournament last week, we had the most befuddling wind ever. Sustained 20 MPH all day, with 35 MPH gusts which would hit at precisely the wrong moment, and the occasional lull which would hit at precisely the wrong moment. Everybody, including the Open players, struggled with it.

That being said, if I rescheduled my rounds every time annoying wind was a factor, I'd lose two thirds of my playing time. Today will be no exception.

So I say read this helpful article on dealing with various types of wind (oddly enough the guy who wrote it won the aforementioned tournament), pack some overstable plastic (although those won't be the right choice in every situation) and go do your trip. Once you learn to deal with the wind, and try to manipulate it to your advantage, it becomes less annoying.

I play in west Texas every week. They have thousands of those huge windmills out there for good reason. It really helps me to compete when the wind kicks up in DFW. It's all about adjustment to take advantage of the wind. Don't look at is as an obstacle. Think of ways the wind could help you.

TIP: Try to lay up on the upwind side of the basket. The tailwind will force your putts down... if you miss, you won't "float" away.

 

[thatdirtykid]

0mph. No wind is the worst. The wind (even if its very light) tells me which line to take. When there is 0 wind, its hard to decide whether the spike hyzer, straight fade, forehand, overhand or whatever is the better line.

 

[solomon.trenton]

10mph+

 

[Midnightbiker]

Anything over 15, and it gets a little tricky. You really gotta choose the right disc for tailwind or headwind, and putting can be a pain in high winds

 

[SmoothSailor]

my home course ALWAYS has heavy winds on at least hole 2, 4 and 8. Doesn't matter if there isn't any wind to be had, these holes have it. So I've since learned to play in the wind

 

[agent_peebody]

anything over 25 mph it gets really tricky to play

 

[fairweather_fan]

At what mph does wind really become annoying?

i don't know the answer for you, but i do know that it is inversely proportional to the amount of OAT in your throw. ie- if you throw clean, you can put the same disc through a much heavier wind than you could if you did not.

 

[scarpfish]

How bad was the wind today?

I threw a Buzzz almost 400'. Too bad the basket was only 200' out.

I had a headwind approach and decided to throw a FLX Drone on a hyzer line. It flipped.

 

[andrewkh]

it will make the round more interesting so definatly don't cancela dn the 15-20 mph winds aren't too bad as long as there arent any sever gusts.

 

[TxDiscGolfBoy]

It's TX. Biggest of the winds. Played in 20 mph winds today.

I think it makes it more fun. It's a part of the game you really don't get to see that often. Big winds that is. I guess that's 35+ mph here. You get to throw different discs. Flip X-Cals.

It's so cool watching a disc just get tossed around in the air. 20ft drops followed by 20 ft. rises. All in the same flight. Pretty neat.

 

[RussMB]

it will make the round more interesting so definatly don't cancela dn the 15-20 mph winds aren't too bad as long as there arent any sever gusts.

This is so true! My first DG Event we had Horrible coastal winds. 50mph. I would say the best player among us was the guy from Innova. He got the best score of +1 the first round, and Even the second. He couldn't compete for obvious reasons, but he stilled played with us. Very cool guy! So it put all of us on an even level.

 

[hangwind]

Scarpfish, thank you for the link.

The below is my own experience in gliding, it does pertain to my game and here are some of my thoughts on wind.

One thing about the wind, there are many factors that pertain to a given wind speed that make it act "heavy or light" The higher the temperature and lower humidity, the less dense the wind is and it will have a lighter effect on your disc path. Cooler more humid days, the wind is heavier and has more effect on the flight path. The higher the altitude of the playing field, the less dense the wind is and at sea level on a cool humid day, a 5 mph wind may have the same effect as a 10 mile per hour day at a warm dry climate at 5,000' elevation.

Some wind will have variance in flow, especially on warm days where thermal wind is abundant. Expect sudden lift and drops. Cool days, expect smoother trajectories unless the wind is from a low pressure system. High pressure systems the air is stable, low pressure systems, the air is instable.

The knowledge above will not hurt your playing, it will only help you to understand what sort of effect the wind will have on your disc flight.

The Discraft link goes farther into the effects of wind on disc ratings which I find interesting and about half applicable to my own experience.

We have a course that is windy. In the summer, convective winds, in the winter, laminar. Very interesting reading the wind as it is long and open. I've seen strong players wind up throwing the disc backwards and weak arms with good technique out driving.

Upwind throw low, downwind throw higher trajectories.

One of the things our little group does, once we figure out the disc, once it is thrown, we comment like, "throw harder" if the disc drops unexpectedly or "right" if it wasn't given enough English.

For the most part, we rotate if the wind is a factor, it helps us all to know how the throw went for the person and what it actually did.

Heavy disc into, lighter down wind. If the wind is directly cross, put your disc into the wind more, the higher the wind.

 

[jongoff09]

Where I am at, it isn't really windy at all during the summer, but fall-spring days are almost always windy. So wind for me isn't really frustrating except for the first few days it starts to blow and I am not thinking about how it affects the discs. Just so happens that last week was the first wind I have experienced since spring.

 

[billnchristy]

The wind I find annoying is the wind that is seemingly just above your head that you don't feel at ground level.

This kind of wind was playing hell with us yesterday until we just said forget it, can't throw the big understable distance discs.