[jeffwarne]

70's and even the 80's due to wind?

It rained last night, there's rain in the forcast, and it's currently raining/misting-yet they sprinkler the green in a desperate attempt to continue play at the AT&T.
Prior to the wind kicking up hard the greens were quite fast for Pebble (not sure why you ever want fast and bumpy but I digress)
Amazingly, no one questions the absurdity of this.
(the wind is blowing 21 mph on 18 and they can't play-it blows harder than that in my office in April )

How about not having the greens run so fast knowing that it MIGHT just be windy at Pebble in February.

How many of you have played in the UK/Ireland in winds you could barely stand up in, yet the ball didn't blow away on the green.

a world gone mad

[Brent Hutto]

I guess someone will invent a machine to un-mow and un-roll greens and they'll make a fortune selling it to Tour venues. That way you can keep 'em at 13 and if the wind kicks up or a few too many balls roll back off the green you can "un-mow" them back to 11.5 and continue play.

[jeffwarne]

I guess someone will invent a machine to un-mow and un-roll greens and they'll make a fortune selling it to Tour venues. That way you can keep 'em at 13 and if the wind kicks up or a few too many balls roll back off the green you can "un-mow" them back to 11.5 and continue play.

LOL
all the fancy clubs will have to have an "unroller"

I liked David Feherty walking around in the water hunting and hitting balls in the "unplayable" conditions

[Mark Bourgeois]

There are two tournaments that come to mind immediately where I thought the whole point was playing through amazing weather: the President's Putter...and the Crosby.

[Peter Pallotta]

An honest question, as while I've played in the wind I could never gauge it properly and never bothered to check on the weather forecast what it might've been: today after the restart they said that it blowing/gusting up to 25 miles an hour when play was suspended. Has anyone played in that kind of wind? It's tough no doubt, but is it in fact 'playable' (even assuming the greens were slower and bigger than at PB today)? To borrow a phrase from Jeff, can you stand up in 25 mph wind?

Peter

[Tom_Doak]

An honest question, as while I've played in the wind I could never gauge it properly and never bothered to check on the weather forecast what it might've been: today after the restart they said that it blowing/gusting up to 25 miles an hour when play was suspended. Has anyone played in that kind of wind? It's tough no doubt, but is it in fact 'playable' (even assuming the greens were slower and bigger than at PB today)? To borrow a phrase from Jeff, can you stand up in 25 mph wind?

Peter

Peter:

People tend to exaggerate how hard the wind is -- when it's really blowing 25 MPH, they think it's blowing 40.  But 25 mph is pretty common in the afternoons at Bandon, as well as many other places throughout the world of golf.  And as Jeff Warne notes, most golfers don't stop playing in that sort of wind.  Only the pros!

The one day I was out on a golf course and you really couldn't stand up to play a shot -- that was 60 MPH.

[Sean_A]

Pietro

25mph is a strong wind for golf, but it shouldn't be anywhere near enough to cause delays.  Tom is right, a lot of people way overestimate the wind speed - probably because they live in cities or towns.  I have played a lot of seaside and hilltop golf over the past 20 years and can recall only one time when I knew it was too windy golf.  It was bad enough that we were looking for lighter rough to aim at on tees because we knew it would be impossible to reach fairways.  That was Muirfield, solid 40mph winds with up to 60mph gusts. We played because the club refused to refund our money.  A very nasty way to treat customers.   

I can count on two hands and two feet how many days the ball was moving because of wind, but in all but a few cases I was able to actually play by the rules rather than move the ball to a lower spot on the green.

I think all courses should have a wind velocity designed into them just as they do for hills and firm terrain.  It is rare, but links really should be playable in 30ish mph winds.  That probably means an extra 5 or 10 yards of corridor width, but it isn't all that uncommon for wind to hit 25ish on links.   

Ciao   

[Mark Chaplin]

Sean we had the same with the old secretary at Western Gailes, according to their wind dial it was 50-60mph steady and while we were there the top gust went from 82mph to 88mph. Standing was difficult and I managed two holes, even golf bags laying down were moving. The new secretary kindly gave us a credit as even Prestwick airport was closed due to the wind.

The morning round at Glasgow Gailes was just playable at a 5-6 club wind.

[Bob_Huntley]

Jeff,

I have played in some pretty stiff winds on the Monterey Peninsula but nothing quite as strong as at St. Andrews,
there we had rain as well.

I think the following is interesting. The PGA Tour should find another Peter Hay. 

"In 1947, Bing Crosby brought his tournament to the Peninsula, and Peter Hay was at Pebble Beach to assure everything was in order. At the time the other two peninsula pros (Cam Puget at MPCC and Henry Puget at CPC) had literally grown up under Hay’s tutelage—first as caddies and then Assistants under Peter Hay at Del Monte. There was no question who was in charge. A few years later, in a particularly wet and windy Crosby tournament, Cary Middlecoff quit, complaining he couldn’t even tee up his ball. Peter sent him back out stating, “Where in the rule book does it say that you have to tee up your ball?” Middlecoff obeyed, and came close to winning. Peter Hay’s commands were said to have, “shaken the sea lions at both Cypress Point and Point Joe.”

Bob

[Ruediger Meyer]

25 mph should not be a problem. I played New South Wales and, according to the weather report, the wind gusts were 50mph (85 km/h) and higher. It was no problem at all, though playing just for fun is of course a lot different from playing in a tournament...

[Thomas Dai]

Worth considering that wind speed alters even with minor altitude changes and that the temperature at the location where the wind is blowing also effects how a golf ball behaves. A golf balls flight always seems to be more effected by a cold wind than a warm wind.

atb

[Pete_Pittock]

The windiest day of golf I played were at Bandon Dunes, when I had to get a new yardage book at the turn because the wind was tearing pages out (what good a yardage book would do in that is debatable). It had tobe 50+ because it was it was stronger than I encountered at Royal Cinque Ports on Sept 10, 1997. I had a copy of Donald Steel's book and had the secretary or professional write something on the page.
Andrew Reynolds (?) wroye "Just a slight breeze - 45 mph. Have a good game. Crossing against on the first.

I have been out on the course in stronger winds doing rules at Astoria G&CC, where we cancelled the round near the end of the morning wave.

As commented earlier, green speeds and mowing levels are the culprit. The wind isn't any stronger than it was in the 60s and 70s. They have themselves to blame.

[Jon Nolan]

We played Pacific Dunes during http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Coastal_Gale_of_2007.  We were told winds were sustained at 60+ and gusting to close to 100.  Pure butter drivers could go 40 yards or 400 yards - sometimes 130 degrees off your intended line.  My scorecard that day showed 137 and that was with many very liberal interpretations of 27-1.  It was probably a really stupid thing to do.  At some point it became solely about finishing and being able to say we did.  The course held up well.  There was standing water in a few places but generally in spots from which nobody was ever intended to play a shot.  A couple of greens had rivers going through them but we were very surprised there were so few.  Supposedly we were one group of two who finished the round.  Over my pint I was told the guys in the other group said they scored in the low 90s although it wasn't clarified if that was all strokes or just putts.

That night we lost power and went to generators which, if I remember correctly, provided power for the main lodge over to McKee's.  Then the generator went out and only the main lodge had power (PFM I suppose).  Thankfully they were able to get the lights on in the Chrome Lake and Lily Pond rooms by bedtime.  All golf courses were closed the next day supposedly for the first time since opening day.  There were maybe 50 people still at the resort.  Everyone with their sanity had bailed out the day before.  We were actually forbidden to leave on orders of the state or local police.  They fed us cold food in the lodge in the morning and by some miracle they had a limited hot menu starting in the afternoon.  The bar was open and the day basically turned into a 16 hour session.  We ended up so hammered we left a several hundred dollar tip.  So hammered we went and asked for some of it back.  Along the way one of the waitresses skewered me with one of the funniest one-liners I've ever heard.  Unfortunately, none of us could remember it the next day.  The remaining employees turned what could have been a depressingly broken golf holiday into a pretty good time.  Tons of love for those people.

Clearly unplayable but as a result of that experience I'll never complain about 25 mph gusts or even 25 mph sustained.  On the right course the former is nothing and the latter is well doable.  I should think Pebble fits the bill but, as mentioned by several others, I don't think I've played Tour speed greens in those conditions.  Still, it's hard for me to see it.

[David_Elvins]

Global warming leads to extreme weather which leads to tournament rounds cancelled.  We will continue to see more rounds cancelled irrespectiveof green speed.

[Paul Gray]

To return to the original question, yes, apparently the world has gone mad. No idea how many tournament rounds were delayed in the 60's but to take people off of the golf course because of 25 mph winds is ridiculous. Apparently we're having 70 mph gusts down here at the moment and it must have been comfortably blowing at 50 mph on the links today. My ball was blown off of a tee twice but never moved on a green. Admittedly it's winter but to not play because of 25 mph is no only absurd but utterly disingenuous to a game first played by the sea.

[jeffwarne]

Global warming leads to extreme weather which leads to tournament rounds cancelled.  We will continue to see more rounds cancelled irrespectiveof green speed.

Global warming?  
or greens too fast for expected/ predicted/possible conditions?
 
extreme weather? at the Crosby?
That weather isn't extreme at all there-or Bandon, or the UK, or The Hamptons in all seasons but high summer.
just normal and always possible.

David Feherty was walking around in the "beach" during the game delaying wind-didn't see him ducking debris or cowering at all.
Let's not chalk up poor planning and bad maintenance trends that cause delays during weather that is ROUTINELY played in at Pebble and MANY other places in the world to global warming.

As Tom Doak says, most golfers exaggerate the wind ,but 21-22 mph(what it was blowing on 18 during the delay) should be completely playable if the greens aren't overly slick.
Not one pro or amateur commented on the strength/wildness of the wind, only that the ball wouldn't stay still on the greens

[Tom_Doak]

Not one pro or amateur commented on the strength/wildness of the wind, only that the ball wouldn't stay still on the greens

To be fair, that's not 100% green speed, the pronounced tilt of some greens at Pebble Beach makes the situation worse.  But, that's another reason not to push the green speeds too high.

[John Kavanaugh]

You can't blame the golfers for this one. The turf industry can't sell more stupid machines or demand higher salaries unless conditions improve year to year. Golfing the ball be damned.

Greens should only be as fast as nature allows. Get it, another fan rant.

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