Wind 1, Hackers 0: What Bermuda's Monday Playoff Teaches Weekend Duffers
The pros couldn't finish either
The Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal got blown off the schedule — literally. Seamus Power and Austin Smotherman finished knotted at 16-under and will settle it in a Monday playoff, weather permitting. When the wind at Port Royal gets frisky, even tour pros look like you and me on a Saturday: gripping it, guessing at gusts, and writing numbers they wish they could take back.
Steal this: the weekend hacker's wind plan
You can't overpower the wind, so stop trying. Here's the three-step version the pros were living all week:
1. Club up — one extra club for a breeze, two when the flag is doing gymnastics. Then swing at 75 percent. A smooth 6 looks heroic. A ripped 8 ends up two fairways over. 2. Grip down an inch and choke the flight. Ball a touch farther back, hands a touch forward, finish low, like you're shaking hands with the ball. Low and boring beats high and gone. 3. Aim at the fat side and take your medicine. In wind, the middle of the green is always the flag. Bogey keeps the card alive; hero shots kill it.
Range plan for this week: ten balls, one mid-iron, gripped down, three-quarter swings, picking the lowest flight that still carries. If seven out of ten stay under your imaginary clothesline, you're ready for the next blustery Saturday.
Your turn
Grab the free Course Review Field Kit and log your next windy round — note the club you took versus the club you should have taken. Future you says thanks. Look like a pro. Swing like a hack.
(Source: PGA Tour leaderboard, Butterfield Bermuda Championship — https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard)
