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The wind plays a huge role on the players comfort and ability to maintain a good golf swing for 18 holes. Links golf in particular leaves players very exposed to the wind as they are by the sea and have no trees for shelter.

Playing in the wind can be difficult as the wind can cause a player to be buffeted around and stability then the set up and swing becomes difficult to control. To combat this, take a wider stance and particularly on the back swing, try to stay centred with the weight distribution more to the left side during the down swing but be careful that the stance taken isnt too wide or the swing will experience too much lateral movement, ironically causing more instability and potential bad shots.

Your shoulders are the widest point of your body so when widening the stance it is important that you can imagine your shoulders just about fitting between the inside of your feet. This now makes your lower body the widest area therefore making your body stable from the ground up.

When chipping or pitching we tend to have much narrower stances, however, widen your stance a little extra to maintain that stability if required.

On a windy day, it may be of benefit for the ball to be placed slightly further back in the stance to give a steeper angle of attack and allow for a more penetrative ball flight, however, narrowing or maintaining a normal width of stance could prove difficult to maintain stability throughout the swing.

Stand with a wider stance, the ball placed further back in the stance and the weight distributed slightly towards the front foot, allowing for greater stability and a better, more penetrating ball flight through the wind.

Adjusting your width of stance will not have a direct impact on the direction of your shots. It will affect your striking of the shots or possibly lead to poor lateral movement during the swing. A player may widen the stance too much and then may start to sway to the right side during the back swing. This may cause the spine angle and head to move during the swing which will make it extremely difficult to get back to the ball to make a consistent strike. A widened stance can cause the reverse pivot when the left side has the majority of the body weight applied to it during the back swing. During the down swing, the body weight would shift from the front foot to the back foot which is the opposite of the desired movement. This can cause poor strikes or diverted swing paths leading to poor shots.

A widened stance can make distance control difficult if the player begins to sway too much during the swing. However, if you keep a solid base and retain your normal golf swing rhythm and tempo, your distance control should be maintained as normal.