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by Peter Lonard
 The windier it gets, the better I get. When you have windy conditions, the knockdown shot is one of your best options. When you follow the proper technique, it is not too difficult to execute.
Depending on the wind, we’ll need to take more club than usual. So if I have an 8-iron into the green with no wind, I’ll take a 6-iron and knock it down into the wind. The 6-iron has less loft than the 8-iron and the ball will fly on a lower trajectory where the wind won’t affect it as much. Grip down on the club, almost to the steel. This will shorten the club and take a little distance off to begin with.
Position the ball back in your stance, just off the right instep. The club is still open at this point in the normal swing, so you’ll have to hood the clubface a bit to compensate for this. When I take my stance, my arms hang normally, central to the middle of my body, a little ahead of the ball.
On my backswing, I think about taking the club back with very little wrist hinge, mostly arms. Next I’m looking for a nice, tight swing and a short follow through. All these factors will produce a low, boring shot that is sure to cheat the wind and end up on the green.
The knockdown shot actually takes a lot of the guesswork out of playing in the wind and works well in crosswinds as well. If you follow all those factors, the ball will fly almost the same distance as with no wind. The key is that the wind won’t affect your ball as much so distance can be fairly consistent. In certain conditions, I may play almost the entire round using some form of this shot.
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