Everyone checks the flag for wind. Here's the problem: the flag is often in a sheltered pocket near the green, while your ball is about to fly through open air fifty feet higher up.

Trees tell the real story. Watch the tops of the tallest trees along your target line, not the ones near the tee. That's the wind your ball will actually fly through, and it's often stronger and from a different direction than what the flag suggests.

Small habit. Genuinely changes club selection on breezy days.