It says something for how windy and cold it was Tuesday at Augusta National Golf Club when Tiger Woods didn't think it was productive to battle the elements.

Tiger Woods greets Bubba Watson on the practice green. Many players focused on their short game rather than tackle the windy conditions. About 2 p.m., only a third of players were out. (Kendrick Brinson/Special)

"I'm really not going to learn a whole lot," Woods said during his news conference. "(These) conditions we are not going to face all week."

Temperatures on the course during the practice round barely nudged the mid-50s and the wind, out of the west-northwest, topped out at 25 miles per hour.

The weather is likely to be very different for Thursday's first round, predicted to be 75 degrees with lighter wind out of the south-southwest.

"You never know what you're going to get out here," said 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson. "Come Thursday, the forecast is going to be a lot different. Some guys might play nine holes here and there. If anything, I'm going to just putt and chip."

That's the advice veteran Masters caddie Carl Jackson was going to give his boss, two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw. Jackson said trying to hit full shots in wind such as Tuesday's is futile -- and even counterproductive.

"I'm a firm believer that high winds can throw your timing off," Jackson said. "Then you've got to work to get it back. Work on the short game. That's critical."

Even a wide-eyed amateur in his first Masters didn't feel the need for a long practice session.

"I might play a few holes, 10, 15 and 16 ... I want to do the skip (at the 16th hole)," said Jack Newman, a Michigan State player who won the U.S. Public Links last year. "I won't wear myself out today. Play those holes, the short game, putting, hit a few wind shots ... keep it simple. I've been hitting the ball really well, so if I don't go out and hit a lot of shots, that's fine with me."

Of course the downside for the patrons, in addition to shivering and walking against the stiff wind, was the lack of players to watch.

At one point, just before 2 p.m., only 33 of 96 players were listed on the practice-round boards as being on the course.

"I feel bad for the patrons," Johnson said. "I don't know how much golf they're going to see. I don't think a lot of guys are really going to be out there."

The players weren't stacked up on the range, either. The wind was left to right, which many of them don't like because hitting draws are more important at Augusta National -- not fades, and certainly not wind-aided fades.

"I won't be on the range much because of the left-to-right wind," Johnson said.

Butch Harmon, swing coach for players such as Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott, also said the wind direction made range work almost useless.

"That's the worst wind to practice in," he said. "It doesn't do you much good. You might as well play nine holes."

That's what Mickelson did, teeing off at 8 a.m. Harmon said the two-time Masters champion got a lot of good work in because few players were out that early.

Mickelson agreed it was a good session, and said the wind-chill factor, hovering around 20 degrees, "wasn't all that bad."