you should do your best to navigate the holding pattern properly...but unless you have alot of gadgets to help you, you will be ''experimenting'' all the way around until you get it right.
I've dealt with winds aloft across the holding course of over 100 knots..
the best advice is also the best description of a holding pattern.
LOST IN THE VICINITY OF A FIX
sort of like the game of golf: a good walk in the country...spoiled.
by the way, after you have spent four or five times around the racetrack pattern, and you have just gotten it right...you will receive further clearance.
AND ALWAYS WORRY ABOUT terrain and make sure the holding clearance is proper...a friend of one of the best pilots I've ever known crashed into the side of the Wasatch mountains because ATC gave the clearance in an incorrect manner.