Low Spinners (Viktor Hovland, AoA)

[4zim]

Listened to Joe on the Sweet Spot while driving to work and it reminded me about this thread.
 

This thread is great and the “how to” is much easier to understand than other sources I’ve seen trying to explain it. Tried it indoors into a net but will need to give it a shot with a launch monitor or outside on the practice green. 

[saevel25]

Played around with this a bit. Not getting the spin up. This was even on a green that is pretty severely sloped towards me, clean lie, and a soft green. Maybe higher spin is just not my thing. 

[klineka]

4 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Played around with this a bit. Not getting the spin up. This was even on a green that is pretty severely sloped towards me, clean lie, and a soft green. Maybe higher spin is just not my thing. 

What ball were you using and how fresh are the grooves on your wedges?

I practice chip shots with my gamer, and while it's a lower spin ball I'm still able to hit it. Not necessarily the one hop then stop on a dime, but a low one that hops once with a ton of spin and trickles maybe a few feet.

[saevel25]

16 minutes ago, klineka said:

What ball were you using and how fresh are the grooves on your wedges?

Fresh out of the box. Grooves look fine.

[Vinsk]

Try some Tour Balatas and an Alien wedge….😏

[Zeph]

Was that a low spinner from Viktor on 4 at Valhalla? From the first cut, I worries it would fly past the flag, then it stops dead.

[iacas]

Some folks got to see one of these on the last hole at Virtues earlier today. Zzzzzziiiiiiipppppppp.

[11bravoveteran]

I decided to give this a try in the garage. Contact was good on the mat, used painters tape to ensure low point control.  I can’t get in the 5000+range spin. New pro v1, club and grooves clean, 60* wedge only a couple years old..I wouldn’t think worn grooves. Face was pretty square at setup.

 

 

Edited July 5 by 11bravoveteran

[billchao]

3 minutes ago, 11bravoveteran said:

I decided to give this a try in the garage. Contact was good on the mat, used painters tape to ensure low point control.  I can’t get in the 5000+range spin. New pro v1, club and grooves clean, 60* wedge only a couple years old..I wouldn’t think worn grooves. Face was pretty square at setup.

 

 

Does that say your AoA is 13°? Am I reading that right?

[11bravoveteran]

Part 2: I experimented with opening the face some like a bunker shot and got my spin up at least but felt like I’m hitting it very low on the face also really had to work to get dynamic loft down on this one..shouldn’t have to open the face this much or am I not used to that?? 

 

8 minutes ago, billchao said:

Does that say your AoA is 13°? Am I reading that right?

Yes sir. I believe the test or triad mayo put out was double digit aoa, sub 30 launch, 15 yard carry. Numbers off the top I think he liked 12 down, 45-46 dynamic loft and 28.5 launch..

[billchao]

9 minutes ago, 11bravoveteran said:

Yes sir.

Ah ok I didn’t see the “down” on the display at first. Why didn’t they just use negative numbers like everyone else?

[iacas]

2 hours ago, billchao said:

Ah ok I didn’t see the “down” on the display at first. Why didn’t they just use negative numbers like everyone else?

I hate that it says "out to in" instead of negative or positive, or just "right" or "left." Even just saying "in" would be better.

[Hardspoon]

This is really interesting.

In the rare case where I feel like I need to play a lower, spinnier shot than my standard "pitch" from inside 40 yards, I've always just tried to hit it like a partial wedge shot.  It's always very inconsistent, since it feels like a 10% backswing or something.

I'll definitely have to practice this and see how/if it works well enough to use on the course.

[saevel25]

Here is a question, does the type of grass on the greens matter? It’s just seems like my home course the ball trampolines a lot. The ball hardly ever checks up, even on like full wedge shots. You’ll always see run out. Even if you hit it into the slope of the greens. 

[Vinsk]

3 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Here is a question, does the type of grass on the greens matter? It’s just seems like my home course the ball trampolines a lot. The ball hardly ever checks up, even on like full wedge shots. You’ll always see run out. Even if you hit it into the slope of the greens. 

I would think the firmness plays a greater role. I can’t imagine grass that is so finely cut can make a major difference in spin.

[iacas]

4 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Here is a question, does the type of grass on the greens matter? It’s just seems like my home course the ball trampolines a lot. The ball hardly ever checks up, even on like full wedge shots. You’ll always see run out. Even if you hit it into the slope of the greens. 

PGA Tour greens are pretty firm (and fast), Matt.

[klineka]

5 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Here is a question, does the type of grass on the greens matter? It’s just seems like my home course the ball trampolines a lot. The ball hardly ever checks up, even on like full wedge shots. You’ll always see run out. Even if you hit it into the slope of the greens. 

Anecdotally, yes I think so.

Played TPC Louisiana recently which had tight Bermuda surrounds and Bermuda greens and the ball checked up so much quicker there than it does from bent fairways/greens I usually play on at home.

I can get one hop and stop at home, but it felt significantly easier on Bermuda IMO.

 

I hit one of these shots today from about 30-40yds, it maybe just went over head high the entire way. My favorite part is when the playing partners immediately start saying "get down" or "bite" and I know it's going to do just that then the "oohs" when it took one big hop and stopped on a dime about 2 feet from the hole for an easy birdie.

 

[11bravoveteran]

Any ideas why on my first screenshot I hit it in sweet spot with a neutral starting face and only got 4200 spin even checking all the boxes but the second one face was wide open and caught it a couple grooves low and got in the 5500 range?

The only thing I can think of is my grooves are more worn than I think but I thought Mayo used a wedge with no grooves and got high spin? I can’t remember if face location mattered as much as AoA and dynamic loft numbers. 
 

Some of these guys are getting 5-6000 spin on the same 15 yd shot! I’d prefer not to open the face because my own tendency is to roll my forearms on the way back, just a wierd eye thing I guess..
 

cheers!

John