Approach Play to Elevated / Lowered Greens?

[leezer99]

So, I was looking at this image and wondered what the best way is to play your approach to an elevated green versus a lowered green. Is the spin and velocity profile at θ' much different than at θ? I don't know the physics of it but to my wee brain, it would seem that at θ' the spin would be higher but velocity lower. At θ the spin would seem to be lower but velocity higher since it has more time to fall from its peak where it would be zero. Even the image below is off visually since we know the arc of the ball flight isn't consistent throughout. 

 

It's okay if you tell me I'm overthinking this. 😂

 

[Ty_Webb]

Spin will decay slightly over time, but not by a lot. The horizontal portion of the velocity will also decay due to air resistance. The vertical component will be increasing since the ball is accelerating due to gravity (albeit that the spin is creating lift, which will counteract that some). Neither of those has much of an impact of how the ball will react. The biggest difference is the vertical land angle. The angle theta prime (not sure how to show that on here) will be shallower than theta. That means the ball will stop faster at theta than at theta prime. The other thing is because there is still a horizontal component to the velocity, it will carry less far at theta prime than at theta. 

The effects of those two things work in opposite directions. Which one "wins" will depend on ground conditions, ball flight, spin, any necessary carry distances, etc. Fortunately the margins are fairly small so you can wing it with enough experience. The calculation of the carry distance change is what your range finder estimates when you have slope turned on.

[saevel25]

Yea, it's more complicated than your high school projectile motion equations. 

40 minutes ago, Ty_Webb said:

Spin will decay slightly over time, but not by a lot.

I am thinking it could increase under certain conditions. A gust of wind blowing in the same direction as the spin, causing more high and low pressure on the ball in a certain way that it increases the spin? 

41 minutes ago, Ty_Webb said:

The vertical component will be increasing since the ball is accelerating due to gravity (albeit that the spin is creating lift, which will counteract that some).

It has zero vertical velocity at its apex. So, it is all velocity caused by gravity for the vertical component. 

43 minutes ago, Ty_Webb said:

The biggest difference is the vertical land angle. The angle theta prime (not sure how to show that on here) will be shallower than theta.

Yea, landing angle is a big thing. 

It is parabolic. Your apex is 90 yards in the air. A 30-yard elevated green is 1/3rd that height. At the apex, your vertical descent angle is zero, it should be horizontal. So, you are going from zero theta to let's say 45 degrees. Even if it was linear, let's say you're landing angle is close to 30 degrees. That is less than a driver and probably is significant. 

Yea, it depends on how you hit it. Especially for downhill shots. If you hit a flighted shot, it might react more like a normal shot because of the lower launch and lower apex relative to your position. Versus a normal shot might come in at like 70 degrees, instead of 45 degrees. 

 

 

 

[leezer99]

54 minutes ago, Ty_Webb said:

Spin will decay slightly over time, but not by a lot. The horizontal portion of the velocity will also decay due to air resistance. The vertical component will be increasing since the ball is accelerating due to gravity (albeit that the spin is creating lift, which will counteract that some). Neither of those has much of an impact of how the ball will react. The biggest difference is the vertical land angle. The angle theta prime (not sure how to show that on here) will be shallower than theta. That means the ball will stop faster at theta than at theta prime. The other thing is because there is still a horizontal component to the velocity, it will carry less far at theta prime than at theta. 

The effects of those two things work in opposite directions. Which one "wins" will depend on ground conditions, ball flight, spin, any necessary carry distances, etc. Fortunately the margins are fairly small so you can wing it with enough experience. The calculation of the carry distance change is what your range finder estimates when you have slope turned on.

 

All great info. Thanks for the reply. 

[Archie Bunker]

Ask Bryson DeChambeau. I'm sure he has the answer somewhere in his notebook.😉

[GolfLug]

On 9/19/2025 at 7:29 AM, leezer99 said:

So, I was looking at this image and wondered what the best way is to play your approach to an elevated green versus a lowered green. Is the spin and velocity profile at θ' much different than at θ? I don't know the physics of it but to my wee brain, it would seem that at θ' the spin would be higher but velocity lower. At θ the spin would seem to be lower but velocity higher since it has more time to fall from its peak where it would be zero. Even the image below is off visually since we know the arc of the ball flight isn't consistent throughout. 

 

It's okay if you tell me I'm overthinking this. 😂

 

My two cents.. you are not wrong but you ARE overthinking it. The descent angle/spin variance is not high enough at either shelf to warrant anything other than a club adjustment for distance. Green speed/topography has far more influence on roll out.

Expect maybe a tiny bit more roll out at the higher shelf if you are a low spin player.