Spinning the ball

[Abs777]

I have been trying to back the ball up lately and have failed everytime. Does anyone have any secrets they can share. I am hitting an Callaway X 64* wedge and can't get the thing to move back. Any tips will be very appreciated.

[NM Golf]

  Abs777 said:

I have been trying to back the ball up lately and have failed everytime. Does anyone have any secrets they can share. I am hitting an Callaway X 64* wedge and can't get the thing to move back. Any tips will be very appreciated.

You impart spin by hitting down a wedge fairly hard. A personally spin my 56 degree wedge more than my 60 as I rarely hit the 60 degree hard enough. I would think it would be even harder to spin a 64 degree wedge because distance control hitting it that hard would be dicey at best. To spin it try to "pinch" the ball between your club face and the turf.

[RemyM]

What kind of ball? That makes a difference, plus you need to be putting backspin on the ball so you need to hit down on it, not scoop it.

[N.V.M.]

i try to put the ball as far back in my stance as i can while still making a complete swing, especially on the follow through. usually its in line with my right ankle. and yeah, Pro V1's help too.

[Lange]

Are you using some wrist in your swing with your wedge, that would make a big difference.

[Klean]

Like others have said, a crisp downward blow will create backspin and depending on your ball will either bounce and stop or roll back.

Why would you want to spin a 64 though? I only use my 60 when I have very little green to work with or I'm inside 50yds. And with that much loft, it balloons and pretty much stops on a dime.

[YogiTKE]

  N.V.M. said:

i try to put the ball as far back in my stance as i can while still making a complete swing, especially on the follow through. usually its in line with my right ankle. and yeah, Pro V1's help too.

Moving it too far back is going to deloft your club and make it more difficult to hold a green as well.

[Vintage]

Maybe someone can explain this to me (I'm relatively a golf newbie)...

I like to hit what I call my 56* kill shot.

Basically, I play it off the inside right foot.... take a steep angle, hit the ball....and it goes 100 yards and stops. The ball seems to fly a lot higher than my normal SW shot that I hit a little further.

When I approach the green, I usually see a ball mark.... and my golf ball is usually a couple of inches from the ball mark...

What is going on?

Am I getting roll, then "spinning" it back? Or am I just "killing it" (as in, I hit it...it lands.....and doesn't go anywhere)

Its a useful shot; I am just curious as to what's actually happening....

[elementz]

Sounds like the latter. I just picked up a 60 degree lob wedge and a lot of the shots that I am hitting will land on the green and will bounce maybe 6 inches to where my divot would be.

Still trying to get used to this club as I have been hitting some nice shots like that and others where it's all over the place. I think it will be a very useful club once I get the hang of it.

[mellojoe]

Physics would dictate that if a ball doesn't roll, then it has enough backspin to counteract the forward momentum.

[DJYoshi]

  NM Golf said:

You impart spin by hitting down a wedge fairly hard. A personally spin my 56 degree wedge more than my 60 as I rarely hit the 60 degree hard enough. I would think it would be even harder to spin a 64 degree wedge because distance control hitting it that hard would be dicey at best. To spin it try to "pinch" the ball between your club face and the turf.

I agree. Although I don't try to spin the ball..just make it check.. My 56 has spun back a few times.. i've never had a 60 do that.

when 1 of the guys that I play with spins it.. he's said imagine trying to pinch the middle/lower portion of the ball with the ground and you can spin it.. but definitely a softer/spinnier ball helps. I don't think I've ever seen anyone spin 1 of those top flights that you hit at the range. when I was learning to make the ball check/etc...my friend gave me a sleeve of these women's noodle..and those suckers could check real good

[jking]

  Klean said:

Why would you want to spin a 64 though? I only use my 60 when I have very little green to work with or I'm inside 50yds. And with that much loft, it balloons and pretty much stops on a dime.

Yeah, that's what I think too. To be able to spin the ball like they do on tv is cool looking, and I can think of a few situations where it might come in handy, but for the most part if a ball stops pretty close to where it hits on the green, I'm happy. I heard a pro (I'm thinking it might have been Luke Donald) say that they prefer not to spin a ball back if they can. His reasoning is that it's hard enough to control the distance you hit a ball without having to factor in how much it's going to spin back once it hits. Of the many times I've seen a pro spin a ball back on tv, I would say a bigger percentage of the time it has ended up producing a poorer result than a better one.

[pjsnyc]

  jking said:

Yeah, that's what I think too. To be able to spin the ball like they do on tv is cool looking, and I can think of a few situations where it might come in handy, but for the most part if a ball stops pretty close to where it hits on the green, I'm happy. I heard a pro (I'm thinking it might have been Luke Donald) say that they prefer not to spin a ball back if they can. His reasoning is that it's hard enough to control the distance you hit a ball without having to factor in how much it's going to spin back once it hits. Of the many times I've seen a pro spin a ball back on tv, I would say a bigger percentage of the time it has ended up producing a poorer result than a better one.

Agreed - though in some cases a pro feels more comfortable taking a full wedge shot as long as they know how far it'll spin back. I'm more for the check and stop type of result

Also, other than what others have posted here, having the green slope towards you aids in spinning it back too!

[GaijinGolfer]

In order to make the ball spin back, you need to do several things:
1.) Hit down on the ball. You do this by playing the ball back in your stance a little bit. That way, you hit the ball first and then take your divot. This compresses the ball on the ground and makes it spin more.
2.) You need to hit the ball solidly.
3.) You need to make sure your wedge's grooves arent worn.
4.) You need to be using one of the soft, premium balls such as the Titleist Pro V1 or Nike One Platinum.
If you do all those things, you should be able to make the ball spin back.
Personally, I think spinning the ball back is overrated. Id rathar have the ball take 2 hops and then stop.

[sacm3bill]

  TitleistWI said:

This compresses the ball on the ground and makes it spin more.

*I* agree with you, but you may be interested to know that many Sandtrappers believe that is a physical impossibility. (See the discussion between "winders" and myself in this thread:

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/showthr...t=15407&page;=4 )

[mgolfer]

Ahh not these threads again

Basically, if you want to do it in the most easy fashion, get a sleeve of pro v1s or the new callaway ix balls or whatever they are called, as long as they are good soft golf balls. Personally I like the pro v1.

If you wedge's grooves are worn, they will not produce spin. Also remember that if they are full of dirt and grime then the grooves will not be able to grip the ball and spin it back, so use a groove cleaner. You really need to hit down on it and pinch the ball so that the grooves give the ball more backspin. However, I find that if the ball takes one or two hops and then stops I am in a better position as I rarely hit it past the flag needing it to spin back. To be honest backspin is overrated. At first I was like "woah I just spun the ball 10 feet!" and I seemed to feel that the zipback was more important than being close to the hole, as it left me 20 feet from the flag and had it not spun, it would have rolled next to the pin. If you hop and stop it, you should be happy with the result.

[iacas]

  sacm3bill said:

*I* agree with you, but you may be interested to know that many Sandtrappers believe that is a physical impossibility.

It is a physical impossibility. You're wrong.

  mgolfer said:

Ahh not these threads again

Agreed, and now closed.