Spin

[atthepin]

any tips on how to get my irons and wedges to spin?

[kurisu]

Hit DOWN on the ball, divot should start after the ball, not before it. If you still don't get enough spin to your liking and you're hitting solidly, then get a more spinny ball.

[stricklerlee]

You don't need to spin the ball when you're playing golf. If I had the choice to magically spin the ball or not, I would have chosen the latter. Why? Because you need to change the way you play golf. If you want to spin the ball, you need to hit the ball past the flag. Most likely, at your handicap, you don't have the accuracy or consistency to hit the ball where you want it to land. If you do have that, like Tiger or Phil, then yes that can be an advantage for you. But sometimes, even for them, the risk/reward ratio can be very unattractive. What if the ball lands behind the hole and manages to spin but spins into the water behind the hole. That would be disastrous.

Anyway, if you decide to go ahead and look for tips on how to get your irons and wedges to spin the ball, it'd take a lot of rpm and a great green to do that.

[Blades4me]

any tips on how to get my irons and wedges to spin?

With all due respect, with your hc I'd concentrate on ball striking and hitting the ball consistently. Then you will know what your normal shot is, i.e. straight, fade, or draw--it will be one of the 3. Once you get there move the ball back a little in the stance and hit down on the ball, striking the ball first.

If you are not a good ball striker and not consistent you will be putting the horse in front of the cart.

[ks8829]

solid contact + club head speed + high spin ball = spin

solid contact = center of the club face = correct practice = watch the video below

[Williamevanl]

I find the more I hit down on the ball, the less spin I get. Maybe someone can explain why. I get a ridiculous amount of spin however when I feel like I'm hitting almost up on the ball. I think its because my hands get really far in front of the ball when I have that feeling and that's probably where the spin comes from. It was like a light switch though when I figured it out I went from almost no spin back to sucking the ball back 8+ feet on a regular basis.

It looks really cool at first but it can cause all kinds of problems.

[misty_mountainhop]

All about contact. If you don't hit the ball properly then all the box grooves or ProV1s aren't going to help (that much). Learn to hit your wedges with a crisp, ball-turf contact and you're pretty much there.

[Deryck Griffith]

The best way to get spin on your ball is to 1, pay for a ball that spins more than others and 2, execute ball before turf contact. With ball before turf contact, you will expose the club grooves onto the ball without any obstruction. If are hitting the ball slightly fat, then the grass/turf will get in-between the ball and grooves which will reduce the friction of clean groove exposure onto the ball effectively reducing the amount of spin that can be placed on the ball.

If you find that you are not executing ball before turf contact, then you have to make the necessary adjustemnts to your swing that will allow you to do so.

[atthepin]

Thanks for the replies. I know with my HC i should be concentrating on contact and i definitely do. I was just curious.

[saevel25]

Pro's can hit the ball the same nearly every time.

When it comes to wedge shots, pro's usually hit at the ball harder to spin it more and softer to hit it with less spin. Thats why when people try to muscle a ball into the wind they end up comming up short because they impart more backspin and that spin is increased going into a wind.

But, just concern yourself on solid contact first.

[pixel5]

Just hit the ball correctly and the spin will happen. You don't have to try.

[Paradox]

and just a heads up..I think anyone will tell you that the best spinrate to have is just enough to get the ball to stop dead or stay relatively close to where it hits. Once you start getting spin though, you have to start learning how to play different shots to get the ball to go where you want. Get the ball to run, to check up and leak out, to stop so on and so forth.

BTW, grooves are only a small part of the actual spin production of a ball. The main job they perform is to move moisture away from the ball and face so that the two can interact as efficiently as possible. The grooves do bite a little bit but the majority of the spin is caused as the ball slides up the clubface. Thats why a wet lie and or lots of grass will cause less spin. The ball can't rub against the face and create the necessary friction.

[pixel5]

BTW, grooves are only a small part of the actual spin production of a ball. The main job they perform is to move moisture away from the ball and face so that the two can interact as efficiently as possible. The grooves do bite a little bit but the majority of the spin is caused as the ball slides up the clubface. Thats why a wet lie and or lots of grass will cause less spin. The ball can't rub against the face and create the necessary friction.

Disagree. If the grooves were gone there would be little to no spin. REASON: Jerk a smooth table cloth out from under a glass of water. It will remain because of inertia. If you have a golf club with no grooves, you are moving a smooth surface under the golf ball at a very high speed. The balls inertia will cause it to remain relatively spin-less aside from the forward motion of the club pushing the ball from its current position on the ground. The ONLY reason that golf clubs have grooves is for spin. Why do you think there is such a huge uproar between the USGA and club makers about square grooves? The more grass/water the grooves can displace, the more the surface corners of the grooves can 'grab' the ball and spin it.

[Joeyvee]

Ill take a soft landing and no spin or roll and pinopint accuracy over spin any day. too bad I cant do any of those 4. hahaha. I just pray it rolls to where I want it to roll to.

[Deryck Griffith]

BTW, grooves are only a small part of the actual spin production of a ball. The main job they perform is to move moisture away from the ball and face so that the two can interact as efficiently as possible. The grooves do bite a little bit but the majority of the spin is caused as the ball slides up the clubface. Thats why a wet lie and or lots of grass will cause less spin. The ball can't rub against the face and create the necessary friction.

I may be wrong but based on my understanding of friction and contact, good grooves will grab the ball more fiercly and actually prevent the ball from sliding up the face. If the ball is sliding up the face, then the grooves aren't grabbing the ball so it can spin....The reason why the ball spins less from grass or say water, is because there is obstruction between the grooves and ball preventing the grooves from "grabbing" the ball and in this scenario, the ball will slide up the face more and spin less. That is where the term "jumper" when hitting the ball from the rough comes from.

[Paradox]

ok, I didn't say that grooves played no part in putting spin on a ball. I said they played a small part and their primary job was to make ball/face contact as clean as possible. Thats why deeper grooves allow for more spin..they displace more moisture and grass before being "filled".

A ball will ALWAYS slide up the face..thats how loft works. the ball will roll up the face as you pinch it into the ground. A blade of grass being hit at 3,000lbs of force(a normal swings force) will always be chopped in two by a groove on a club. The grooves function is to take the pieces of grass inside away from the face.

V grooves provide less spin because they take away less moisture and "trash" between the ball and club. Why do you think Vokey has spin milled faces? Cleveland has those laser etchings? Taylormade has spin milled faces? Thats where the majority of contact with the ball is made.

As for why people want square grooves..see above. The spin becomes less when the grooves can displace less trash.

[iacas]

Disagree. If the grooves were gone there would be little to no spin.

Your sig has it right: you're wrong.

From a clean lie in the fairway a five-iron will generate essentially the SAME amount of backspin whether it has grooves or not. Grooves exist to channel water and debris away. An analogy would be racing slicks (used on dry tracks) versus tires with tread (funnels away water, snow, etc.). The numbers change as you go up in loft and sharpen the edges of the grooves, but not nearly as much as you'd think - they're still almost identical. Only when you get into the rough, etc. do the numbers really start to diverge.

A ball will ALWAYS slide up the face..thats how loft works. the ball will roll up the face as you pinch it into the ground.

You do realize that the ball isn't actually "pinched" or "compressed" against the ground, right?

[saevel25]

Well the ball isn't compressed, more as deformed due to contact. Go youtube a video of a slow mo driver, its awesome. The best is a racquetball hitting a wall, you never knew it would look like that at one point.

Flat versus grooves, thats a tough one. with regards to performance, from the fairway, its negligible at best, from the rough, yes big difference. If you look strickly at the numbers, theres probably a difference, just not enough to affect the ball in the way to give such a great advantage.

Though i wonder how the Cleveland wedges when they milled grooves inbetween the grooves act. I would bet that adds a bit more spin that normal, and probably see some spine increase thats noticible. Mostly because we are increasing surface area for contact with the ball, that increases friction and spin.