Spinning the ball back: How short of a shot is this possible with?

[xxsoultonesxx]

Is it possible to back up a chip? A pitch? Flop?

Curious what the shortest shot in golf is that will bring the ball back towards the player after landing.

If anyone has any video links to something like this I'd love to see them.

[saevel25]

i have seen pros hit short low pitch shots that will do one hop and slow down, were it trickles to the hole.

For spinning the ball back, i think it almost has to be at least a half wedge shot to gain enough clubhead speed..

[michaeljames92]

[jamo]

I've backed up a flop shot and some longer pitches, but one shorts pitches and chips, that would be kind of against the point.

[TourSpoon]

The only other place to see this happen would be a bunker shot that is hit on the thinner side that just comes out spinning like a Banshee.

[WUTiger]

It depends on:

• type of ball used
• loft of club, and whether face is opened up
• clubhead speed
• cleanness of hit

Probably about a quarter wedge for strong players to spin back. This comes from watching college players warm up at my home course.

I've had some quarter 58* LWs that hit and stopped dead, but no real spin back.

When I'm swinging well, I can have a quarter or half wedge pitch shot fly in high and hit on a one hopper, release maybe 2-3 feet forward. But I play Gamers, which are a mid-spin ball. Also, I play chip-and-run more than most players, so I sometimes toe in the club greenside so I don't get unwanted bite.

[xxsoultonesxx]

Inside 30 yards I've never been able to bring anything back, but I've definitely had them stop dead.

Also, about the video link posted above, that was quite a bit of spin by Woods and O'Meara, but they were working side spin and on a sloping green, which is not quite the same.

I guess I was hoping to see somebody really chop a 64* wedge from 10 yards out and zip one back. I guess it's not possible.

[iacas]

I backed up a 20-yard pitch shot once. It's the shot that let me know the Pro V1 spun too much for me.

[xxsoultonesxx]

Originally Posted by iacas

I backed up a 20-yard pitch shot once. It's the shot that let me know the Pro V1 spun too much for me.

Play the V1x now?

Also, what kind of divot did you take to spin it back from 20 yards? Loft?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by xxsoultonesxx

Play the V1x now?

Also, what kind of divot did you take to spin it back from 20 yards? Loft?

Yup. Or the B330. Or the Penta.

No divot. 56 degrees, new spin milled Vokey. Was probably 4 or 5 years ago, so back when the grooves were still aggressive. Light rough too. Green was soft, which helped. Ball hopped once and came back three feet. Pitch may have been 25 yards, but wasn't more.

[mirv]

in the book "afternoons with mr hogan," the guy who was hogan's ball shagger talks about an incident where ben hogan was hitting shots from about 40 yards behind a green with a 49 degree pitching wedge, and one shot came in, checked, then back up half a foot UP the slope.  that's a pretty fierce amount of spin, 40 yards with a pitching wedge and getting it to spin backwards uphill.  he also noted that years later, he told nick faldo about what he'd seen, and nick set out to replicate the shot.  he couldn't do it.

[xxsoultonesxx]

Originally Posted by iacas

No divot.

There's a shocker. I'd think that to achieve that kind of spin you have to take some kind of divot.

[augafan48]

I was at a u.s. open local qualifier in 2008, watching some of the guys getting ready the day before when I saw something like that.  There was a foursome of young guys, college kids I'm assuming as it was the closest qualifier for anyone from the Clemson team, and they were goofing around at this par 3 green.  The green runs off about 4 feet down on the front to really well mown chipping areas, and they were practicing flop shots.  One of the guys says, "hey watch this", and opens up one of his wedges all the way, and takes a full, hard swing at it.  The shot wasn't more than 10 yards, and his full swing hit the ball relatively low, just past the pin, and it backed up almost off the green, a good 10 feet back.  One of the more impressive shots i've seen, because if you miss hit that at all the ball is going flying over the green....