How to backspin

[Chip Shot]

I have always wondered how the PGA players get that serious backspin when there ball hits the green. I can never seem to manage to get the ball to do it. Is it all about the swing or the certain club or does it have to do with the greens itself? Just wondering.

[atm_73]

Originally Posted by Chip Shot

I have always wondered how the PGA players get that serious backspin when there ball hits the green. I can never seem to manage to get the ball to do it. Is it all about the swing or the certain club or does it have to do with the greens itself? Just wondering.

They pay huge $$$'s for a remote control ball that they can put backspin on after it hits the green.




















or... It's a combination of a steep swing down on the ball, combined with a ball with a really soft cover (like urethane), and sharp grooves and a milled face don't hurt either. Green conditions matter a lot as well, too firm, the ball bounces right off, too soft, it "plugs" and doesn't spin much - also fast greens obviously will show spin effects more.

[straightshooter]

If hitting down on the ball doesn't mean anything to you, imagine the club is a cheese grater, and the ball is a small cheese, and try to remove a good mouthful from it!

[tachus]

i have never achieved the spin that the pros have, but i think i have the shot now. i play a short pitch swing and accelerate through the ball as much as possible hitting it crisply and while hitting these shots today on th frozen ground, the bal was one hopping and stopping.

[stlcards08]

You must clean your grooves after every shot! I never used to clean them at all, so I never got backspin. Ball would release and roll a few yards. The grooves were all filled up by the time I could make good contact. Before golf tryouts one year, I decided to clean my clubs. To my surprise, the ball stopped immediately upon hitting the green. Your grooves also must be sharp. When I got my new clubs, I even began to bring the ball back some on my PW and 9I on those rare occasions that I actually hit the green.
I don't know if this helps or not, but my Grandpa had me hit balls off of a 2x4 once. He said it would cause me to create backspin, I guess because it would force me to hit ball first or else the ball would bounce off of the board before my club hit the ball.
I would also imagine it would take a fair amount of swingspeed, since fuller shots result in more backspin. Green conditions and lies also play a factor I'm sure.

[tmtp]

As stated, hitting down on the ball is a good way to generate backspin. What actually happens is the ball gets pinched between the descending club head and the ground, this causes it to shoot out with more back spin depending on how hard it is hit. The loft of the club also has a lot to do with the amount of spin generated by the swing. As also mentioned before, the golf ball hass to be designed with spin as a characteristic, you will not get as much spin on a range ball as on a TP Red, simply because of the way that the ball is manufactured. My most common answer to people who ask me about generating back spin on the greens is to ask if they hit the ball past the hole, most will say no, so what do they need it for.

[C-Tech]

The few times I have spun the ball enough to have it come back like I'd pulled the string on it, it was pure contact combined with an accelerating swing down through the ball at a steep angle taking a dollar bill sized divot just in front of where the ball lay. It always surprises me when I pull it off. I hope someday to be able to gain more control and consistency with that shot as it always brings awe from my companions.

[Bigvivec]

Originally Posted by tmtp

My most common answer to people who ask me about generating back spin on the greens is to ask if they hit the ball past the hole, most will say no, so what do they need it for.

This quote (is it Harvey Penick?) always made me nuts...

This was posted on GR a while back:


You need to make sure the following things are done to make sure that backspin occurs:
1. make sure that you are using a good soft ball (pro v 1)
2. make sure that groves in club are spotless
3. make sure your swing is just as normal as hitting another shot. you do not have to blast it as other people stated.
4. keep your take away the same as another shot
5. and finally make sure you catch the very bottom of the ball but make sure you do not even hit the ground at all prior to the ball.
6. make sure that you take a weee divot or you will thin the ball way over the green.
thats how you get backspin.

[Wazmankg]

Originally Posted by Chip Shot

I have always wondered how the PGA players get that serious backspin when there ball hits the green. I can never seem to manage to get the ball to do it. Is it all about the swing or the certain club or does it have to do with the greens itself? Just wondering.

You really don't need the ball to do that anyway, though. I know that it looks cool but you really don't want the ball to be doing much moving at all after it hits the green on most full approach shots. At your age you're not likely generating the club head speed to do be backing it up on the green, nor is it something you should be "trying" to do.

[stlcard_25]

Moved to the proper forum....

It's mostly a swing-speed related thing. As wazmankg said, it's not really an essential element of the game unless you're scratch or better and are working on the specialty shots needed to go lower.

[Chip Shot]

Thanks for the great information. It is definetly true what you said Wazmankg about me never being in the position to make a shot that a backspin would benefit the shot. It just looks really awesome when the pros do it.

[EddieC]

It is cool to see unless it's your ball that you've just landed inches from the pin only to have it come ripping back at you 15 feet. I always wanted to be able to "pull the string" as well and then I learned how to do it by making a decending blow and super clean contact with speed. Now it's almost a burdon because it hard to do it consistantly, if you could control the spin to say 5 feet everytime then you'd be set, however just watch the pro's... sometimes it's 15 feet sometimes is 6 inches. I'd much rather have mine just stop when it hits.

[Wazmankg]

Originally Posted by EddieC

It is cool to see unless it's your ball that you've just landed inches from the pin only to have it come ripping back at you 15 feet. I always wanted to be able to "pull the string" as well and then I learned how to do it by making a decending blow and super clean contact with speed. Now it's almost a burdon because it hard to do it consistantly, if you could control the spin to say 5 feet everytime then you'd be set, however just watch the pro's... sometimes it's 15 feet sometimes is 6 inches. I'd much rather have mine just stop when it hits.

It does look cool, I'll admit. The thing is though, even if you could do it, aren't you usually too far away to appreciate the effect ?

[EddieC]

Originally Posted by Wazmankg

It does look cool, I'll admit. The thing is though, even if you could do it, aren't you usually too far away to appreciate the effect ?

Not usually, I can only do it with PW on down and since I'm not a long hitter I'm at most 120 out, so I can see it most of the time.

[delong19]

Last season I started getting a bit of back spin. Not much, I'd get to the green and the ball mark would be a couple of feet in front of my ball. I haven't really tried to do this, I guess it's just a result of a cleanly struck shot.....But hey I'm not complaining

[RobIU977]

What is really amazing to me is how much spin out of the green side bunkers that the pros can put on the ball.

[flomarilius]

Originally Posted by RobIU977

What is really amazing to me is how much spin out of the green side bunkers that the pros can put on the ball.

You see I used to wonder this myself until I had a lesson with Mclean. I curiously asked him after the lesson how do these pros like Tiger, Phil, **** all of them get this amount of backspin and he let me in on the secret. Not only is it a descending blow and hands in a forward press position but the greens on tour can read all the way up to 12 on the meter. Therefore, if a regular joe goes out there and hits a shot with a descending blow more likely than not there ball can dance around. He added, putting is just a whole other ball game when your out there.

[300Yards]

Chip Shot: As others said on here, don't worry to much about it. As you get better, you start learning to generate these types og shots. I can do backspin, if I want, heck I can back it off the green if I want to..but the truth is, that is not a shot an ameteur really uses. Unless you have a tendency to hit it past the cup, backspinning is really unnecessary.

[Chip Shot]

Originally Posted by 300Yards

Chip Shot: As others said on here, don't worry to much about it. As you get better, you start learning to generate these types og shots. I can do backspin, if I want, heck I can back it off the green if I want to..but the truth is, that is not a shot an ameteur really uses. Unless you have a tendency to hit it past the cup, backspinning is really unnecessary.

That is one thing I rarely do is hit it past the cup, I just don't get enough power into my shots.

[tmtp]

I rarely try to generate backspin, I have much more control hitting the ball at a target on the fly and getting it to stick to the green. Backing the ball up can be too hard to predict, if I back one up I am usually farther from the hole than I would have been had it just hit and stopped.

[300Yards]

I have actually done better not backspinning the ball. AS TmTp said, it is hard to predict, and it is easy to spin it back off the green. I just stick it. Chip Shot: DOn't worry about power, because it really doesn't matter. If your accurate, your goldem!

[jcgolfpro]

The one thing missing from this thread is the conditioning. No matter what club you are using, if the fairways aren't tight and the greens fast or wet, you won't get that much. I've played HT a few times after the MCI on Monday and it is amazing the amount of spin that can be applied due to the lie and the hard, fast greens. To show how firm the fairways are during the tournament, on the 5th hole, normally I hit driver and then a long iron or fw to the green. Playing the day after the tournament, I rarely have to hit more than 6 iron to the same green due to the driver roll from the firm fairways.