Backspin: Swing Speed or Quality of strike?

[HawkeyeMS]

I don't generate a lot of spin on my approach shots, certainly no backspin, which doesn't bother me but did get me wondering... Is there a certain SS you need before you start getting backspin on greens or can you generate it if you strike quality is good enough no matter how quick you swing?

Thoughts?

 

[Imurg]

The Pros get plenty of spin from half shots.
You still have to generate some speed but quality of strike, a good lie and the right ball help no end..

 

[Master-putter]

I think that is is a cross between both SS and quality of strike. You could swing the club as quick as Mcilroy, but if you don't hit it properly you won't generate any spin. However, if you have a relatively smooth, average swing speed, but you catch it out of the middle most of the time, you will generate spin. However, look how the pro's get spin on short chip shots. Also you need razor sharp clean grooves and good quality balls. That's my opinion anyhow.

Master-putter.

 

[kid2]

I get stupid amounts of it at times.....Havent a clue how as i dont think i do anything differently when hitting the ball.....
Today on our 8th....Par 3 115mtr to the centre of the green and a slight helping breeze.....
I hit a PW.......Green was full of sand to the point it was hard to even make out the grass.....

I was using a Srixon Tri Speed.......Contact was good...Flight was straight...It pitched right in the middle of the green and backed up about 3 ft caught the slope across the middle of the green and i ended up with a putt of about 30 ft.....

It can hinder a lot more than help at times.


Oh and i have the new grooves on my clubs.....:mmm:

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I don't generate a lot of spin on my approach shots, certainly no backspin, which doesn't bother me but did get me wondering... Is there a certain SS you need before you start getting backspin on greens or can you generate it if you strike quality is good enough no matter how quick you swing?

Thoughts?

You do generate backspin. It is a physical result of hitting the ball and having seen you play I don't really see you having a problem. It isn't as though the ball lands say centre of the green with a mid-iron and still trundle off the back. Perhaps you are just being too hard on yourself. Even in the summer you have fired low scores so you must be hitting greens and hitting close

 

[ArnoldArmChewer]

The latter

 

[ScienceBoy]

Quality of strike of course.

My pro has a good explaination for it.

If you hit it thin, ie on groove 1 or 2 of an iron it will go low and have little back spin. If you hit it on grooves 3 -5 it will be out the sweet spot and rise up more, with groves 4 and 5 giving the better shots as you get closer to the sweet spot which is around grove 4 or 5 on an iron.

That is why if you hit a shot a little low on the face it can still go miles but without the backspin to give it lift it does not drop down soft and under control.

The same rule applies from everything from a driver down to a 10 yard chip and everything in-between.

 

[USER1999]

But then sometimes when I catch a wedge a bit thin it has ridiculous amounts of spin?

 

[Mungoscorner]

I generate a lot of spin with my irons and wedge's,my swing is awful and i don't have a particularly fast swing speed,i don't believe i'm a great ball striker either.I think the angle of attack can influence how much spin you impart on the ball,so i'm guessing that because i'm quite steep at impact thats why i generate so much spin.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

You do generate backspin. It is a physical result of hitting the ball and having seen you play I don't really see you having a problem. It isn't as though the ball lands say centre of the green with a mid-iron and still trundle off the back. Perhaps you are just being too hard on yourself. Even in the summer you have fired low scores so you must be hitting greens and hitting close

I'm talking about when the ball hits the green Homer. Obviously the ball has some spin on it but it rarely backs up for me. I'm not bothered that I don't get it, I was just wondering whether there was a certain SS required to zip the ball back or wheter it is all down to strike quality? I'm assuming that the ball needs to be spinning at a certain rpm before it backs up? Personally I think getting backspin all the time would be impossible to work with.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Quality of strike of course.

My pro has a good explaination for it.

If you hit it thin, ie on groove 1 or 2 of an iron it will go low and have little back spin. If you hit it on grooves 3 -5 it will be out the sweet spot and rise up more, with groves 4 and 5 giving the better shots as you get closer to the sweet spot which is around grove 4 or 5 on an iron.

That is why if you hit a shot a little low on the face it can still go miles but without the backspin to give it lift it does not drop down soft and under control.

The same rule applies from everything from a driver down to a 10 yard chip and everything in-between.

Interesting, thanks SB.

 

[Imurg]

The "super backspin" that the pros get is very hard for us mere mortals to control.
And, of course, this amount of backspin is only any use if you pitch level or past the flag...
If you're at all short - and let's face it, most of the time we are - then you don't want the ball sucking back...
It might look good but it rarely helps us....

 

[Ethan]

Green conditions make a huge difference. Soft fast greens will allow backspin, firm bouncy ones won't (to the same degree). First time I ever got noticeable backspin was in the US, playing to a soft fast (flat) green. The same shot on any of the courses I played regularly in the UK might have stopped, but it would not have come back 10 feet.

The quality of strike is key, you need to strike down cleanly on the ball, squeezing the ball out between clubhead and turf.

 

[One Planer]

I generate a bit of spin. I generally don't generate enough to draw the ball back, except if greens are a little soft under the surface.

With a wedge, I generally get a bounce or 2 then it stops. I hit a 7 iron into a green yesterday. From the pitchmark to the ball there was about 8ft-10ft.

On chips, I generally get a little more run, unless I'm trying to get the ball to check.

What generates it? No idea. A clean, ball first, contact obviously but I would imagine the angle the club comes into the ball at has an effect (AoA)?

 

[ScienceBoy]

Interesting, thanks SB.

It is also why we need to hit down on irons without delofting the club. If we dont we cannot get to groves 4 and 5 where the sweet spot is!

 

[Hobbit]

Enough speed to compress the ball, and purity of strike + the right sort of ball - try doing it with a Donnay and you'll be there all day.

 

[Lump]

IMO its neither one by itself.
You could have a perfect swing with pro swing speeds and contact the ball perfectly... but still get very little spin if the ball your playing won't spin.

for me its all in the ball your playing, the likes of ProV1's and 20xi S balls have an obscene amount of spin. I simply cannot play these balls, the spin is uncontrollable.

 

[cookelad]

Clean grooves, a reasonable swing speed, a good contact and receptive greens!

Not sure anyone really want much more than would bring the ball to a dead stop where it landed with say a 7 iron - but it does look good when you land a wedge 10ft+ past the hole and it draws back towards it!

 

[Andy808]

Enough speed to compress the ball, and purity of strike + the right sort of ball - try doing it with a Donnay and you'll be there all day.

I can spin a toprock enough to stop it quickly on the green, mind you I do get a lot of spin and sometimes too much where I have spun the ball back off the green. I also have a very high ball flight with all my clubs so on soft greens I can stop a driver withing 10 feet of where it pitched.

 

[patricks148]

I would rather it just stopped where it landed, nothing worse than landing 5 foot from the flag and spinning back off the front of the green.