To spin back or not to spin back

[harpo_72]

I was out on the course and just having a chat with my playing partner about spin.
He was saying he prefers the ball to skip and stop. I prefer it to come back or stop dead off my scoring irons. If I want it to skip forward, I would just play a 3/4 shot with less loft.
But it feels and may be my game has degraded a bit 😢, but the balls are not designed for what I want. Our greens are firm as well, possibly unnecessarily so. My swing speed on my short irons hasn’t differed too much over the last 20 years.
I just don’t feel I want to participate in the roll it around lottery, I want to aim at the flag or a nice spot on the green and stay there.
I admit I find it frustrating watching people drop it no where near and ending up with reasonable putts from 100-160yards.

I have been trying different balls, currently I like the chrome soft x and some old Bridgestone RX I had lying around. I used to like 100 compression titleist balatas, pro 90s and early pro v s but my absolute favourite was the callaway tour (I) s

 

[HomerJSimpson]

As a mid-handicapper my strike isn't consistent and I find it a lottery to try and play it past a hole and spin back. I would rather pick a club to land on the putting surface and release. Even the linear method of short game is built predominantly about shots that land and release and I find it easier to pick a landing spot and let it run out like a putt

 

[Imurg]

The new Mizuno balls are supposed to be real spin machines and, I believe, the Volviks spin well too.
It's a fact that balls spin less than they did back in the day. Stopping power now comes almost as much from decent angle than pure spin.
The problem with playing "hit and sit" golf is when you don't strike it properly and your spin goes through the floor..your hit and sit becomes bounce and run.

 

[fundy]

I was out on the course and just having a chat with my playing partner about spin.
He was saying he prefers the ball to skip and stop. I prefer it to come back or stop dead off my scoring irons. If I want it to skip forward, I would just play a 3/4 shot with less loft.
But it feels and may be my game has degraded a bit 😢, but the balls are not designed for what I want. Our greens are firm as well, possibly unnecessarily so. My swing speed on my short irons hasn’t differed too much over the last 20 years.
I just don’t feel I want to participate in the roll it around lottery, I want to aim at the flag or a nice spot on the green and stay there.
I admit I find it frustrating watching people drop it no where near and ending up with reasonable putts from 100-160yards.

I have been trying different balls, currently I like the chrome soft x and some old Bridgestone RX I had lying around. I used to like 100 compression titleist balatas, pro 90s and early pro v s but my absolute favourite was the callaway tour (I) s

This sounds like it might be more about your greens than your shots, certainly used to be the case at my previous course that after a dry spell it didnt matter how much spin it went in with it all got knocked off on the first bounce! Are others stopping it easily or are they struggling too? Only other thought maybe to check what spin your getting with your shots on a launch monitor?

 

[MendieGK]

Sounds like you’re not spinning it enough with your clubs. The ball won’t make that much difference, maybe a few 100RPm

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

scoring irons - a new one on me...?

 

[Wabinez]

I mean, lets talk about how far some of these shots are. From 50 yards, for instance, you are’t going to be able to generate the speed needed to get 12,000 revs of spin on the shot...so you should be looking to pitch it at 45 and let it run a bit.

From 100 yards, that changes...but the ball’s reaction is all down to strike. You strike it rubbish, it’s not going to spin as much as if you strike it perfectly. Sure, with a wedge, it may come in from a higher height...but I’d say, for an amateur golfer, it is easier to rely on roll out of a few yards than it is to rely on consistency of spin or carry distance

 

[Foxholer]

scoring irons - a new one on me...?

7 +/- 1 and below.

For me, that's (pretty much) simply 'irons'!

 

[jim8flog]

I was out on the course and just having a chat with my playing partner about spin.
He was saying he prefers the ball to skip and stop. I prefer it to come back or stop dead off my scoring irons. If I want it to skip forward, I would just play a 3/4 shot with less loft.
But it feels and may be my game has degraded a bit 😢, but the balls are not designed for what I want. Our greens are firm as well, possibly unnecessarily so. My swing speed on my short irons hasn’t differed too much over the last 20 years.
I just don’t feel I want to participate in the roll it around lottery, I want to aim at the flag or a nice spot on the green and stay there.
I admit I find it frustrating watching people drop it no where near and ending up with reasonable putts from 100-160yards.

I have been trying different balls, currently I like the chrome soft x and some old Bridgestone RX I had lying around. I used to like 100 compression titleist balatas, pro 90s and early pro v s but my absolute favourite was the callaway tour (I) s

The Tour I (s) would cost you yardage compared to the other two. The Bridgestone B330 RX is the distance ball from that range aimed at players with slower swing speed and spins quite a bit less than the B330RXS (current model is the Tour B RXS).


I no longer have the swing speed to back spin but I find I am preferring drop and stop within a yard anyway (with short clubs).

 

[harpo_72]

This sounds like it might be more about your greens than your shots, certainly used to be the case at my previous course that after a dry spell it didnt matter how much spin it went in with it all got knocked off on the first bounce! Are others stopping it easily or are they struggling too? Only other thought maybe to check what spin your getting with your shots on a launch monitor?

Yes I think that is a good point, looking for pitch marks and their depth when you find them shows it’s pretty baked.

 

[harpo_72]

The Tour I (s) would cost you yardage compared to the other two. The Bridgestone B330 RX is the distance ball from that range aimed at players with slower swing speed and spins quite a bit less than the B330RXS (current model is the Tour B RXS).


I no longer have the swing speed to back spin but I find I am preferring drop and stop within a yard anyway (with short clubs).

It does seem the RX is very similar to today’s spin balls

 

[duncan mackie]

Yes I think that is a good point, looking for pitch marks and their depth when you find them shows it’s pretty baked.

It's not all about pitch marks!

For the optimum spin reaction you want tight, really fast, greens with surfaces that don't break up in reaction to the ball hitting them. If you just want to stop the ball quickly a bit of spin, high trajectory and a soft green will do that fine - But it's not the same thing!

The ball can, and does, impact the spin rate and trajectory but the starting points are going to be around clubhead speed and clean contact.

 

[harpo_72]

It's not all about pitch marks!

For the optimum spin reaction you want tight, really fast, greens with surfaces that don't break up in reaction to the ball hitting them. If you just want to stop the ball quickly a bit of spin, high trajectory and a soft green will do that fine - But it's not the same thing!

The ball can, and does, impact the spin rate and trajectory but the starting points are going to be around clubhead speed and clean contact.

Yes understood the pitch mark comment was related to the dry hard greens

 

[jim8flog]

It does seem the RX is very similar to today’s spin balls

The RX is a 'spin ball' but spins less than RXS

The RX is my preferred ball for winter greens and the RXS for summer greens

 

[Jacko_G]

If it's on the green and you are putting does it matter?

We're all handicap golfers. Obsessive nonsense about spin. Two putts walk into the next hole, one putt, walk into the next hole with a spring in your step.

I'd suggest how close you are has a lot more relevance than "drop'n'stop" or "backspin".

 

[User20204]

I don't think I've ever spun the ball back closer to the hole, every time I've seen my ball spin back it's spinning further away, not sure why anyone would want a ball spinning back.

 

[YandaB]

I don't think I've ever spun the ball back closer to the hole, every time I've seen my ball spin back it's spinning further away, not sure why anyone would want a ball spinning back.

Totally agree, I find it hard enough to get 2 things right (line and length) without bringing a third variable into the equations (length of backspin), add into that the variables with height of trajectory and curvature (draw/fade) my mind boggles (though it would be great to reach that level and have that ability).

 

[inc0gnito]

If I could get the ball to spin back out of the bunker now that would be helpful

 

[Capella]

Ideally, I want my ball to stop where it drops and not hop forward too much or spin back (but to be honest, a lot must come together for my balls to spin backwards anyway ... happens once every blue moon and always when I don't want it).

 

[patricks148]

i would say it would all depend on your ability, quality of strike and spin rate. no matter what ball you use if you don't have these you wouldn't have controlof the ball.

personally i prefer it to just stop, after all you presumably are hiting for a certain distance to get near a pin, if its a soft green with a really good connection it may spin back, but as HH says why would you want this you end up further away.