How to Put Spin on the Golf Ball
by Bradley Turner – Keiser University College of Golf Director of Online Golf Instruction – MBA, PGA
The last PGA Tour event I attended was the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2020. I am looking forward to watching the world’s best players showcase their incredible skills at the Bay Hill Club the first week in March. It is always interesting to watch golf fans react to the shot-making skills of PGA Tour players. I sometimes forget that many of these fans have never watched such talented golfers strike a golf ball. The shot that always gets the same predictable reaction from the fans is a wedge shot with a lot of backspin. It appears as if the ball magically dances backward like Michael Jackson doing the “moonwalk.” Why do golfers seem to get so excited about a golf ball that spins backward on the green? I remember the first time I ever spun a golf ball backward on the green. I was eleven years old and playing the second hole at Indian Tree Golf Club in Colorado. I hit a 9-iron approach shot to the green, and when I saw where my ball was and where the pitch shot was located, I was the proudest golfer on the planet. I could not wait to tell my dad that my ball spun backward on the second green! Dad was not a great golfer, but he seemed to know a few things golfers were supposed to do. He told me that if I could learn to take a divot, I would eventually be able to create the spin to make the ball stop. If I can remember the excitement of that shot 50 years later, I guess it makes sense that golf fans get excited too. To make you play a bit more like the players inside the ropes, let’s explore the factors on how to put spin on a golf ball.
Spin Loft
Spin loft is a fancy term used in golf instruction to describe the conditions at impact that influence ball spin. Here is the simplified explanation of the two primary factors to spin loft:
The effective loft of the club at impact
Assume a tour player is hitting a 50-degree gap wedge. The loft of the club, according to the manufacturer, is 50 degrees, but a tour player will lean the shaft of the club about 8 degrees at impact, resulting in the club being delofted by the same amount. Therefore, the effective loft is 42 degrees, which represents about a two-club difference from amateurs who may have zero shaft lean at impact. That is one reason PGA Tour players hit their irons so much farther!
The angle of attack of the club at impact
This is the direction the club is moving relative to the ground. A descending angle of attack will have a negative value, while an ascending angle of attack will have a positive value. PGA Tour players will have at least 5 degrees of descent when hitting a wedge shot.
SPIN LOFT = Effective loft – angle of attack
In the gap wedge example above, if a player has negative 5 degrees of angle of attack, the spin loft increases to 47 degrees. For an amateur golfer with one degree of ascending angle of attack, the spin loft decreases from 42 to 41 degrees. To maximize ball spin, you want effective loft and a descending angle of attack.
The Geometry of Club Loft
Here is a good visual image for you to understand ball spin. Take a beach ball and strike it with your hand directly at the equator. The beach ball will have no spin at all, but as you strike beneath the equator, the beach ball will spin backward. The lower on the beach ball you strike, the more spin will be created. Also, if you strike the beach ball with more force, you will see additional spin. This is a good example of the geometry of club loft and ball spin.
Let’s go back to high school geometry class. You may recall that a line tangent to a circle intersects at one specific point. Now, imagine the face of a traditional clock. A putter with zero degrees of effective loft will contact the ball at one specific point, at 9:00 on the clock face. The ball will have no initial spin until the friction of the grass begins to create a forward spin as the ball rolls toward the cup. A six iron will make initial contact with the ball with about 30 degrees of effective loft, which is approximately at the 8:00 position on the clock face. A lob wedge with 60 degrees of effective loft will contact the ball at the 7:00 position. We often tell players to hit the back of the ball, but the reality is that the only club where you hit the back of the ball is with the putter. With all the other clubs, the contact point on a well-struck golf shot is always below the equator of the ball. A good image of impact can help you build correct concepts resulting in improvement and shooting lower scores.
Club Head Speed
Let’s go back to the beach ball example. If you strike the beach ball with more speed, you will see a corresponding increase in spin. Therefore, one of the keys to creating a lot of spin is to have a lot of club head speed. Since the average male amateur club head speed with a driver is only 94 mph compared to a PGA Tour player at 114 mph, the science of impact is not in favor of slower club head speeds creating additional backspin on the ball. There is nothing that you can do about that one except train your body and golf swing to create more speed.
Other Factors that Influence Spin
The type of golf ball you choose to play is an additional factor in spin rates. Some golf balls are designed to spin more, and others will spin less. Most premium balls provide a player with the essential benefits of distance and spin. The more skilled you are at the game, the more you can sense the different playing characteristics of various golf ball brands. New wedges with fresh grooves make a big difference on short game shots as the friction between the ball, and the club face is best when the club is new. That is why PGA Tour players will put new wedges in their golf bags every month or so. If you are using wedges that are five years old, it may be time to invest in new clubs to help you with the short game! The course conditions will also dictate the amount of spin you can generate on your wedge shots. You may hear television commentators emphasizing that a player “needs to keep it in the fairway.” This is true because you do not want to have any grass get between the ball and the club face. When hitting out of light rough, you can hit a “flyer,” where the grass between the ball and club face reduces the spin rate of the ball. With reduced spin, the ball will tend to fly a bit further, and when it lands on the green, it will usually bound forward. Hitting from the fairway gives you a much better chance to maximize spin and get the ball to stop. Lastly, good swing fundamentals are the biggest key in creating ball spin. Once you can consistently learn to hit the ball first and then take a divot, you will have the essential skills to optimize ball spin. With new wedges and a premium golf ball, you will be spinning the ball like a PGA Tour player.
If you’d like to study with Bradley Turner and other PGA Master Professionals, contact the College of Golf today.
