Spin a Golf Ball

Backspin on a golf ball causes it to spin backwards as it travels through the air, making the ball back up after hitting the ground. This is an especially useful technique when dropping your ball onto a green that has a hole nested in a sand trap. Hitting a ball with backspin will allow you to land the ball beyond the hole, then the spin will carry it back in the direction of the hole.

Steps

Setting up to Spin

1. Examine the grass. You'll want the grass you'll be landing your backspinned ball onto to be closely cropped. Long or irregularly groomed grass will create more resistance to your ball, hampering its spin.
   • Backspin is possible in longer grass, though it'll likely be easiest for you to practice first on close cropped, well groomed grass.
2. Choose your golf ball. Most regular golf balls comes in two types: soft and hard core. A soft core will make it easier for you to backspin your ball than one that has a hard core. For this reason, you may want to begin practicing backspin with soft core balls.
   • Hard-core balls are used to get more distance in a shot and frequently have a compression rating of 10. Soft-core balls allow for more control, and for backspin purposes, a compression rating of 90 might be best.
   • Softer cover balls will also grip your club better, creating a greater backspin effect. For this reason, you may also want to choose golf balls with soft cover.
   • Since soft-core balls might not always be available to you, you may find it useful to master back-spinning a hard-core ball as well. Before you do, you may want to get a feel for the process by mastering soft-core backspin.
3. Determine the type of golf club you'll be using. You should prioritize lofted clubs, like irons, wedges, or lob wedges. These clubs are the easiest to impart backspin with, especially the lob wedge, so beginning with one of these can help you master this difficult shot with greater ease.
   • Lofted clubs are preferred because to achieve a significant amount of backspin you'll need to loft your ball high.
   • Since height is an important factor when choosing the type of club you'll be using for your backspin shot, you should avoid clubs over a 7-iron.
4. Inspect your club. Bits of grass or turf can sometimes stick to the head of your club creating an uneven surface on it. This can negatively impact your backspin game. To prevent this from happening, inspect the clubface to see if it is worn or dirty.
   • Grass, dirt, or other gunk can be wiped away in most cases with a rag dampened with warm water. For more intensive cleaning, you should follow your club's care instructions.
   • If you notice wear, like scuff marks, scratches, or other blemishes, you may want to select a different iron, wedge, or lob wedge.
   • Damaged clubs can often be taken to a professional to get the clubface re-grooved if it is worn down.

Swinging with Spin

1. Position yourself so the ball is deep in your stance. "Deep," in this sense, generally refers to the back of the ball being closer to your back foot, as opposed to being equally between your feet (normal), or forward (closer to your front foot). Placing your ball an inch (2.5 cm) or so toward your back foot should be enough for backspin purposes.
   • By placing the ball deeper in your stance, your club will come in contact with the ball on a downward angle, which is where your backspin comes from.
   • Every golfer is unique. You may find that you have the best luck with backspin with your ball even deeper in your stance, or you may find that only ½ inch (1.27 cm) backwards placement is enough.
2. Adopt a close stance. Placing your feet closer together, or adopting a close stance, will straighten your body. Doing so will also straighten the angle of your swing and make your club strike your ball on more of a downward angle, which will improve your backspin shot.
3. Take aim for the back of the ball. In most normal shots, you want your club to strike the ball in a head-on, neutral fashion. When making a back spin shot, you'll want to shoot as normal, but you should focus your point of contact toward the back of the ball on the side oriented at your back foot.
   • You may find that it helps to choose a specific dimple on the back of the ball ball to aim at when swinging for backspin.
   • Striking the ball at this angle puts the ball in motion clockwise (backspinning) even as the force of your swing sends the ball towards your goal.
4. Swing your golf club for a backspin shot. When raising your club to swing, make sure that you raise it into a high, straight position before bringing it down to swing. When shooting for backspin, you should always come into contact with the ball before you strike the soil.
5. Attempt to make a shallow divot. When you follow through with this shot, it's almost certain that you'll dig into the turf and form a divot. When executing the backspin swing best, your divot should be shallow and relatively short.
   • A deep divot could signify that your angle of approach to the ball is too sharp which can negatively impact your shot. You'll have to experiment with small adjustments to your ball-address and swing to determine the cause of deep divots.
6. Maintain good form in the follow through. In particular, you'll want to keep your wrists straight. When your club comes in contact with the ground, this can often cause your wrists to move out of alignment, which is also known as "breaking." Maintaining your wrist angle is integral for consistent backspin.

Troubleshooting Your Technique

1. Backspin into the wind. Wind direction is highly important when learning backspin shots. Hitting into the wind will often cause your ball to go higher. The higher your ball goes, the more time it has to pick up spin.
   • You may find that you are never able to consistently backspin without a favorable wind. Many professionals avoid attempting this shot when the wind is against them.
2. Backspin long shots for better results. Short backspin shots will require a lot of power to create the necessary height your ball will need to efficiently backspin. For this reason, short backspin shots can be very difficult. You may want to start with mid- to long-range shots while learning backspin.
3. Strike low on the face of the ball. The "face" of your ball is the circle you see when viewing the ball head-on. Hitting your ball lower on its back face will create even greater force in your backspin, improving it.
   • This characteristic is called the "vertical gear effect." It states that balls hit lower on the face will have greater spin than those that are hit high.

Related Articles

• Use a Lob Wedge
• Hit a Golf Ball Higher
• Swing a Golf Club
• Grip a Golf Club

Sources and Citations

See also

• Have an Overlapping Grip on Your Golf Club
• Prepare for Golf
• Close Your Golf Stance
• Become a Golf Course Designer
• Keep Score in Golf
• Learn to Play Golf
• Improve Your Golf Game
• Play Golf With Back Pain
• Play Golf
• Make a Putting Green

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• Hold a Golf Club