Spin It To Win It

A beginning golfer should focus initially on achieving solid contact with the ball on a regular basis (catching the ball flush off the clubface and getting the ball air born). After the golfer feels confident with good, consistent contact and trajectory (which can take a significant amount of time), they should begin to think about 'spin', and what causes it.

First of all, there are three types of spin that can be put on a golf ball; backspin, clockwise (slice) spin, and counterclockwise (hook) spin. If you put topspin on the ball then you are probably doing something wrong!

All golf shots have backspin. It is backspin that allows the ball to climb high in the air when hit it. The more one hits down on a ball, the more backspin is achieved. Since we hit down on the ball more with our more lofted clubs, these clubs cause the ball to have more backspin (sand wedge = the most backspin; driver = the least backspin). The golfers on the PGA tour get so much backspin on their balls because they hit down so aggressively with their lofted clubs and they take big divots. The average golfer does not hit down on the ball enough and get the clubhead down into the turf after contact (with lofted clubs), therefore they do not get backspin on the greens.

As loft decreases and clubs get longer, there begins to be more sidespin and less backspin (as loft negates sidespin). Therefore, it is all the more critical with the longer irons and woods to keep the clubhead square through contact (otherwise, we put too much sidespin on the ball and it careens left or right). Given that it is almost impossible to hit a ball perfectly straight, without sidespin (especially with longer clubs), it's imperative that we understand what creates sidespin and how we can begin to control it.

Clockwise (slice) spin is created by the clubface 'swiping' across the ball from the right to left. In other words, as the clubhead comes down towards the ball, if it approaches the ball from the right of the target line and then moves to the left of the target line after contact, slice spin will be imparted on the ball (providing the clubface is square to the target line).

Adversely, counterclockwise (hook) spin is created by the clubface 'swiping' across the ball from the left to right. And, as the clubhead comes down towards the ball, if it approaches the ball from the left of the target line and then moves to the right of the target line after contact, hook spin will be imparted on the ball (providing the clubface is square to the target line).

It is more natural for beginning golfers to slice, because they are more comfortable bringing the club down in front of the body, where they can see it, as opposed to bringing the club down from behind the body where it feels foreign. They can get away with this with the more lofted clubs because there is very little sidespin imparted on the ball, but when they start trying the same swing with less lofted clubs, then the slice spin really takes over.

I think golfers should experiment often with ball flight, and try to get the ball to spin both ways so that they know what the sensation feels like. The more they understand what causes the ball to hook or slice the more they learn how to control their ball flight.