You're Correct!

For those of you that watch a lot of golf on the television, you will see the best players in the world stopping the ball really fast and even getting it to spin backwards. Many amateurs strive to create this amount of spin but it comes down to a number of key factors:

• The receptiveness of the greens
• Type of ball
• Quality of club
• Quality of strike

To hit shots into the green with as fast a stopping time as possible and regardless of club, ball and green condition, the ball needs to come in from a high trajectory. To achieve this, the most lofted club as possible must be used to get to the particular distance with a high but controlled speed into the ball. To gain more control on the golf shot, the angle into the ball with a lofted club should be steep as this creates back spin. Combine this with hitting at speed, the back spin will increase causing more height on the ball. But be aware, the distance you hit this particular club may change, so lots of practice of hitting high shots on the range is needed.

To implement this on the practice range, take a pitching wedge. Place the ball in the middle of your stance with your hands just ahead of the ball and your weight just favouring your front foot. These three changes encourage a downward blow into the ball thus creating a lot of back spin. Start by using a half swing - note the trajectory of the ball and its final distance then extend your swing to a full one and note the difference in height and distance. The full swing will create more speed and you should hit the ball further and higher.

When moving out of range of the pitching wedge, start to use 7 and 8 irons and try to create the extra height on the shots and note any changes to your distances and the stopping speeds before attempting this in competition.

A lower trajectory means there will be no stop once the ball has landed; this is not a good shot to hit into a green. If the ball comes in low it will take a firm first bounce and continue to roll over the back of the green.

For example, this is typical with hitting a 7 iron chip and run shot as opposed to a flop shot. The 7 iron will roll further than it carried through the air and the flop shot will stop quickly due to its trajectory. This is also true when comparing a 4 iron approach to the green and a 9 iron.

Square grooves are now banned for professional golfers and will be banned for amateurs in 2024 because the grooves are a lot deeper with sharper edges which create more spin as opposed to the new V grooves which have a shallower depth and smooth edge to make spinning the ball more difficult. Regardless of the grooves, the player needs to execute the shot with the correct technique and strike to show any difference in grooves.

Golfers tend to select a longer, lower lofted club than usual when approaching a green into a head wind, however, if the conditions are good, then approaching the green with a longer club and swinging softer will cause a lower trajectory and a lot less back spin making its reaction on the green all the more inconclusive. This shot will generally create more roll once it lands and on fast, firm greens your ball will not stop.