Is It Good To Spin Back Your Golf Wedges (Video) - by Pete Styles
Is It Good To Spin Back Your Golf Wedges (Video) - by Pete Styles

There is a question that I quite regularly get asked during lesson particularly with more proficient golfers, is how do I put more spin on the ball? I think the first question really I've got to ask that golfer is why do you want to put more spin on the golf ball? And sometimes the answer is that's what the guys on the TV do, they land the ball on the green and then they spin it back to the front, and it just looked really nice and it looks different to what me and my mates do on the golf course. But I bet if you ask the top pros, the guys that you see spinning the ball back off the green quite often, how much spin they would like to put on the golf ball, some times they put too much spin on the ball, they would like to put less.

I think most golfers would like the ball to land and to stop in its pitch mark, particularly when they are playing into a green. So we are playing a pitching wedge 100 yards into a green if we can guarantee that ball lands and stops instantly, that will be much easier to judge than a ball that lands and rolls on or a ball that lands in back spins. The number of times I must have seen golfers land the ball and spin it off the green, probably out weighs the number of times we’ve seen a guy land the ball past the flag and spin it back to the hole. Quite often the spin is putting these better players in trouble. Now as a higher handicapper or club golfer maybe spinning the ball back off the front of the green isn’t necessarily a massive concern, but we have to understand times when we do, and times that we don’t want spin. Generally if you are playing a normal iron shot into a green and the flag is just centered in the middle green, spinning the ball and getting it to stop, isn’t really that much of a necessity, we can land the ball more at front of the green and let the ball release out to the hole, that's not too much of a concern. The times when we want the ball to spin would be upon around the front of the green and a flag quite tight to it. Now it would be difficult to land the ball between the water and the flag, so it might be easier if we can land the ball beyond the flag, may be 10, 15 yards past and get it to back up a little bit, get it to spin a little bit. So there is times and places when you want back spin with your wedgies. Now when you are hitting your wedgies there is also a question of, do you want any side spin? Well, very rarely, very rarely would you ever try and draw a pitching wedge or fade a pitching wedge and it’s a good job because its an incredibly difficult shot to ever hit, your pitching wedges, your wedges generate so much back spin you would very rarely see any evidence of the ball curving from left to right to left without any evidence of any side spin. So with your wedges just focus on purely whether you want the ball to back spin or whether you don’t want the ball to back spin, and it’s not always the case that we are trying to rip the ball back of the front of the green that will put you in trouble more times than it will save you. 2015-11-03

There is a question that I quite regularly get asked during lesson particularly with more proficient golfers, is how do I put more spin on the ball? I think the first question really I've got to ask that golfer is why do you want to put more spin on the golf ball? And sometimes the answer is that's what the guys on the TV do, they land the ball on the green and then they spin it back to the front, and it just looked really nice and it looks different to what me and my mates do on the golf course. But I bet if you ask the top pros, the guys that you see spinning the ball back off the green quite often, how much spin they would like to put on the golf ball, some times they put too much spin on the ball, they would like to put less.

I think most golfers would like the ball to land and to stop in its pitch mark, particularly when they are playing into a green. So we are playing a pitching wedge 100 yards into a green if we can guarantee that ball lands and stops instantly, that will be much easier to judge than a ball that lands and rolls on or a ball that lands in back spins. The number of times I must have seen golfers land the ball and spin it off the green, probably out weighs the number of times we’ve seen a guy land the ball past the flag and spin it back to the hole. Quite often the spin is putting these better players in trouble.

Now as a higher handicapper or club golfer maybe spinning the ball back off the front of the green isn’t necessarily a massive concern, but we have to understand times when we do, and times that we don’t want spin. Generally if you are playing a normal iron shot into a green and the flag is just centered in the middle green, spinning the ball and getting it to stop, isn’t really that much of a necessity, we can land the ball more at front of the green and let the ball release out to the hole, that's not too much of a concern. The times when we want the ball to spin would be upon around the front of the green and a flag quite tight to it.

Now it would be difficult to land the ball between the water and the flag, so it might be easier if we can land the ball beyond the flag, may be 10, 15 yards past and get it to back up a little bit, get it to spin a little bit. So there is times and places when you want back spin with your wedgies. Now when you are hitting your wedgies there is also a question of, do you want any side spin? Well, very rarely, very rarely would you ever try and draw a pitching wedge or fade a pitching wedge and it’s a good job because its an incredibly difficult shot to ever hit, your pitching wedges, your wedges generate so much back spin you would very rarely see any evidence of the ball curving from left to right to left without any evidence of any side spin. So with your wedges just focus on purely whether you want the ball to back spin or whether you don’t want the ball to back spin, and it’s not always the case that we are trying to rip the ball back of the front of the green that will put you in trouble more times than it will save you.