What is Sidespin on the Golf Ball (Video) - by Pete Styles
What is Sidespin on the Golf Ball (Video) - by Pete Styles

So as you are developing as a golfer, you will start to perceive some shots on the course not necessarily exactly straight and through. You might feel like you have hit the shot well with a good, clean contact, the ball takes off nicely and then it veers offline either way; but also I have seen better golfers, maybe even the guys on the TV, shaping the ball from right to left and left to right deliberately. So let us have a look at what is happening to make that shot happen. How we can affect it and how useful it can be?

So the first thing to understand is that as a golf ball curves in the air, if the ball is spinning and the way the ball rotates that make this happen. So similar to the way someone would throw a baseball, you would deliberately spin the ball to make the ball deviate in flight. Now, golfers would either want the ball to do certain things and make it happen deliberately but maybe more relevant at the moment is it happening by accident. So let us have a look at how that actually happens. A ball spinning is cause by 2 issues really. It is cause by the path of the golf club as it hits the ball and the face angle of the club as it hits the ball. Now, of the path and the face aren’t exactly the same, there will be some elements of side spin developing on the golf ball. If you are swinging the club exactly down the target line perfectly straight with a perfectly squared club face, so the path and the face are pointing exactly straight, the balls comes out straight. Any variation of those 2, it starts to spin. Now, if I swing from out to in across this way so I am pulling from out to in which is a fairly common shot for a lot of golfers and if I had the face open to that path, so the face is pointing to the right in relation to that path, I would start to put some spin on the golf ball. It would start to curve. Now, a ball would also have back spin as well. Every golf ball you ever hit has some back spin, maybe part of a putter, but anything you hit with loft that goes up in the air has some back spin. So the ball isn’t perfectly spinning sideways. It is kind of spinning back on its axis slightly this way. So I am hitting from out to in across the ball with an open face, I get my back spin, I also get a degree of side spin. Now, whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is dependent on the shot you are trying to hit. That isn’t the point really here; the point is understanding what is happening to make this happen. Likewise, if I was swinging from in to out heading out this way and I have the club face close to my swing path, again the ball would start to curve. It would start to spin the opposite direction where there is back spin as well but it will spin in the opposite direction and that would get the ball to draw back in.

So next time you are on the golf course or the driving range, ask yourself a couple of questions, is the ball spinning; how is its spinning; and do I want it to spin; if you are happy that yes it is spinning bit I can control it and I am happy doing that, that is great. But if it is spinning wildly, uncontrollably and you are not happy with that, try and investigate how it is spinning, why it is spinning, and what you can do to change it. So if it is spinning left to right that is out to in with an open face. If it is spinning from right to left, that is in to out with a close face. Try and manufacture or manipulate the angle of the path and the angle of the face to try and straighten the ball flight out. But remember that side spin is vitally important to understanding how the ball flies in the air and how you can hit the ball ultimately in the shape you want and preferably strikes as a drive dead, straight down the middle.

 2012-05-11

So as you are developing as a golfer, you will start to perceive some shots on the course not necessarily exactly straight and through. You might feel like you have hit the shot well with a good, clean contact, the ball takes off nicely and then it veers offline either way; but also I have seen better golfers, maybe even the guys on the TV, shaping the ball from right to left and left to right deliberately. So let us have a look at what is happening to make that shot happen. How we can affect it and how useful it can be?

So the first thing to understand is that as a golf ball curves in the air, if the ball is spinning and the way the ball rotates that make this happen. So similar to the way someone would throw a baseball, you would deliberately spin the ball to make the ball deviate in flight. Now, golfers would either want the ball to do certain things and make it happen deliberately but maybe more relevant at the moment is it happening by accident. So let us have a look at how that actually happens. A ball spinning is cause by 2 issues really. It is cause by the path of the golf club as it hits the ball and the face angle of the club as it hits the ball. Now, of the path and the face aren’t exactly the same, there will be some elements of side spin developing on the golf ball. If you are swinging the club exactly down the target line perfectly straight with a perfectly squared club face, so the path and the face are pointing exactly straight, the balls comes out straight. Any variation of those 2, it starts to spin. Now, if I swing from out to in across this way so I am pulling from out to in which is a fairly common shot for a lot of golfers and if I had the face open to that path, so the face is pointing to the right in relation to that path, I would start to put some spin on the golf ball. It would start to curve. Now, a ball would also have back spin as well. Every golf ball you ever hit has some back spin, maybe part of a putter, but anything you hit with loft that goes up in the air has some back spin. So the ball isn’t perfectly spinning sideways. It is kind of spinning back on its axis slightly this way. So I am hitting from out to in across the ball with an open face, I get my back spin, I also get a degree of side spin. Now, whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is dependent on the shot you are trying to hit. That isn’t the point really here; the point is understanding what is happening to make this happen. Likewise, if I was swinging from in to out heading out this way and I have the club face close to my swing path, again the ball would start to curve. It would start to spin the opposite direction where there is back spin as well but it will spin in the opposite direction and that would get the ball to draw back in.

So next time you are on the golf course or the driving range, ask yourself a couple of questions, is the ball spinning; how is its spinning; and do I want it to spin; if you are happy that yes it is spinning bit I can control it and I am happy doing that, that is great. But if it is spinning wildly, uncontrollably and you are not happy with that, try and investigate how it is spinning, why it is spinning, and what you can do to change it. So if it is spinning left to right that is out to in with an open face. If it is spinning from right to left, that is in to out with a close face. Try and manufacture or manipulate the angle of the path and the angle of the face to try and straighten the ball flight out. But remember that side spin is vitally important to understanding how the ball flies in the air and how you can hit the ball ultimately in the shape you want and preferably strikes as a drive dead, straight down the middle.