How to Put Backspin On A Golf Ball
[Spin Like the Pros]
If you want to learn how to put backspin on a golf ball, you are not alone. Besides looking cool, backspin allows golfers to land shots in a smaller area with greater accuracy. This leads to shorter putts and lower scores.
When there is only a small window to land a shot, knowing how to put backspin on a golf ball makes all the difference in whether your next shot is a putt or you’re chipping. For a lesser skilled player, this is difficult. For an experienced golfer it becomes second nature. If you want to learn how to put backspin on a golf ball and lower your score, keep on reading.
Why backspin is important for your golf game
Before we learn how to put backspin on a golf ball it is important to understand why it is so useful to us. There are two key factors that you need to understand.
LIFT
Backspin gives the ball more lift, which will increase your distance.
PRECISION
Typically backspin is used on approach shots to give you pin point accuracy. When mastered it will give you max control over the golf ball.
The basics of how to put backspin on a golf ball
We can’t swing the club for you, but we can provide some essential knowledge for a golfer learning how to put back spin on a golf ball.
Angle of Attack
A term that gets thrown around often is angle of attack. When it comes to backspin, you want a steep angle of attack. The steeper the angle, the more likely your ball will spin backwards.
Swing Speed
In order for backspin to occur, your ball must be spinning. Also, the harder you swing the more spin produced. Put two and two together and if you swing harder, you will be able to produce more backspin.
Club Angle
This article is related to backspin, but this is something that relates to golf as a whole. In order to produce backspin, your club needs to be square. Close the face and you’ll pull the ball. Leave it open and you’ll push it—even if you are producing backspin.
Grooves
Grooves on a golf club serve a purpose, just like dimples on a golf ball. Grooves interact with the golf ball at impact and create more spin. By keeping the grooves on your club clean, you give yourself the best chance at producing spin and controlling each shot.
Similar to the size of driver heads, grooves can only be so deep. If your grooves are too deep, it provides an unfair advantage. Thankfully, any club you buy off the shelf will have conforming grooves.
Where is it easiest to put backspin on a shot?
Building off the grooves section above, the less grass between your club and golf ball, the more spin that it can produce. This is why it’s easier to produce spin from the fairways and more difficult from the rough.
Soft Golf Ball
When we are talking about spin it is important to know that golf balls with a softer outer layer grip to the club grooves better. This will give you more control and the ability to put additional spin on the golf ball. Check out our Best Golf Balls for Beginners 2021 review that is filled with top of the line soft golf balls. Our top picks will give you maximum distance and precise control.
Spinning it like the pros
Now people always ask how do pros get so much backspin, and there’s a pretty easy answer. A Professional golfer is able to consistently produce the angle of attack and swing speed needed for more backspin than the average golfer. Another major contributing factor is course conditions. Pros play from perfect conditions, we do not. Types of grass, soil, and clubs add to backspin, so don’t feel bad watching them spin the ball 10 yards when you can barely manage 10 inches. It’s not a fair comparison.
Backspin with different clubs
People spin the ball with wedges better than they do with long irons. To someone wondering how to put backspin a golf ball, this requires some explaining. That explanation boils down to one thing—LOFT.
When you hit a 10-degree driver, your ball has less spin than with a 56-degree wedge. The way loft works in terms of producing backspin is that it creates additional revolutions. Think of moving or rolling any object. Roll it directly forward and it will continue to roll forward. Throw it with a little bit of backspin and you can watch the added revolutions at work, even when rolled with the same amount of force.
This is an easy to visualize example for breaking down how to put backspin on a golf ball. When you use a club with more loft, you are lifting the ball and adding revolutions. By the time the ball lands it will be spinning backwards and come to a quick halt. Your 4-iron runs further than you pitching wedge. For someone learning how to put backspin on a golf ball, it’s just a matter of mastering the manipulation of your swing.
What should my divots look like?
To produce backspin, you will always need a divot. With long irons, it does not need to be huge. As you make your way down through mid-irons and wedges, your divots will get progressively larger. Your divot should start around where the ball was. This is a clear indication that you are hitting the ball first, with an angle attack ripe for producing backspin.
If your divot is too big and begins behind the ball, you are not giving yourself a change to produce backspin. By hitting a few inches behind the ball, it cancels out any advantage angle of attack, loft, or grooves would provide. While you might still hit it a decent length, you won’t be producing much spin.
Too small of a divot or picking the ball clean means your angle of attack isn’t deep enough. While it is still possible to produce backspin with a small divot, you’re leaving spin on the table. Change your angle of attack to something a little steeper, take a slightly bigger divot and you’ll see the added control right away.
Local Course vs The Pros
Circling back to how pros are able to spin the ball so well, a lot has to do with course conditions. Besides knowing how to put backspin on a golf ball like tying their shoes, pros play on better courses.
While many of our local courses have varying conditions below the surface, professional courses are consistent. With soil conditions that they can tear through, taking larger divots is easier. When an average person tries to take a divot, their club can bounce off the ground or go much lower if it’s wet. Due to irrigation and drainage systems local municipals cannot compete. PGA-level courses have soil that makes it easy to come in from a steep angle and power through as they make their divot.
Final Thoughts
Learning how to put backspin on a golf ball takes time and practice. If you understand the lie of the golf ball, angle of attack, swing speed, and grooves on the golf club you will start to hit it like the pros. Also don’t forget to fix those ball marks when you start nailing the greens! If you enjoyed this article check out our Best Golf Balls for beginners review!
