YOU DON’T CREATE BACKSPIN THE WAY YOU MIGHT THINK – AND YOU’RE MAKING THE GREENKEEPER ANGRY Every week, hundreds of tour players peel off huge divot pelts as they hit wedge shots that spin back metres. It’s cool to watch, but it gives many amateur players the wrong idea about what it takes to get some of that sauce on their shots. It sends them back to their home courses, chopping down on the ball like Paul Bunyan.
it often results in hitting the ground before the ball, piling a bunch of dirt and grass between it and the club. “Don’t be distracted by the size of the divot,” Wood says. “Pros are hitting the ball first – cleanly – then taking the divot, and its size is usually because they have a lot more speed than average players do.” The term to understand is “spin loft,” Wood says. It’s the difference between the dynamic loft of the club and its angle of attack as it reaches the ball. Peak spin comes when you have 50 degrees of spin loft, and it can be achieved without tour-pro speed. Just make ball-first contact with a slight downward blow, Wood says.
“The best players in the world do hit slightly down on the ball, but that downward hit isn’t what’s producing all that backspin,” says Paul Wood, Ping’s vice president of engineering. “They’re doing it with clubhead speed and friction from clean contact.” The problem with swinging aggressively down is that TEE IT HIGH AND LET IT FLY? NOT REALLY Two-time World Long Drive champion Kyle Berkshire swings his driver 230 kilometres per hour and can generate 370kph of ball speed. It’s OK for him to tee the ball high and launch it into outer space, but what about you? Berkshire’s coach, Golf Digest 50 Best Teacher Bernie Najar, says you’re most likely dialling up a drive into the rough – or someone’s back yard. “If your tendency is to swing from out to in like a lot of amateur golfers do, teeing the ball high and playing it more forward in your stance creates a scenario in which you’re going to have impact collisions that are much more off-centre – both horizontally and vertically on the face,” Najar says. “Catch it too low on the face and you’ll put too much backspin on it. Swipe it off the toe and you’ll have an even bigger right miss. You’re mostly looking at bigger slices or straight pulls.” To hit your longest drives, get a little more vanilla with your setup, Najar says: Tee the ball so that about half of it is above the crown of your driver, and don’t let your ball position drift more forward than the inside edge of your front heel. You’ll be able to sweep it off the tee at an optimal launch angle for your speed.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 53
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024
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