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Using spin

• micklen 221 Posts

  Sat, Mar 27 2010 4:24 AM

  Hi all

  Coming along a little bit better, concentrating on my long game more at the moment as my putting is ****, so the closer I can get to the green and the pin the better at the moment

  Trying to improve now so what are the intricacies of the spin

  Do I just use it to gain or lose length or is there a lot more to it than that ?

  Is it ever possible with certain kit to create backspin ??

  Especially important is what effect it has coming out of the rough.  Does backspin help the ball come out but lose loadsa distance or is no spin better ?? 

  I read that you shouldn't use spin on a flop, any other shots where spin is a no no ??

  All the details please ;-)

  Thanks in advance

• chipshotcharlie 538 Posts

  Sat, Mar 27 2010 3:25 PM

  Its called practice

  lol csc

• SweetiePie 4,925 Posts

  Sat, Mar 27 2010 4:17 PM

  I have yet to discover all that can be known about spin, especially with the variety of spin available in balls and clubs. Thankfully, each upgrade in clubs and balls will do different things in concert with different effacacy. It takes time, perhaps too much time to find out, but the discovery is the fun part. As a start, use backspin downwind with driver and the reverse in headwind. Use backspin with all iron shots except when needing only a few extra yards with a comfort club. Use topspin on chips that are in need of only an extra yard. But as Chippy, my friend said, "practice".

• AlaCowboy 1,321 Posts

  Sat, Mar 27 2010 7:53 PM

  Backspin will take a bit of distance off iron shots. But remember that putting backspin on the ball to stop it requires both better clubs and better balls. The free WGT ball is not good for backspin.

• PugsAce 1,825 Posts

  Sat, Mar 27 2010 8:41 PM

  micklen:

    I read that you shouldn't use spin on a flop, any other shots where spin is a no no ??

  That's news to me... I've used backspin with success on alot of my flopshots... but come to think of it... I've never even thought to try topspin.

  One way spin works for me is when I've chosen a wedge whose max yardage is slightly (a yard or two) under the needed shot distance and I have a medium strength wind in my face. Using topspin in this situation allows for a higher ball trajectory (farther flight) with less roll than you'd expect. But you always have to be careful when the landing zone is on a downslope. *The ruling seems to still be out on this one, so you may want to try it in practice to see how it works for you. ;)

• SWoods 62 Posts

  Sat, Mar 27 2010 9:10 PM

   I am also in process of figuring things out. Here is what I believe is true so far - 

  Flop shots - I always use backspin - helps minimize roll after landing.

  Backspin - will increase airtime and reduce roll on landing; w/o any wind, it has tendency to reduce length of shot - all clubs are not affected equally and some holes affected more than others. You will have to practice shots and take notes to figure things out. I also think backspin makes the shot more forgiving although I have read mixed things about this. 

  No spin - Will get close to the rated distance. There will be some roll so read the landing surface. On sloping landing surfaces, there may be less or more roll depending on type of undulation

  Top spin - Lower trajectory, more roll. Usually you get a few more yards than rated club distance. Again, read of landing surface required.

  I am still new to WGT and my observations are based on limited data.

• jakestanfill7 949 Posts

  Sat, Mar 27 2010 9:33 PM

  PugsAce:

  Using topspin in this situation allows for a higher ball trajectory (farther flight) with less roll than you'd expect.

  Howdy Pugsace,

  I believe you have this one backwards.  Topspin will create a lower, more boring ball flight to cut through the wind.  Shot hits the green and rolls out farther.  You are correct that it will give you more distance though.  I can hit g10 PW (115 yd club) with GI SD balls about 120 into a 10mph headwind using full TS.  This is assuming level lie to the green and not hitting into an upslope on green.  Full backspin on same shot will travel about 109 and stop dead, although I rarely use full backspin into headwind as any miss will come up extremely short.

  Regarding SweetiePie's post above about using topspin on driver into a headwind, I don't believe this to be accurate either.  I rarely use topspin on driver, except a couple of holes on St Andrews where I know I can land drive on back of a hill to get a monumental bounce forward.  In fact I commonly put backspin on driver into headwind on Kia and BPB because you get a ton of carry and ball frequently travels much farther than no spin, and definitely farther than topspin.  On St Andrews I rarely use backspin because I want to keep the ball out of the wind and the fairways are also so fast that you get a great deal more run out than you would on BPB or Kia.

  If you have to carry a bunker or water on drive, i.e. BPB 4, 6, 7, 9 Kia 2, 7, 10,13, 15 right rough, 16 hill, 18 ALWAYS use backspin because higher ball flight will give you much more clearance even into a big headwind.

  Hope I'm not coming across as a know-it-all (certainly not my intent), but these are my experiences that I am 100% sure of.  One other certainty is that anytime you place extreme spin on a ball you're increasing your chances for problems if you don't ding the shot as ball deviates much more.

• micklen 221 Posts

  Sun, Mar 28 2010 3:18 AM

  Thanks all of you for some great answers

  It's all given me plenty to think about and things to practice

  This golf sim is by far the most difficult to come to terms with

  Even Links powerstroke pales to this

  I think they have the closest to realism golf sim on the market and I really love being able to play in the real course rather than a representation

  All hail WGT

• PugsAce 1,825 Posts

  Sun, Mar 28 2010 8:32 AM

  jakestanfill7:

  PugsAce:

  Using topspin in this situation allows for a higher ball trajectory (farther flight) with less roll than you'd expect.

  Howdy Pugsace,

  I believe you have this one backwards.  Topspin will create a lower, more boring ball flight to cut through the wind...

  Hi Jake,

  Respectfully, hence... my statement from above:  "*The ruling seems to still be out on this one, so you may want to try it in practice to see how it works for you."

  TS, for me anyways, seems to enable the ball to "climb into" a headwind, and I use it to clear traps, especially from the BPB's master tees with the 8.0 Ping driver, so I'd have to agree with Lily's assessment. I believe she's still using the same driver currently.

  jakestanfill7:

    One other certainty is that anytime you place extreme spin on a ball you're increasing your chances for problems if you don't ding the shot as ball deviates much more.

  +1 ... but "knucklers" are not desired, either.

  :^)

   

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Sun, Mar 28 2010 1:43 PM

  Topspin on a baseball is how a pitcher throws a drop. The ball spins towards the ground and creates a low pressure area beneath the ball allowing gravity to affect it.  Backspin has the opposite affect allowing the pitcher to throw a riser by creating that low pressure area above the ball by spinning the ball backwards. This fits with a golf ball too except you have the landing to consider.

  Topspin will add distance to a shot by virtue of the forward roll and backspin will slow it down by virtue of the opposite spin on the ball.