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Why can't I stop or draw a wedge shot on green?

• kilbraur 219 Posts

  Sun, Mar 4 2012 10:57 AM

  Switch to putter mode, read green and make sure you not landing on downslope. Use as full a shot as possible to get as much spin as possible.

• godelescher 636 Posts

  Mon, Mar 5 2012 8:42 AM

  There are a variety of factors involve that can accentuate or nullify draw (backspin).

  • Slope of the landing area (as previously mentioned), down slopes will "kick" the ball forward
  • Swing power (as previously mentioned), anything less than 100% will see a decrease in the amount of action you can put on the ball.
  • Elevation. If the green is above you, the ball will land at a shallower angle and the result will be shorter ball flight and added roll.
  • A tailwind will cause the ball to have more forward momentum resulting in added roll.
  • A crosswind will also have an effect on the amount of draw you can effectively put on the ball
  • Your lie. Anything worse than a fairway lie will kill a lot of the spin.
  • The green speed. If you have recently move up in tier, the ball will appear to have less bite because of the faster greens.
  • The ding. A mishit will decrease the amount of backspin.
  • The course. (as mentioned previously). Every course has a different level of playability and bite.
  • The wedge. It's not just a matter of brand or level, but also degrees. A 56 degree wedge will impart very little backspin compared to a 64 degree wedge.

  All of these factors must be taken into account when trying to put backspin on the ball. If you are only taking some of the factors into account and ignoring others, it can appear like there is no rhyme or reason to your shot's reaction to the conditions.

  Set up a practice round and repeat shots from the same position with backspin and without. You get 10 strokes (9 on par 3s and 11 on par 5s) before you've reached the stroke limit. This should give an opportunity to try 2 or 3 wedge shots from roughly the same position.

  Hope this helps

   

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Mon, Mar 5 2012 9:02 AM

  godelescher:

  A tailwind will cause the ball to have more forward momentum resulting in added roll.

  And a headwind will exaggerate the spin. Drawing this shot into the wind will have you shaking your head until you realize that wind affects a ball with spin on it after it lands. The majority of the time the direction of the draw is in the same direction as the wind.

• mmikkeelee 591 Posts

  Mon, Mar 5 2012 9:08 AM

  it is very possible to fade and draw a ball on wgt. ive kinda got it masterd now after many practice shots

• LeonDelBosque 1,551 Posts

  Mon, Mar 5 2012 10:17 AM

  You must be talking about pitching, not full wedges. You're just not going to be able to stop the ball on a dime, because it's a pretty low trajectory shot. And rough takes off a lot of the spin. One of my wedges pitches is (supposedly) 13 yds; it's more like 17 on a flat, very fast green -- landing at around 10 yards and rolling the rest. Even with full b/s, off the fairway, it will roll, a lot. (This is not true for flops and full shots).

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Mon, Mar 5 2012 11:01 AM

  LeonDelBosque:

  You must be talking about pitching, not full wedges. You're just not going to be able to stop the ball on a dime, because it's a pretty low trajectory shot.

  The CGs and spin balls changed this.

• LeonDelBosque 1,551 Posts

  Mon, Mar 5 2012 11:25 AM

  Maybe so, but I'm addressing the OP, who is using Srixons and low level CGs. Surely there's a difference between a full shot out of the fairway and a pitch out of the rough. Not to say it can't be done, but I've never seen anybody spin a pitch backwards out of 40/50 rough, with anything; on the other hand, it's hard NOT to spin CGs backward on full shots out of the fairway... so I figure he must be talking about pitching.

• GaryKoop 149 Posts

  Mon, Mar 5 2012 1:12 PM

  piztaker:

  Draw and fade aren't available on WGT 

   

  Just edited it for you. You're welcome!  

   

• mmikkeelee 591 Posts

  Tue, Mar 6 2012 10:31 AM

  drawing and fading is a shot i only learn not so long ago, and is very possible any questions on how i will be more than happy to tell how as it comes in handy on some holes like the 2nd on beth page

• phiber 2,795 Posts

  Tue, Mar 6 2012 8:45 PM

  mgbirish:

  slmpickins:

  I have Cleveland wedges, and Srixon balls. I put full draw and its a "ding" shot, If it lands about 8 yds from hole it travels about 2yds, If I hit the green 0-2yds from the hole, it's off to the races, 10-12yrds past. Using draw on most shots is non-existant. Any suggestions?

   

  depends on what course you are playing, St. Andies and others have severe downhill greens on 2nd or 3rd shot, use your putter to read green then use wedge accordingly

  mgb

   

   

  yeah...what he said ;]

  comes back to how much power you have in that swing too, dont expect any Backspin if you are hitting it at 60% or less.  Like MGB says, with the Clevelands at the upper levels, the ball will back up way too much with full backspin unless you are hitting into a downslope green.  Those Clevelands that you have won't do that but they will stop the ball and will back it up some but only on full swing.