golfrewind.com

After reading several posts in this thread: http://www.golfrewind.com/golf-tips/33337-chip-skip-stop-shot.html I decided to ask everyone a few questions regarding how they hit the ball to get spin.

I started spinning the ball after I bought my first set of good clubs years ago, a set of Titleist DCIs (before they started numbering them). Now, I sweep the ball with almost every club in dry conditions, the exceptions being my wedges, and have no problem getting spin with a 6 iron (about the longest iron I can get to stop quickly).
For my purposes, we'll say that decent spin means stopping the ball within 5 feet of your divot, and a lot of spin means that you can back your 8 iron approach up if the green is relatively soft.

How do you get spin off your irons?
Can you get spin on your irons (not wedges)?
Do you get decent spin, or a lot of spin?
Last question - How long have you been playing?

I hit high iron shots so generally it is not tough for me to stop anything down to a 4 iron on the green unless it is super hard. If I want spinning action I hit a lower trajectory which imparts more downward compression to the ball making it spin more. I get decent spin and generally stop or back up a small amount on moist greens from 2" to 18" depending on the club and the type of shot. I have only ripped one off the green in all my days of golf and that was about 18 foot of backspin with a 9 iron. I've been playing for over 35 years but only for about 2 to 3 years as a decent golfer.

With a good amount of offset on my irons, I set the ball right about 1/2" in front or about
dead center of my stance. I get pretty good backspin that way.

Yes.. all the wedges, and from the 9 iron down to my 7, and sometimes the 6 iron.

Decent. Enough to stop the ball in its tracks with some backwards motion, maybe 2-4 feet
with the short iorns and 1-2 feet with the mid irons.

Off and on about fifteen years or so. This is my third go-at-it in the last 15 yrs. Been playing
semi-serious the last two.

Solid contact by hitting down on the ball. I don't do it on purpose, though.

Stops within a few feet. (< 5)
See above.

2 1/2 years.

I don't do anything different than a normal swing, just try to come in a little steeper and the back of the ball between the club and the ground, I generally get a lot of spin on my shots with all of my clubs, so the problem I run into is keeping the spin down.

Yes, I can get my three iron to stop if I play a high cut with it, usually within five feet of landing.

I get a lot of spin, especially if I have to hit a full shot, I will rarely hit a full mid iron into a green so that I can try and take a little spin off of the ball and have it stop where it lands rather than backing up.

13 Years

This is really not a question all of us can answer and have it mean anything to you. The reason I say this is because I've seen Tiger land a ball 15 yards past the flag, and have it spin back to the cup. I've also seen Tiger land a 9 iron shot on the front of the green, only to have it roll off the back. It's not just the golfer and the ball, it's the greens you play. Here in Colorado, a Semi Desert area. the greens are as hard as concrete most of the time, and getting a ball to stop is about impossible. I've hit a high 9 iron shot to 150 yards, only to have the ball run off the back of the green. And more times than not, I can't find much of a ball mark where the ball landed, maybe an 1/8 inch deep "DENT", I also play two courses with much softer greens due to how the greens were built, and I can get the ball to stop dead, or back up a few yards. On those two courses, I can get my 5 iron of hold, on the rest of the courses, I can't get a SW to hold the greens, much less stop in place.

OnePutt I think it is more fast greens than hard greens that make the difference on stopping a ball. A 9 iron going 150 is delofted anyway and probably wouldn't stop unless the greens were slower. I hit a pw the other day that carried to the back edge of the green with the flag in the middle at 147. I don't generally hit them that way but just wanted to see if I could carry a p/w that far and it went off the back from 1 bounce. It is hard for spin to take effect if there is almost no grass for it to grab against. Now if you make them fast and hard like Augusta did at this years masters then it is hard to hold any ball unless you have a long landing area with tons of spin.

I understand hard greens. I live in the south, where the temps rise into the low 100's during the summer, and there is very little rain. Water restrictions apply statewide, and courses must supply their own water. Consider hitting the ball onto a green with red clay beneath the grass, where balls bounce as high as 10 feet.
No one said this game was supposed to be easy. When it gets really dry, I'll intentionally land the ball short of the green, and let it roll up. That's golf...

Not me! No guts------No glory! I have never been confused with a smart golfer!

1.) I create spin by making solid contact with a descending blow.
2.) It's funny, I can probably spin my 8-iron more than my 54 degree wedge. This is made all the more unusual considering I have a ten year old set of irons and my wedges are brand new.
3.) Given my high swing speed (I was clocked recently at an average of 114 MPH with the driver), I generate a surprisingly small amount of spin with my wedges. However, I put a good amount of spin on my irons, especially my long irons, as I can stop a 3-iron 5-10 feet after landing. I also spin my driver a ton, thus leading to my shaft change.
4.) I've been playing 12 years now.