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In my recent experiments, I stumbled on how to spin the ball… really spin the ball on pitch shots. I had been playing around with ball position, swing plane and wrist cock and stumbled onto massive spin…I’ll share for all who are interested…

First off, I play pro v1s and vokey wedges, two of the three are the spin milled variety and I sharpen the grooves on a regular basis, so the equipment plays a part in this…but I found that after reading an article by Padraig Harrington on pitching where he recommends the following, I was able to get a much cleaner strike and get through the ball with less effort and more force…

Ideally, you only want to dislodge a small shallow divot after the ball has been struck. A big divot tells you that your swing is too steep.
For the desired ball-turf impact, think ‘shallow' on your downswing. Which isn't the same as sweeping the ball off the turf. You still want to produce a slightly downward hit through impact. To encourage this, set up with the ball about halfway between the middle of your stance and your left heel. In other words, more forward than you might first think. Once you are happy at address – again, let comfort dictate the distance between your feet – focus on swinging within yourself. You hardly ever want to be trying to hit the ball more than 75% of what you would consider your maximum distance. Let's say you can hit your lob wedge 80 yards flat out. You should rarely use that club for a pitch of more than 60 yards. A little practice will soon give you a feel for how far you can hit the ball with a variety of backswing lengths.

This has been the key…addressing the ball with the butt just to the left of your zipper (as per usual, lefties please transpose the information) with the butt end just ahead of the clubhead, maintaining the true loft of the club, a solid wrist hinge at the top with full arm extension(improved upon recently with this drill Try this: the Proper "Wrist Set" on your backswing , keeping the weight on the left side of the body thoughout the swing with the chest on top of the ball, then releasing the right side down and through the ball as if you were trying to hit a ball two balls length in front of the ball you are actually hitting with controlled 80% power…that is to say that after impact you want to stay down and really stretch your right arm through the release, keeping width and trying to get the clubhead to travel down the target line as far as you comfortably can before continuing around to the finish position…all of this has been said in thousands of books and articles, but the ball position suggestion I have only read in Jack Nickalus’s writings (which I discounted as he plays all of his shots off his left heel) and in this article; IMO it is the key to the whole thing…

Now for all of those who discount spin and love the quote that asks the person inquiring on how to get more spin if they hit it past the flag on a regular basis, and if not why do they want to spin the ball, I counter with this: If you can get control over spin and know how to put some good mojo on the ball, those pitches that have an undulation backstop in the green become a lot more forgiving, playing into rock hard greens and knowing you can put the brakes on a shot to a green that slopes away inspires a more confident strike, and if you are able to spin the ball you would stop playing short of the hole in situations that favored flying the pin and coming back to it…I will never achieve tour level control over this, and for the most part a shot that stops where it lands is the ideal, it is nice to know how to apply it when you’d like it, and what not to do when you want the ball to release on green impact…and in the last couple of weeks I was able to shoot more aggressively as I knew that I would be able to hold the spot I was going for or play over the top of a front cut hole position and come back to it on the roll…I have also hit short of the hole and spun right off the green a few times, but that’s why I don’t get paid to play…

A side benefit is that it seems that this ball position is easier to put a smooth swing on the ball as well as for getting through the shot, providing more distance on a full swing and more control over a shot that might have previously required more swing length but now allows for a smooth three quarter swing…
Seeing as how this post is already ridiculously long, I’m going to add Padraig’s ball position suggestion for chips as well…again I used to play the ball dead center, but moved it forward and instantly had better results in both contact and accuracy…

Week-in, week-out, I see the same basic chipping error committed by at least one of my pro-am partners. Even before they attempt to play the shot, they are clearly thinking about lifting the ball up into the air. You can see it in the set-up. The usual symptoms area dropping of the right shoulder and a shifting of weight on to the right side, away from the target (left). Pretty well the exact opposite of what you should be doing.
Look at it this way. The lowest part of your swing arc – i.e. where the clubhead strikes the ground – is always going to be directly below your sternum, which doubles as your centre of gravity. So all you have to do is create an address position that encourages the club to make contact with the ground directly under the ball. In other words, you need to set up with your sternum level with the ball. To do that, lean into your left side (let comfort determine the width of your stance) with as much as 90% of your weight on your left foot. Then leave it there throughout your swing.

I hope that this is not the only one that this works for!

I believe groove filing/tampering is against the rules?..Maybe im wrong?

Having grooves re-cut is perfectly legal,have mine done 3-4 times a season.

YouTube - Lee Trevino

I just like hearing him talk...Madman, this is how to stop the ball btw...

Now that clip I like & that's the way I understood about getting the ball to check up & come back is how Lee tells it.

Love the bit about playing in the wind....

... Now if you'll excuse me I've got a few more of his clips on U-Toobe to watch

There is lots of stack and tilt swing in that shot, LOTS

thank you ill be heading to the range .

thanks alot bnr

Good article on spin but I even did a word search looking for "acceleration" and couldn't find it, that being the cause of spin, with all the other factors of course being important for optimum spin. With crisp acceleration, even a wedge with dirt filled grooves can cause a range ball to race back to you landing on range hardpan. This is why 80% and extension are part of it; they are elements of acceleration. Maybe it's just me, but I like to know the why as well as the how.

This is spot on the assistant pro at my GC played for WSu a pac ten school and that is exactly how he taught me to play the spin shot.Great article BNR keep them coming>

I'm going to give it a try. Keeping that club head on the target line as long as possible definitely creates more spin as the ball runs up the club face. I already use a little variation for ultra-short pitches over bunkers and rough to a tight pin. Thanks, BnR

I have this video but it seems that many of the clips are available on youtube...great video btw with Fred Funk and Jim Furyk going at it head to head with a variety of short game situations and approaches that they explain in detail why they chose and how to execute...

Anyway, this is the flashiest shot on the video and pertains to this thread...enjoy...


YouTube - Golf Gambling Tip and Furyk Spin Tip