Instruction
Get a better understanding of spin loft
One of the most misunderstood facets of the Trackman is the measurement of “spin loft” and what it means for a golfer’s game. I want to take a few moments of your time to help you understand some of the points about spin loft that will help you put it in perspective for your game.
First let’s get a few definitions out of the way:
- Spin loft: The difference between dynamic loft and attack angle at impact.
- Dynamic loft: The loft of the club at impact.
- Angle of attack: The vertical angle at which the club is moving at impact.
In the example above, the dynamic loft at impact for this iron shot is 19.8 degrees. To calculate spin loft we also need the angle of attack, which is -5.3 degrees. Taking the dynamic loft and subtracting the angle of attack [19.8 – (-5.3)] gives us a spin loft of 25.1 degrees.
So now that we know the spin loft variables and how it is calculated, you probably want to know what it actually mean in the real world? Below I’ve listed a few things to keep in mind.
Obviously golfers cannot measure spin loft without a Doppler radar launch monitor like FlightScope or Trackman, but as more people gain access to these machines the term of “spin loft” will become more common. Get ahead of the curve and understand why spin loft actually matters.
- Spin loft, or the difference between the dynamic loft and your angle of attack, can help you determine your compression of the golf ball.
- Compression is NOT determined by your smash factor. Smash Factor only shows the ratio between club head speed and subsequent ball speed at impact.
- The greater the spin loft you have, the more the ball will spin, but only up to 45 degrees of spin loft. After that, the ball begins to “slide” up the face and friction is lost between the blade and spin is reduced.
- The lower the spin loft, the more compression is felt by the player within reason, as there are ranges that each club should fall within.
- Hitting downward does NOT create more spin, as commonly thought. Only increasing spin loft can create more spin.
- You can spin the ball more by maintaining a consistent angle of attack and maintaining the club’s static loft at impact (up to a 45 degree spin loft).
- Usually when people try and hit “down,” they also reduce dynamic loft as well, thus reducing spin.
- The less spin loft you have the greater the ball’s spin axis will tilt right or left.
- Drivers have less spin loft and curve offline more than wedges, which have greater spin lofts and won’t curve as much.
- Gear effect and a very narrow spin loft can increase the ball’s spin axis outside of the normal ranges produced through the face-to-path relationship.
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Instruction
Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?
Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!
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Instruction
The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic
My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.
As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.
The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.
Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:
Mis-aligned hands
By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.
The position of the grip in the upper/left hand
I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.
To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.
Too much lower (right) hand on the club
It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.
Gripping too tightly
Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.
So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.
More from the Wedge Guy
- The Wedge Guy: Golf mastery begins with your wedge game
- The Wedge Guy: Why golf is 20 times harder than brain surgery
- The Wedge Guy: Musings on the golf ball rollback
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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
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Jason Hawk
Jun 23, 2014 at 10:29 am
So if the ball starts to slide after 45 of spin loft, with a 60* wedge (assuming a very shallow attack angle) the clubface should be leaned forward to 45* for maximum spin?
Jim Benjamin
Jun 10, 2014 at 10:47 am
I find this very interesting. I have a Swingbyte analyzer which is fairly cheap and it shows my loft at impact 31.7, attack angle -9.1 so my dynamic loft is 40.8 with a 7 iron. I checked and my Ping I25 loft is 33 degrees. I hit the ball very high. I thought my left wrist was breaking down at impact but maybe not. I only hit my 7 iron about 150. I’m a big guy and don’t have a good lower body move. I get more speed with a releasing arm swing than with a pivot. My forward shaft lean was 15 degrees. I guess I just need more swing speed.
tom stickney
Jun 10, 2014 at 2:32 pm
I would assume you are “throwing” it a touch at the bottom…increasing your dynamic loft at impact thus causing the high ball flight, but it’s hard to say without seeing you.
Jim Benjamin
Jun 10, 2014 at 8:17 pm
If you equate “throwing” with “releasing” you’re probably right. When I tried out my I25’s the pro said I was holding on through impact trying to release the club with my body which was slow. It’s hard to get 360 pounds to turn fast. He wanted me to release the club through impact more. I then started more of a Jim Flick swing the arms and let the body respond and hit the ball further and more solid.
cody
Jun 8, 2014 at 11:53 pm
question. you said “You can spin the ball more by maintaining a consistent angle of attack and maintaining the club’s static loft at impact (up to a 45 degree spin loft)”.
Can you go a little more into what you mean here? thanks.
tom stickney
Jun 9, 2014 at 11:54 am
Sure…once the difference between the AoA and the DL becomes greater than 45 degrees, friction is lost and the ball won’t spin as much. See http://www.andrewricegolf.com and purchase his wedge project for more on “spin loft mountain.”
Mike
Jun 10, 2014 at 6:55 am
Andrew is the director of instruction at the club I belong too and he really knows what he is talking about.
Philip
Jun 8, 2014 at 10:43 pm
Ok, cool! That explains better why my low spinner works as well as it does. I thought it was because I was coming down on the ball and trapping it due to playing it back in my stance and using my LW. However, when I compare my LW (60) played back in my stance to my PW (46) they are very similar in loft.
So if I want to maximize my spin into greens I should be playing my PW more than my GW, or when I play my GW/SW/LW I need to play them further back in my stance when I need maximum backspin.
tom stickney
Jun 9, 2014 at 11:55 am
You’ll have to experiment, it all depends on the amount of dynamic loft you have at impact…some players can’t deloft the higher wedges as much thus they need less loft for more friction and thus more spin
KK
Jun 8, 2014 at 9:59 pm
Good stuff! Thanks.
Tom Stickney
Jun 8, 2014 at 11:05 pm
My pleasure.