Joe, My question is how do I get backspin on my ball? I see the pros get a lot of backspin and a lot of "average golfers" get some backspin on it. How do I do it and what clubs are being used? I seem to get a little when I chip with my sand wedge (Cleveland 56 degree) but it is only very short chips and nothing consistent. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. Keep up the great work and news letter.
Ted
Hi Ted, Backspin looks really cool on TV but understand that the conditions the pros are playing on TV are very plush. The conditions on most public courses are not always conducive to shots being helped by backspin. You may have seen some TV events where the conditions were “firming up”, and backspin was not working so shots were bouncing over the greens, well that would be like most public courses. Anyway, if your course has better than average conditions, and you want to maximize the effects of backspin, you must keep the grooves in your irons very clean, and those grooves cannot be worn out. The ball you use should be the soft and high spin types, not the hard distance balls. You must strike the ball with a descending blow in order to impart maximum backspin. This can be illustrated with a ping pong ball and paddle. The more aggressive the swing, the more backspin will result. That is why you do not see much backspin on partial swings like pitch shots, but you mostly will see the ball back up from full swings with the most lofted irons.
Joe
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Purist Corner:
I just DQ’d a local store, who probably also lost a few other customers due to a purist clerk. At the express checkout counter, there is a sign that says 10 items or less. One lady had 11 items in her cart due to a 2-for-1 sale, and she was told she must go into a different lane, all of which were crowded. She pleaded if she changed lanes she would probably get home 20 minutes later. The clerk said too bad, a rule is a rule, you are in the wrong lane. She then tried to put aside one of the items so she would be within the rule, but the clerk said “don’t do that because we would have to restock it”. The next person in line (guess who that was?) finally had to say “Oh good grief, just ring up the extra item before I call the manager”. I was considering an additional penalty of two strokes to the clerk’s head, but I decided the DQ for future business would suffice, and also might keep me out of jail.
I just DQ’d a local store, who probably also lost a few other customers due to a purist clerk. At the express checkout counter, there is a sign that says 10 items or less. One lady had 11 items in her cart due to a 2-for-1 sale, and she was told she must go into a different lane, all of which were crowded. She pleaded if she changed lanes she would probably get home 20 minutes later. The clerk said too bad, a rule is a rule, you are in the wrong lane. She then tried to put aside one of the items so she would be within the rule, but the clerk said “don’t do that because we would have to restock it”. The next person in line (guess who that was?) finally had to say “Oh good grief, just ring up the extra item before I call the manager”. I was considering an additional penalty of two strokes to the clerk’s head, but I decided the DQ for future business would suffice, and also might keep me out of jail.
