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Chad Jones Perspectives Golf Tips More Back Spin On Wedge Shots

chad-jones [1]

The Recipe For More Back Spin On Your Wedge Shots

By Chad Jones

Most amateur golfers are amazed on how the pros get so much backspin on their wedge shots around the green. I am going to let you in on the recipe. One of the most over looked reason is the selection of the correct golf ball. If you do not play a soft-covered ball (example: Titleist ProV1) then no matter how hard you try you will not be able to give the golf ball back spin. 

Playing a soft covered ball used to mean balata balls, which were expensive, less durable and generally didn’t go as far. However, recent breakthroughs in ball technology mean that you can now play a ball with a soft cover, that is still durable, and also is great for distance, but they are and will be the most expensive balls on the market. Don’t buy into all these discount distance balls, because it really does not matter your club head speed or ball speed. After all the testing I have done on ball fitting with my players everyone should be playing a soft cover ball, because getting closer to the hole saves you more shots than 3 to 5 yards more off the tee!

chad-jones-back-spin [2]The second ingredient is the grooves on the club face of your wedges. Even a top professional would struggle to generate back spin with a wedge that had dirty, or worn out grooves. It is paramount that you must make sure the grooves on the clubface are clean before you play a round. I suggest considering replacing your wedge every year and no more than every two years. The rumor on tour is that Phil Mickelson gets new wedges every month.

The third ingredient is playing conditions. Usually, a professional is playing shots from tightly mown fairways, onto usually fairly fast greens with undulation. I see amateurs trying to get spin from teed up lies out of the rough onto flat greens. What happens is that the long grass between the ball and the clubface produce flier lies that have top spin.

The final ingredient is technique. Professional golfers, when using their wedges, hit the ball with a square to slightly open, downward stroke. This puts their clean clubface onto their soft-covered ball and compresses it against the tightly mown fairway, applying back spin to the golf ball. As long as the green has a certain amount of “give” the ball will stop and spin back.

Here is the final secret that a professional will use to get the ball to stop. They have the trail hand, work under towards the sky during and after impact to add loft and causes the ball to slide up the face. This will produce the backspin that you see on television every week from the PGA tour players. Use these ingredients and you will have the recipe for getting control of the spin of your golf ball around the green. If you have any question please contact your local PGA professional.

chad-jones [1]Chad Jones teaches at The Concession Golf Club [3] in Bradenton, Florida. He is a PGA of America Certified Instructor, Certifed Titleist Club Fitter, and has certifications in junior golf and golf fitness from the Titleist Performance Institute. He was named a 2009 and 2010 US Kids Top 50 Coach. Chad can be reached at cjones@concessiongolfclub.com [4] for lessons.

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