- Adam Bazalgette here from ScratchGolfAcademy.com,
two time PGA Teacher Of The Year Award winner.
This is a subject that interests a lot of people,
how to get backspin on your chip shots.
There's some very clear fundamentals,
and they're easy and they're obvious
once you hear them, stay tuned.
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Now that was a longish chip,
maybe a short pitch by another definition.
What are these things that allow you to get backspin
on a chip or a pitch, if you like?
Well, they're pretty obvious and when you hear them
I think they're gonna be instructive to you.
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I think it's gonna be most helpful to you
if we do a closeup so you can see what's happening
with the ball and the club at impact
and I'll explain it to you that way.
So lets have a look at the subject.
This is a beautiful lie in the fairway here.
What are the four things that affect backspin?
Well, they're pretty simple, really.
Number one is the amount of loft you have at impact,
they call that effective loft.
The nearer the bottom of the ball,
this is the bottom of the ball,
the nearer the bottom of the ball you strike,
the more spin you will create.
The nearer the side of the ball you strike,
like a driver or a putter, the less spin you will create.
So, selecting a more lofted club
will give you more potential spin,
it's simple rules of friction there.
Now one little thought here,
a lot of people misunderstand
and think that the more you hit down on it
the more backspin you get.
That is absolutely not true.
Hitting down significantly on a ball just makes it go lower.
Now let me just say the sweet spot of the club,
I've mentioned this on my videos before,
is about there, it's not down here,
so you have to have a slight downward hit for solid contact.
So hitting down on the ball, enough for solid contact,
is very critical but just hitting way down on it
does not produce backspin.
So variable number one, lofted impact, creates backspin.
Number two, speed.
Listen, if you get on a TrackMan or a FlightScope
and you measure the backspin on a 80 yard sand wedge
versus a 10 yard sand wedge, it's a lot different.
Well, again, obvious rules of physics,
the faster that's moving, the more spin you'll create.
Now, certainly the distance you off and the hole
influences how hard you can swing but the fact remains,
the more force and speed you create,
the more potential spin you have.
So loft and speed are the first two.
Next one, this is a much misunderstood one,
or an overlooked one is probably a better term,
you look at that sand wedge of mine,
this is a pretty new one here,
you'll see, on the part where the grooves are,
it's milled, it's matted and if you look closely at that
you can see it's ground and scoured a bit,
very, very important.
That is what grips the golf ball a bit,
the grooves don't, really.
They're very valuable for channeling moisture or grass away
but on a dry, clean lie like that
they don't really make any difference.
So, the quality of milling, the pros on the TV
have new sand wedges a lot.
You might consider getting two sand wedges,
one for play and tournament play and one for practice.
Once you wear that down that gets more smooth,
more like that, you're not gonna grip the ball as much,
and companion to that is the quality of ball.
If you play a high performance Pro V1,
Callaway HX Tour ball, Bridgestone Tour ball, etc,
they have a cover that will grab the club face more.
So variable number three, the ability to create friction,
how milled and fresh is your club
and how receptive and high quality is your ball.
Variable number four is just the environment you're in.
If you're chipping against some wind
to a green that's pitched against you,
obviously your ball's gonna take more spin.
If you're chipping downwind to a rock hard green
it's just not gonna receive the spin as well.
So the four, lofted impact, speed at impact,
receptivity of the scouring or the milling of the club
and the quality of ball, and number four, the environment,
how receptive is the green to that,
and you've gotta understand those factors a little bit
to prejudge how much spin you should expect.
Okay, I hope those four points clarify a few things for you.
Once your understanding is clear on shots,
then your practice is so much more productive.
You're gonna gotta go out and experiment a little bit
and figure out things for yourself a little bit
within the context and framework
of sound, solid understanding of what's required.
Hope this helps you a little bit get that backspin.
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If you'd like to leave a comment or request another topic
for a future video, feel free, I'll get to that.
And I appreciate your time,
hope this is gonna help you get backspin.
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