Play The Lie

In this article I am going to explain how to get backspin on your golf ball and the 5 things you must do in order to achieve this.

Knowing that the backspin imparted on your ball will either stop the ball very close to where it lands or spin it back towards the pin gives you the confidence to fire at or beyond the pin every time.

The five things you must do to get backspin on your shots:

1. You must have clean grooves on your golf clubs. This may seem pretty obvious but it is amazing how many golfers do not clean or wipe their clubs after each shot. As the ball gets its backspin from "climbing" up the face of the club it is imperative that the grooves, which grip the ball, are free from dirt. If clogged the grooves simply act as a smooth surface and no spin will be imparted.

2. Use a new and good quality ball. So often we tend to play with the same ball until it is either lost or so badly damaged that it is rendered unplayable. Golf balls change character during the course of a round of golf. Professional golfers change balls every three or four holes and, whilst this is a luxury many of us cannot afford, using a good quality golf ball will improve your game. Soft covered golf balls, such as a balata, provide maximum spin characteristics.

3. At address place the ball in a position where it is slightly behind where the club will make contact with the ground - keep your hands slightly ahead of the club. This allows the club to connect with the ball on the downswing creating a divot after you have struck the ball. This forces the ball either into the ground or to "climb" back along the club face over the grooves. As the ball cannot go into the ground it is forced to climb over the club face where the grooves grip the ball and create the backspin. One of the reasons it is so difficult to get spin out of a fluffy lie is because hitting down on the ball allows the ball to go forward into the grass (rather than back over the grooves), and the grass getting between the grooves and the ball limits or negates backspin.

4. Accelerate through the ball with confidence. This is so important. So many amateurs decelerate before striking the ball. To get backspin you must have confidence to commit to the shot. If you have selected the best club for the job, if the club designer has done his job, your grooves are clean, you have a quality golf ball and you have placed the ball correctly at address you can launch into it with confidence.

5. And finally - Practice. It cannot be stressed how important this is. So many of us go to the driving range intent on "practising" but land up lashing a bucket of balls as hard and as fast as we can. If you are a very good golfer a round of golf will take about 72 shots and 4 hours to complete. Why then do we go to the range and belt 50 balls in 15 minutes? When practising work on one thing at a time and if it is getting backspin then take your favourite iron, preferably a mid iron, and concentrate on connecting the ball at the right place in the swing arc. Once you have got it right with one club introduce the others, adjusting the ball position as necessary.

Getting backspin on your golf ball allows you, as a player, to attack the pin with confidence.

I hope you enjoyed my "5 things you must do" to get backspin on your golf ball. In my next article I am going to explain the pitch shot and how to get it close every time.