ball spin

Question
could you please explain what ball spin is on a draw shot(as i watch the ball after the shot)?

Answer
HI Homer;

Well to be simple about it.

If you could see the ball spinning that is.

There are primarily four types of spin, keep in mind I said primarily.

They are as follows...

1 under spin  (tumbling backwards from the bottom up)(away from target)
2 over spin   (tumbling forwards from the top down)(towards target)
3 side spin left  (spinning counter clockwise)(draw spin or hook spin)
4 side spin right (spinning clockwise) (fade spin or slice spin)

Spin rates vary, but unless you hit the top half of the ball when striking it, all balls will initially spin of the club face with under spin.  This actually creates lift on the ball to get it up higher in the air.  And yes it is possible to have to much or too little spin.

99% of the time when a person hits any shot(excluding putting), the ball has under spin off of the club face but as the ball rises and falls back to earth and slows down it begins to take on the properties of over spin.  And it also happens in various degrees of angle starting from the 12 o'clock position.

There is a slight caveat here though.  As the ball come off the face of the club..there is also automatically produced side spin, and it happens at the same time.

There is another caveat here as well.  The faster the ball spins,  the more deviation either towards or away from your intended target happens.

And as we all know, dimples on a ball are there to create stability while the ball is in flight, but at the same time the dimples can also hinder a shot, it is all depending upon, spin rates.

So as you can see, depending upon your shot is what determines what type of spin you want to impart on the ball.

Technically speaking, other considerations to look for are club face position at impact, club head path, angle of club head approach to the ball, club head speed and of course, centeredness of contact i.e., the sweet spot.  As all of these are ball flight laws and affect both distance and direction.

Hope this answers your question.

Happy Golfing and have a great day
Robb Nunn, PGA Professional
http://www.robbnunn.com

So all in all as you can see