How To Get Driver Spin Rate Down

• That s going to give us a low spin rate. Now we can start to get a lot of distance. Hitting down on the ball with the driver is a distance killer;.
• Spin Rate But what about the spin rate. How do you get that down and launch and less spin and a touch towards , clubface, driver, spin rate.
• Thomas advice Launch the golf ball with confidence down the Get More Distance speed goes down. To help create the optimal spin rate of about.

Let s take a look at the three factors that make up driver spin One long driver I know has gone down to a a primer in how to control your driver backspin.

Trackman Optimal Launch and Spin Numbers launch angle or spin rate for exactly where you want your driver numbers to be to get the greatest.

Skilled golfers typically prefer a transitioning spin as they work from the driver down Influencing Spin Rates Launch The spin rate and launch angle data.

Increase Distance and Reduce Spin spin rate and your angle of I am 5 10 and find my swing has to be a bit too flat with longer drivers. I currently choke.

But so is the fact that professionals have learned to reduce the amount of spin on Reduce Spin, Add Distance. By Art angle and create more spin. Stay down.

Become a Launch Angle It s a trimmed down version of the devices can be controlled mainly through loft on the driver. Spin rate is the number of RPMs.

I was recently teaching an accomplished senior golf professional and he happened to hit three very interesting consecutive shots. They are illustrated in the image above starting from the orange circle and working up to the blue circle.

I thought there was some valuable information to learn from each of these three shots. Here is some TrackMan data to ponder:

Orange Strike

Spin Rate - 3252 Launch Angle - 7.5 Total Distance - 256.5 Club Speed - 103.6

Green Strike

Spin Rate - 2623 Launch Angle - 9.6 Total Distance - 269.5 Club Speed - 102.9

Blue Strike

Spin Rate - 1928 Launch Angle - 10.9 Total Distance - 274.6 Club Speed - 103.1

My experience has shown that golfers tend to be fairly consistent when it comes to club speed and this illustration shows us just that - there was a change of less than 1 mph between the golfers slowest and fastest swings. Nothing new there

What is interesting is that where the ball was struck on the face, influenced the spin, launch and ultimately the distance that the shot traveled. You may have heard that with a driver you want to launch the ball high and spin it low. The purpose of this article is to get you to start believing it. 

Stay tuned as this is the stuff that can make a tangible difference in your game

Launch Angle

The clubface is curved from top to bottom and this is called roll. If you have a 9.5 degree driver that means assuming the manufacturer is correct that your club has 9.5 degrees of loft in the center picture the equator of the clubface. If you strike the ball lower on the face your club effectively has less loft and vice versa for a higher strike point. well hitting the ball higher on the clubface introduces more loft to the ball and it will thus launch higher - bingo. We ve got the higher launch taken care of. As you can see the ball launched more than 3 degrees higher by elevating the strike point.

Spin Rate

But what about the spin rate. How do you get that down and what is ideal. I have great news, as this is a two for one deal. When you strike the ball higher on the face the off-center hit causes the clubhead to twist slightly during impact and this leads to vertical gear effect and a strike above the equator will have less spin than a strike below it. I prefer to see a spin rate somewhere between 1900 and 2400 rpm s if you re looking to really make the ball go. It s amazing what a strike point that s about 1/2 above the equator will do towards getting you into that optimal spin rate range.

If you re wondering where to strike the ball on the face the above photo is just about perfect - a touch above center for higher launch and less spin and a touch towards the toe for a hint of gear effect draw. Who wouldn t want to hit high launching, low spinning, baby draws that go 20 yards longer with the exact same club speed.

Dustin Johnson maximizes distance by launching the ball high, but with a low spin rate.

November 13, 2013

By Jason Fenstermaker, Club Fitter/Staff Instructor, PGA TOUR Golf Academy World Golf Village

High launch, low spin. No doubt you ve heard that these are the magic words when it comes to maximizing distance with your driver. But how do you get it.

The very first step is to make sure that you get fitted for your next driver purchase, because it s not going to matter how fast or hard you swing if the clubhead and shaft are bad matches for your swing. The pros are constantly working with their equipment sponsors, trying to get the right combination of launch, spin, and ball speed so that they can drive the ball longer and straighter. Rarely a day goes by when one of their equipment reps isn t trying to figure out a way to squeeze more yards out of their driver. So if the pros are paying this much attention to their equipment, shouldn t you, at the very least, get fitted for your driver.

If you re not, you re wasting a tremendous opportunity to add more distance to your drives without having to change your swing. I d estimate that for the average over-the-top swinger i.e., slicer, I can get them an extra 10-15 yards just by putting them in the right head, loft, and shaft combination. Here are a few things to consider from a club-fitting standpoint to help you groove that perfect high-launch, low-spin combination.

CENTEREDNESS OF CONTACT

The No. 1 way to get more distance is to simply hit the ball in the center of the clubface more often. This will produce a higher Smash Factor a measurement of how much energy you re transferring into the ball--which is determined by dividing ball speed by clubhead speed, and higher ball speeds. According to Trackman, a device that uses radar to measure various launch conditions, the average PGA TOUR Smash Factor for a driver is 1.49 out of 1.50, and the ball speed is 165 mph. That s why the pros drive the ball, on average, about 294 yards. If you come to me and your average ball speed is in the sub-120 mph range, and your clubhead speed is 90-100 mph, then chances are you re not contacting the ball in the center of the clubface, and your Smash Factor is low. The closer you can get that Smash Factor to 1.50, the farther you re going to hit the ball.

The ideal place to contact the ball is on the upper half of the face, in the center, so that if the ball were to leave an imprint, you d see the entire ball and not just a part of it. That s going to give you the best combination of launch high, spin low, and ball speed. Club manufacturers are doing everything they can today to boost ball speeds on off-center hits, thinning out the areas of the face where most golfers miss high toe to low heel, but the more consistently you can contact the center of the face, the faster and farther the ball is going to travel.

If you re struggling to find the sweet spot on your driver, there are several things you can do from an equipment  standpoint to help boost your ball speeds and distance not to mention help you find the center of the face more consistently. No. 1, you want to purchase a driver with the maximum-sized 460cc head, so that there s more hitting surface available to you. These tend to be the most forgiving in terms of distance on mis-hits. Secondly, if your misses tend to be too high or low on the face, you should look for a driver with a very deep face; and, conversely, if your misses tend to be out toward the toe or the heel, you should look for a very wide face. You can diagnose your misses very easily on the practice range by applying Dr. Scholl s foot powder spray to the face it wipes off very easily, or by using golf impact tape. Thirdly, you should look at the shaft length of your driver. Rarely will you see a player on TOUR hitting a driver longer than 45 inches, but most of the drivers sold off the rack to consumers are 46 inches or longer. The average golfer can t handle this kind of length, and usually winds up swinging over-the-top and off-plane as a result, which leads to a glancing blow instead of a solid hit.

Lastly, you can go to a heavier gram-weight shaft. In many instances, if the shaft is too light, the golfer will swing over-the-top. A heavier shaft will encourage the club to fall more on-plane on the downswing for more solid, center-face hits. When looking at drivers, pay more attention to ball speed than clubhead speed. You could lose 1 mph in clubhead speed but still pick up more than 3 mph in ball speed just by hitting the center of the face more frequently.

HIGH LAUNCH, LOW SPIN

After we look at your centeredness of contact and ball speed, the next thing we re going to measure is your launch and spin numbers. The general rule of thumb is: the lower your clubhead speed and ball speed, the higher you need to launch the ball, and with more spin; and vice versa. According to Trackman, the average PGA TOUR player has a vertical launch angle of 11.2 degrees, and a spin rate of 2,685 rpm. But that s with a driver clubhead speed of 112 mph. The average LPGA Tour player, who s clubhead speed 94 mph is much more in line with the recreational golfer s, has an average vertical launch angle of 14 degrees and a spin rate of 2,628 rpm.

I typically find that most golfers launch the ball too low, because their attack angle is too steep and their hitting down on the ball. The ball launches really low off the face and then climbs, due to excess spin, before falling out of the sky with very little roll. They need to get their vertical launch angle in the 13-15 degree range and then work on bringing their spin rate down, which will create a more piercing trajectory like the shape of a rainbow and a lower landing angle so that the ball hits the ground running.

If you find you re launching the ball too low, there are a number of different things you can try to bring your launch up and optimize your impact conditions. The most important thing to look at is the clubhead, because some heads are designed to launch the ball high with more spin, while others are designed to launch it low with less spin. You should also find a head with more loft, as that s going to raise your launch angle by a few degrees. In addition, you might want to go to a lighter less gram weight, more flexible shaft with a lower kickpoint, or bend profile, which will help kick the head upward and add loft, thus creating a higher launch and trajectory. Now, should you launch the ball too high and with too much spin, you might move into a less-lofted driver with a firmer, heavier shaft profile and higher kickpoint i.e., closer to the grip, which will help lower the launch and trajectory.

In summary, the closer you can get to achieving your optimum launch angle and spin rate, the farther you re going to hit the ball. It s hard to do that on your own, so I recommend you stop by the PGA TOUR Golf Academy at World Golf Village or visit your local club-fitter for a driver fitting to see what a change in equipment can do for you and your game.

Jason Fenstermaker is a Club Fitter/Staff Instructor at PGA TOUR Golf Academy World Golf Village in St. Augustin, Fla.  For more game-improvement tips from the TOURAcademy instructors, on-the-spot club recommendations and 3D previews of each hole you play, download the TOURCaddie PRO app at www.pgatourcaddie.com.