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Spin Loft…What is it?

Golf Specialists | Peter Field Golf | Norfolk | Spin Loft

Spin Loft

“Spin loft is approximately the angle between the dynamic loft and attack angle. Spin loft is actually the three-dimensional angle between the direction the club head is moving (both club path and attack angle) and the direction the club face is pointing (both face angle and dynamic loft).

Trackman University.

A lot of golf teaching in the past has been making visual changes to your golf swing. Just looking at 2D images whilst making your swing look nice doesn’t always lead to improvement. Spin loft can’t be seen with your eyes yet it is a massive player in how efficient you are.

It has an effect on 

  • How fast the ball comes off your club face
  • How much you spin the ball
  • The direction your ball goes
  • The height you hit it
  • How efficient you are converting effort applied to distance

 

 

When it increases…

When the spin loft angle increases, the efficiency of energy transfer into the ball gets reduced. In other words, the ball will jump off the face of the club slower for any given club speed.

We call this (energy transfer ratio) “Smash Factor”.

For example;

  • If your swing speed is 100mph and your ball flies off at 150 mph, you have a smash factor of 1.5 (very high).
  • If your swing speed is 100mph and your ball leaves the face at 130mph, your smash factor is lower (1.3).

With increased spin loft, we also see an increase in spin rate.

This combination of lower ball speed (smash) and higher spin is a killer for distance with the driver – although it is very advantageous when hitting a wedge into a green. If you can swing fast and the ball comes off slower you are capable of generating more spin!!

 

When it decreases…

If you’re looking to hit your drives longer, having a spin loft that is small will help you get the ball coming off the face faster. Let’s take the world long drive guys for example, the have drivers that are 0*,1*,2* in loft whereas club golfers use around 10.5*. These guys that bash the ball miles use this loft because they are able to hit up on the golf ball a considerable amount using their angle of attack to launch the ball! So if you are able to hit up on the ball and deliver minimal dynamic loft the loft and angle of attack are traveling in the same direction. The ball then has the chance to shoot off the face incredibly fast.

 

Summary

 

Understanding your spin loft and how to change it has advantages at both ends of your golf bag. You could be a simple change from finding more distance off the tee or from being able to hit those high spinning wedge shots around the green. If you would like to know more about spin loft we need to get you on a launch monitor like Trackman 4 or GC Quad like we have here at Peter Field Golf.

What gets measured gets improved.

Rob Wilkinson

PGA Professional

rob@peterfieldgolf.uk