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Need help figuring something out

• madden0001 59 Posts

  Mon, Jun 6 2011 1:26 PM

  I feel like I'm getting the hang of most of everything but I am still suffering from one major head scratching issue that I could use some help on.

  Related to distance, there is one circumstance that I seem to be off on occasion and when it happens, I'm off a lot.  I am using the Calloway balls so they typically add a little distance and a little spin.  Here is when I get screwed up:

  Example: 181-182 yd to the stick.  Wind is +8 to +10 in my favor.  I use full backspin.  Green is almost level to me.  I hit full swing with my 180 yd 5 Iron and the ball goes 160 yards.  There are a bunch of times that if there is no wind or wind in my face and I hit my 4I (max 190) and the ball flies way past the pin but in this instance, it lands 20 yards short.

  I know when the green is elevated, that makes a big difference but what is causing the difference on something like this?  It's frustrating because I can't figure out the rhyme or reason to it.  It only seems to happen when the wind is in my favor that the ball comes in way short.

  Why?

• duffer66 700 Posts

  Mon, Jun 6 2011 2:23 PM

  Need to know what clubs u r using. If they are med. high and you subtract for the wind that might be your problem. Any little miss hit will also deduct from the distance. High loft clubs will carry farther than med high clubs. Just some things to consider here.

• genorb 1,255 Posts

  Mon, Jun 6 2011 2:35 PM

  Hi,

  Tailwind is more tricky than headwind. If the stick is at 180 yds wind +8-10, I would set 170-172 yds but it depends strongly on the topography of the landing area and the irons you are using. You have to know if you expect your ball rolling much or not, due to the green you are approaching and/or due to your irons (rapture are not too much effective with backspin, so the ball rolls quite much in general).

  Now you said that you set 180 yds with full backspin and that your ball stop at 160 yds. The only explanation I see is that you didn't ding your shot (even if 20 yds difference looks quite big to me). When you set full backspin, if you don't ding your shot, you can loose a lot of distance in the process. How much? This is a bit random and I guess related to forgiveness. So on some shot if you don't ding, you notice few differences compared to a dinged shot (distance and direction) but on other shots distance and/or direction can be quite different to what you expect.

  Perhaps other players will come with other ideas.

• bearclaw27 553 Posts

  Mon, Jun 6 2011 2:54 PM

  genorb:

  Tailwind is more tricky than headwind. If the stick is at 180 yds wind +8-10, I would set 170-172 yds

  I disagree...In my experience, an 8-10 mph tailwind should produce a shot that carries 4-5 yards more than no wind at all..Hence, I would play for a 175-176 yard shot...

   

• gene1022 112 Posts

  Mon, Jun 6 2011 3:36 PM

  You didnt say if you were on fairway or in rough, this will make a big difference. Wahat course were you on. Only a couple reasons why it would come up short like that. Either a fairly bad miss hit or elevated landing area. So far as going long, an elevated landing are will also negate any backspin. If ball lands at edge of green it will normally make a big jump forward and roll alot. 1 other thing also, when you put backspin on the callaways, it takes away any additional distance they  have.  jmo

• genorb 1,255 Posts

  Tue, Jun 7 2011 10:15 AM

  bearclaw27:

  genorb:

  Tailwind is more tricky than headwind. If the stick is at 180 yds wind +8-10, I would set 170-172 yds

  I disagree...In my experience, an 8-10 mph tailwind should produce a shot that carries 4-5 yards more than no wind at all..Hence, I would play for a 175-176 yard shot...

  Things are more tricky than that :) . Which club, which ball, backspin or not and landing point are important parameters to take into account before giving any answer... With the rapture irons the original poster uses, the ball will most of the time roll significantly more than with Ping G10 or Burner 2.0. So my answer was not a "general" answer, as it seems you think it exists, but the answer directed toward the original poster. In addition, information collected from the forum are only qualitative (but still useful), you need to put those ideas into pratice to test them and adapt them according to your way of playing.

  Regards

• madden0001 59 Posts

  Tue, Jun 7 2011 12:13 PM

  Thanks for the info.  I do use the Ping irons.  The shots are either from the fairway or from the tee.  It just seems like if I have a slight wind in my face that a full backspin shot will usually carry the distance.  So, if I have a 3 or 4 mile an hour wind in my face with a 180 yd 5 Iron and with the Calloway balls, my shot will usually go 180 and stop on a dime.  However if there is a 7-10 mile tail wind and I hit the ball almost full (just a tiny bit less) with full backspin, it seems like the ball lands on the ground about 15 yards short of the hole.  If there is a bunch of green, the ball will keep rolling and end up being a good shot but if I'm trying to carry the ball, it wont roll of course and I'm left 15-20 yards short of the hole.

  I'm just trying to figure out a little better as to why a wind at my back with a fairway iron doesnt travel as far as a shot with a wind in my face.  (Is it the iron, the ball, certain holes, or something random).

   

• genorb 1,255 Posts

  Tue, Jun 7 2011 2:57 PM

  madden0001:

  I do use the Ping irons. 

  Yes, as I said above, you use the ping rapture, not the ping G10. Rapture have lower trajectory and less spin compared to ping G10 (L59+), so the ball rolls more.

  Concerning your issue, tailwing makes also the trajectory lower than headwind, so even if there is some gain in horizontal velocity, the ball can touch the ground shorter than expected, the rooling of ball can however compensate, but it depends on the topography of the landing area. Still 15-20 yds looks large. You are using also callaway i(s) ball, I do not use those balls so I do not know how they react when there is fullback spin and you miss the ding. Try with less backpin to see what is happening.

  Regards