How does loft impact spin? I actually get this one a lot. It’s different with irons and woods. Let’s take a brief look at both. But first – in a nutshell, what is it, and why do I need it? Spin provides lift. It helps the ball to climb. Too little and it will not climb high enough, thus robbing a player of coveted carry distance. Too much and it will cause the shot to balloon, and slow down too fast – also robbing a player of carry distance. I often tell a player that spin is like having a parachute attached to the golf ball – the more spin, the bigger the parachute. If you want to hit it further, you need to either hit it harder or make the parachute smaller. 

On the iron side, as the club loft increases, so does the spin. We use the following guideline.  **at TOUR swing speeds, with a traditionally lofted, single piece head, we want to see 1000 times the iron number**. Yep. That’s a mouthful. Broken down, an old school 7 iron swung at 95 mph club head speed should spin at 7000 rpm. As swing speeds slow, less spin is needed. An 85 mph swing speed may only need 6500 rpm, 75 mph may need 6000, and so on. We put these on a graduated scale and put them in buckets. For example, an 85 mph player may need 6500 rpm of spin, but good for him might be 6000 to 7000 rpm. Now, most club heads are not “traditionally lofted OR single piece construction” any more, and that throws this off – by a LOT. When I got in the business, a typical 7 iron was lofted at 35*. Todays 7 iron (Rogue MAX is 27.5*) might be lofted like yesterdays 5 iron. Apex MB, for example is 34* on the 7 iron and 26* on the 5 iron. Food for thought… Back to our Tour example. This player COULD move from 7000 to 5000rpm (with similar effects downstream as swing speeds slow). The new heads will frequently use Tungsten to bolster both forgiveness and trajectory. The problem is that they don’t spin enough (translation – the ball flies high enough, but doesn’t slow down enough, so it hit’s the ground and doesn’t stop (15 yards of roll out is too much for most green sizes) a major problem with fitting women, which we’ll discuss in a future section). How do I deal with this? First, remember that the higher launch will allow for a steeper angle of descent, which will help to maximize carry distance, as well as slow the ball down. Next, look to shafts that are higher spin (True Temper Elevate and KBS MAX80 are a couple in Steel, Project X Cypher in Graphite), as well as a higher spin ball. Both of these will have a significant improvement in Spin. Back to our 85 mph swing speed player. If he wants a new multi piece/ strong lofted club and you can get that 7 iron into the high 5000rpm range, you will be able to stop the ball on the green. If you try high spin shafts and a higher spin ball and still can’t get the difference of carry distance and total distance to 10 yards or less, I’d move on to another club head. Just because it goes further doesn’t mean it’s a better club for that player – he needs to be able to stop it. If he can’t hold greens, he will have trouble shooting better scores.

On the woods (Driver) side, it’s a little different. We always hear we need 2000 rpm of spin with the driver. Not True. Like the irons example above, faster swing speeds need less spin. 2000 rpm of spin works for a Tour player. A slower swing speed player needs more spin to keep the ball in the air and maximize carry distance. How much more depends on the player. I typically say the magic number is Tour = 2000, X Stiff = 2200, Stiff = 2400, reg = 2600, lite – 2800, ladies = 3000. Your ideal “bucket” would be +/- 200 rpm (a stiff flex player would be 2200 – 2600 rpm). I also add an acceptable range too – for a stiff flex player, I use 2000 – 3000 rpm. Why? What if you fit a player and he’s 4000 rpm with his driver and you put him into a new driver, fit, adjust and you get him optimized at 3000 rpm. That is a MASSIVE improvement. You might gain 30 yards of carry with that. Sure, he could gain an extra couple if we can get him down to 2600, but.. what if we can’t? and what if it makes the driver unplayable for him? Does the cost outweigh the reward? Give yourself wiggle room to make a good improvement seem like a good improvement. If you tell a player you want to see a maximum of 2600 rpm of spin and you get him to 3000 rpm, you know it’s a great combination for him, but he may not be excited about it.

Here are a few tips to keep in your back pocket.

• decreasing loft will decrease spin. A 9* head will spin 250-500 rpm less than a 10.5* head. Ironically, there is very little difference in launch angle as you change loft. Try this on your launch monitor… Take a 10.5* driver and hit 5 shots. Look at launch angle and spin. Then hit 5 shots with the same shaft on a 9* head. The spin will be a few hundred RPM Less, and the launch angle will be a few tenths of a degree lower. Launch angle is more impacted by attack angle and shaft than loft. 
• A multi layered ball can have a major impact on spin with both the driver and the irons (less spin with the driver and more with the irons). Chrome Soft X LS could reduce spin by 300-400 RPM for a player vs. Chrome Soft X.
• Attack angle will have the biggest influence on spin with a driver (and an iron). Anything negative here will have trouble getting the spin much lower than 3000 rpm.
• Older heads tended to spin more. 

Consider this next time you are fitting a player… Say he comes to you with a 10.5* driver and he swings it at 95 mph. You’re thinking stiff flex. His spin with his averages 3400. A new head should save him at least 200rpm of spin. Say you drop him to a 9* head and that gets you another 400 rpm of spin. A ball change and you’re at 2600. No mention of shaft, head type, etc. (this is a discussion on how Loft impacts spin only). This matters, but not as much as loft and ball when we talk about spin. 

So why not have everyone who has a high spin rate with the driver turn it down to 8*? Simple. Because less loft also makes the driver more prone to side spin (hooks and slices). You need to work with the player to determine how much spin will he accept to hit it straight (put another way, how low can we get the spin while he still hit’s playable shots). THIS is what makes a fitter a really good one.

Real world example. I was fit into a 9* Sub Zero Driver 5 or 6 years ago. My spin was perfect. I recently switched back to a 10.5* in the MAX LS simply because I hit it straighter. I do hit it a little shorter, but it does not cost me any penalty shots. Tinker for yourself. Try changing the loft or ball and see if it is worth the change for you.

Next week, I’ll chat about how shafts and heads affect spin. After that spin challenges that come with fitting slower swing speeds. 

Hope this helps. Until next time – happy fitting!!