It feels like everyone in the recreational game is always seeking lower spin.
But that’s not always the best idea.
On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast, co-hosts Johnny Wunder and Jake Morrow tackled the trendy objective of recent years and why it shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all of so many golfers.
“The goal of your life is not to hit the lowest spin thing you could find. I don’t know when that became a thing,” Morrow said. “It’s been like that for a decade, probably more, but I wish we could find a way to get rid of that.”
Morrow references Ping’s optimal launch conditions chart that you can find in fitting bays or on their Proving Grounds blog. The chart explains what optimal launch conditions for a player should be based on their angle of attack and ball speed.
On the chart, the absolute fastest someone could drive a golf ball is 375 yards in the air with 200 mph ball speed. But that involves an angle of attack of 10 degrees up, a launch angle of 17 degrees and a spin rate of 1750 rpm.
“People don’t understand how high 17 degrees of launch is,” Morrow explained. “That’s not going to work for you.”
Around 10 years ago, there seemed like a movement toward getting a driver setup that produced spin rates for players that were sub-2000 RPMs, Wunder even admitted he fell into the trap.
“The amount of people going into the forums and talking about their experience about how far they were hitting the golf ball was visceral,” he said. “And I just hit this absolute tomahawk. And it’s probably 15 yards further than I’ve ever carried anything in my life. And I remember going back into the forums and going, ‘Oh my God, I just did it.”’
But unless a player like Wunder, who is in the mid-160s for ball speed, is launching a ball at 17 degrees or higher, he’s not optimizing his ball flight for a sub-2000 spin number, and he’s sacrificing control.
It gets even more extreme with slower ball speed numbers. A player who is in the 140s ball speed needs to launch a ball at 20 degrees if their ball is spinning under 2000. Realistically, that player is way better off trying to get a launch angle in the 10-12 range and a spin north of 2500, which not only will optimize their distance, but it will give them more control too.
For more from Wunder and Morrow, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here, or watch it below.
Want to find the right driver for your bag in 2025? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.
