What is spin loft and how can it help your golf game?

You hear teachers talking about it all the time on Instagram and you’ve probably even run into it at a club game.

But what exactly is it? spin atticand why should you care about it?

In a recent episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, Harrison See i Trackman explained the metric and why Trackman came up with it help golfers better understand their games.

In short, spin loft is a player’s dynamic loft (the loft actually presented to the ball during the shot) minus their angle of attack. See gives the example of a player with 21 degrees of dynamic loft and a minus-5 degree angle of attack who has a spin loft of 26 degrees.

The higher the number, the more spin is imparted to the golf ball. In other words, the steeper your swing and the more dynamic the loft you present, the higher the spin loft will be and thus the more spin it will create.

The opposite is also true. With a shallower angle of attack and less dynamic loft, less spin will be delivered with a lower spin loft.

Shih says keeping the loft with consistent spin is a key to distance control.

GOLF’s Fully Equipped co-host Jake Morrow pointed out that this can often be a much more valuable metric for understanding how a golf ball flies through the air than a traditional stat like launch angle. Release angle is simply the angle at which the ball leaves the clubhead.

“The swing loft will be the delivery of the club to the golf ball,” Shih said. “So the angle of attack as it works either down on the golf ball in the arc or back up.”

He noted that professionals with long drive hit the golf ball extremely high with almost no dynamic loft, which creates a counterspin loft, which is why their golf balls launch so high with little spin.

For the average golfer who values ​​control, keeping control of your swing loft is what can give it to you.

“You want to be able to have those numbers in a window that you can control,” Shih said, referring to dynamic loft and angle of attack. “And in my opinion before, spin is your friend. And that’s something that will help you find more fairways, improve your distance control a little bit.

“So if you can control the delivery of the club on the golf ball, whether you’re hitting four in a row with driver or you’re hitting two with driver, if you can, as long as you can control that and the amount of loft you put at impact, it’s going to lead to more consistent distances really.”

For more from Shih and Fully Equipped co-hosts Johnny Wunder and Jake Morrow, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped hereor see below.