Spin rates on irons

[nev adams]

I've always struggled with what I thought was a low ball flight, I blamed it on my swing. I've been taking lessons at a Golftec ( which has been very informative!) and last night while I was practicing on the launch monitor and I noticed my 7 iron would roll out at least 20 yards once landing. Then I took my 56 wedge and hit a number of shots looking to see what the spin rates were. ( my wedges are 10 years old so I figured they would be low, probably 500RPm average)

I wasn't sure what correct spin rates were until today when I looked them  up. My 7 iron was spinning around 2300RPm average. I hit several shots with numbers similar to these. 110MPH ball speed, 19* launch, 2300 Rpm backspin, 172 carry and 192 total.

So my question is, all this time I thought my ball flight was low and it was my fault, was I wrong? Will proper fit irons help raise that carry number?

[iknowbagu]

2300 RPM is driver numbers.  That is shockingly low for a 7 iron.  I'd almost question the calibration of the machine before I did anything else.

[Jc0]

The monitor isn't working right. Getting that low spin is literally impossible with a 7 iron. You need to have someone watch you outdoors.

[Bunkersarebigcups]

I agree with the other 2 people. I am pretty sure it is physically impossible to spin it that low. Check if your launch monitor is working correctly.

 

Does your seven iron run out that far on greens or on the fairway? As I stop my 7i (35°) quite quickly on a green at ~160 yards and on the fairway (e.g. layup) it runs out a good 10-25 yards depending on the first bounce.

[nev adams]

I asked a guy there last night and he said the simulators were fine. I don't usually have trouble stopping shots on the green. Having 20 yards roll out seemed odd as well. Last night I think it said I hit a couple that carried 180 and total distance was 200 yards. I am getting better but no way in hell I'm hitting a 200 yard 7 iron. I'll have to try a different machine.

[Pepperturbo]

1 hour ago, nev adams said:

So my question is, all this time I thought my ball flight was low and it was my fault, was I wrong? Will proper fit irons help raise that carry number?

IMO ball flight/carry is the result of a persons swing mechanics combined with equipment.   Properly fit irons doesn't necessary mean you'll hit the ball higher.  But you can get fitted to increase trajectory by changing shaft profile and modifying AoA to the ball.   I agree with others.  That spin rate with 7i is what drivers are typically.  Twenty yards run out with driver, yes, but not 7i.

 

By comparison, I hit the ball low-mid trajectory with mid-high bend shafts, which is lower than most of my buddies.  They play mid-bend shafts, and stronger lofts (which create spin), and some play softer flex which gets the ball up more.  My mid-high bend shafts with my mechanics and 35' 7i creates enough spin for the ball to hit and stop or spin backwards, all depends on the surface.

Edited September 28, 2021 by Pepperturbo

[Krt22]

Unless you were skulling every single shot, no way those spin numbers are accurate.

[Valtiel]

Agreed with the guys above. The amount you would need to deloft a 7-iron to get spin that low would make DJ blush, and you'd still need to mix in a pretty sketchy strike on top of that. Do you have spin numbers for other clubs? What system are they using? I would make zero fitting/purchase decisions on this info until we know more. 

Edited September 28, 2021 by Valtiel

[nev adams]

Right now I’m just looking at direction on the sim and roughly distance. I have 9 more lessons and then I’ll look at getting fit.

the only other club I saw spin rates was my 56* which were under 6000 RPM. Mostly 4-5000RPM.

Here’s a picture of the screen showing the data. I think it’s a GC Quad. Next time I’m in, I’ll ask what’s up with the spin rates.

[TheDominator273]

Part can certainly be attributed to the range balls you're hitting, a small part to hitting off a mat, but I'll echo what others have said that the spin rate is crazy low.

[CROUSE99]

I struggle with low spin rates and I have never seen numbers lower than 3800 on a launch monitor for a 7 iron.  And that was a really bad swing.

[Barracuda]

No way GCQuad is giving bogus spin rates. Super hard ball with a heavy shot on a mat might be the answer to such low numbers

[Uncle_Buck2]

 

8 minutes ago, Barracuda said:

No way GCQuad is giving bogus spin rates. Super hard ball with a heavy shot on a mat might be the answer to such low numbers

It easily can, so can Trackman. If you're indoors, off a mat, have limited distance from mat to net with a hard ball, it's near impossible to have super accurate numbers. The only way to use these reliably is outdoors, same goes for trackman. 

[Krt22]

5 minutes ago, pbuck said:

 

It easily can, so can Trackman. If you're indoors, off a mat, have limited distance from mat to net with a hard ball, it's near impossible to have super accurate numbers. The only way to use these reliably is outdoors, same goes for trackman. 

The GC quad is camera based, you do not need to be outdoors or have full ball flight for it to be very accurate. Mat effect is very real, but not 2800 rpm with a 7 iron. Something is up with the ball, the strike location, or the device itself

[MakersMarsh3]

It’s definitely set on 1w??

 

I don’t know much about quad, I’m a TMan guy, but indoors it’s running an algorithm  I have seen 10s of thousands of shots on a TM inside and never seen anything that crazy

 

 

Even with mat/ball issues and a super low spin player

I don’t know if that’s possible?

 

Check the ball

Lots of mats usually give small flier biased numbers (higher launch, lower spin) based on strike influence

 

Something is definitely off

 

 

 

[Stuart_G]

30 minutes ago, MakersMarsh3 said:

It’s definitely set on 1w??

 

Club selection doesn't effect the ball flight results for the high end launch monitors.   Only some of the older or less sophisticated simulators.

[MakersMarsh3]

10 minutes ago, Stuart_G said:

 

Club selection doesn't effect the ball flight results for the high end launch monitors.   Only some of the older or less sophisticated simulators.

Figured….

but that’s all I got at this point

[Uncle_Buck2]

2 hours ago, Krt22 said:

The GC quad is camera based, you do not need to be outdoors or have full ball flight for it to be very accurate. Mat effect is very real, but not 2800 rpm with a 7 iron. Something is up with the ball, the strike location, or the device itself

Right, but the limited flight into the net does impact the results. Depending on the set up it can impact results more than others. It can still be accurate indoors, I'm just saying outdoors is always better. 

[Krt22]

1 minute ago, pbuck said:

Right, but the limited flight into the net does impact the results. Depending on the set up it can impact results more than others. It can still be accurate indoors, I'm just saying outdoors is always better. 

No it does not, all of the data is collected before the ball gets to the net, which is why the Quad is more popular and reliable indoors vs radar units. The camera's dont even face the net

[Uncle_Buck2]

4 minutes ago, Krt22 said:

No it does not, all of the data is collected before the ball gets to the net, which is why the Quad is more popular and reliable indoors vs radar units. The camera's dont even face the net

I see, thank you for the correction. I still believe it is a monitor issue though. I have a hard time believing those spin rates with clean contact. You'd get better spin rates hitting the top half of the ball. 

[RobS]

To have an 18* launch angle and spin that low you need to be hitting up on the ball with a lot of forward shaft lean.  That's close to impossible with an iron off the ground.  Alternatively, you could be hitting the ball extremely high on the face, which could be possible off of a mat, but your ball speed is pretty good for what would be a pretty drastic contact location on the face.

[gsrjc]

On 9/28/2021 at 6:41 PM, nev adams said:

Right now I’m just looking at direction on the sim and roughly distance. I have 9 more lessons and then I’ll look at getting fit.

the only other club I saw spin rates was my 56* which were under 6000 RPM. Mostly 4-5000RPM.

Here’s a picture of the screen showing the data. I think it’s a GC Quad. Next time I’m in, I’ll ask what’s up with the spin rates.

That launch angle is crazy low for a 7 iron. 

[nev adams]

I will be back at this place this week and I will confirm all these numbers again.

I was using a range ball so I will try a good ball and see what happens. Contact was clean and pretty close to the center judging by feel. (I’ll use face tape to confirm) I carried the ball over 170 yards. Three weeks prior, my max distance in the same machine was about 165. 
I do hit the ball low most of the time and I’m not sure why. That will be topic for my next lesson.

I’ll relay the details here by the weekend.

[nev adams]

Went back last night to use the simulator to practice. The launch monitor normally in there was dead so they put a different one in there for me to use. It's a GC2 not a quad. Right away spin numbers were double what I had seen before, around 5000RPM. Which made more sense plus I wasn't getting 20 yards roll out. So it seems the other launch monitor was off as even my 56 had way more spin.

Side note my old 56 wedge spun around 2-3000RPM lower than a brand new one. Makes sense since it's about 10 years old. HAHA

[Valtiel]

3 hours ago, nev adams said:

Went back last night to use the simulator to practice. The launch monitor normally in there was dead so they put a different one in there for me to use. It's a GC2 not a quad. Right away spin numbers were double what I had seen before, around 5000RPM. Which made more sense plus I wasn't getting 20 yards roll out. So it seems the other launch monitor was off as even my 56 had way more spin.

Side note my old 56 wedge spun around 2-3000RPM lower than a brand new one. Makes sense since it's about 10 years old. HAHA

Thanks for the follow up, that definitely makes a lot more sense. 

[Billfitz]

Spin numbers aside if you have a low ball flight that's part you and part gear, primarily the shaft. A lower bend point will give a higher launch angle. If you're able to, find out what shafts you have and check the spec sheet on them to see what their flex pattern or trajectory is. As a for instance, True Temper Dynamic Gold are low trajectory.