Golf instruction is always evolving, but the best advice stands the test of time. In GOLF.com’s Timeless Tips series, we highlight some of the greatest tips that teachers and players have dispensed in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today we look to our September 1985 issue for a tip from Lee Trevino on putting back on your approach shots.
If you want to make birdies on a consistent basis, there is no substitute hit your approach shots close to the hole. Sure, you can hit a few long birdies with suboptimal proximity to the pin, but that’s not a recipe for consistent circles on the scorecard. If you want to rack up birdies on a consistent basis, you have to be able to hit your irons.
When the pin is cut in the center of the green, that purpose is easier than when the hole is tucked. However, greenskeepers are not always so charitable as to cut every pin in an accessible place. And when this is the case, you have to be able to control your ball to hit it close.
The easiest way to achieve this is by putting spin on your approach shots – and for more on this, check out an article written by Lee Trevino in the September 1985 issue of GOLF magazine. Check it out below.
“>
Trevino’s tips for backspin
Every golfer dreams of hitting shots so high, they come down gently and land on the green with “bite”. To do that, you need backspin.
Putting backspin on the ball is an art, but it’s one that even high handicappers can learn. Unfortunately, most golfers make one of two basic mistakes: either they try to help the ball, and doing so over the ball, or they try so hard to take a divot that the blade digs into the ground and the shot is hit fat.
That doesn’t mean you have to swing as good as a pro to put “‘stop” on the ball. My swing is the perfect example: It may not be a textbook, but I have the ball to fall on the green and stay there.
The backspin is much easier than you think. All you have to do is place the ball properly in your usual stance and learn the swing keys listed below. Then you will fight with the bite.
Start up
Most golfers make the mistake of playing iron shots off their left heel. This setup encourages you to drag the club low into the takeaway for a couple of feet before swinging up. Playing the ball closer to your right foot will shorten the takeaway and promote a steeper backswing plane – which will create the strong downswing angle you want.
Then play the ball in your stance. (Experiment to find just where the place is.) Make a one-piece takeaway with the least of the wrist.
Three quarter backswing
Continue to swing the club back up until you feel most of your weight shift to the inside of your right foot. Then, allowing your wrists to slightly cock, swing the club almost straight with your hands and arms.
To prevent it from coming out of the vertical position, swing the club back no further than the three-quarter point. If you take the club too far back, your wrists will cook and the swing will flatten. So there is no way to return the clubbed at a steep angle.
Decline trap
Keeping the backswing vertical automatically puts you in position to swing the club down at a steep angle. That angle allows you to hit the ball, trapping it against the club face. It is this action that gives a dance backspin.
With the ball in play, make contact before the blade squares up to the intended goal. The clubface will be slightly open at impact, so the ball will fly slightly left to right. To compensate for this fade action, aim slightly to the left of the target.
