Making Spirals

[OthersGirl]

Spiral Chipping

shared by members




If you are often successful at making spiral chips, please explain HOW it can be done -- as much info as you can offer. :) I have received many questions on this lately, and thought it would be a good addition to the OOB Guides. Please assist. Thanks everyone :)

[XxghettoxX]

well if u have good aim....and a good eye if u look at ur trajectory just move it slighty to the way u wanna spiral like.....if ur gonna spin to the left aim it to the right

[cartman1337]

I have my fair share of spirals, and like Ghetto says, you have to consider the trajectory of the ball when you line up the shot. My tips are for spirals in general, not necessarily for chipping, though. Try to imagine where it will land, and from that point, instead of looking straight up or down (as a normal shot would likely roll pretty straight) you need to look to the left or right. A shot side spun to the left will come in from the left and start rolling to the right, and vice versa. This might make the shot useful for more than spirals and chipping, it can help you stick the ball to some narrow greens as well on approaches.

Personally, if I can, I'll often use the side spin against the wind. My (unproven) theory is that spinning against the wind might take some of the wind effect off the shot, and make the ball come in straighter than a shot affected by a heavy side wind normally would.

Also, side spinning can be quite dangerous with some characters that fades or draws. Take L.J. for example. With his poor control and tremendous fade (or is it draw?) you generally don't want to side spin in the same direction he usually sends off his shot. The basic idea of the side spin is that it still ends up at the place you're aiming for, but that it's trajectory goes to the left or right in getting there, and not straight. If you try to send off a shot to the right with L.J., due to his already large trajectory that way and due to his poor control, the shot wont end up NOWHERE near where you want it. In many occasions it's better to side spin a fade/draw character against their regular shot side, to get a pretty straight shot, which can still spiral if you hit the pin with PI.

[The-Dreamcaster]

Short Spiral chips are generally very tough.
When watching shihiko, he generally took a flat trajectory club, hit much harder then nessacary and played super topspin sidespin. Air Spirals are a tough technique and you really have to be very familiar with the effect your going to get off the character.
Shorter, non-air spirals are generally a bit easier, but you have to aim a little to the opposite to the direction your aiming, after lining up the slope.
generally i'll use SSS chips if the green is sloping all one direction and i would use the SSS to follow this slope.

Also if i'm playing out of the sand and its relatively flat, i've used SSS shots as the sideways effect is very minimal, and ikf its hits the pin it will go in.
Much easier than Super Topspin out of the sand and easier than Homing shot out of the sand, since you can't be sure it will trigger.

[J-Mod]

I just started hitting spirals a month or two ago, but I've since hit at least 20 of these shots - half of which were from within 30 yds. I tend to always go against the slope of the green with any spin shot. In other words, if the green slopes downhill (think Crown #4), I use backspin. If the green slopes to the left, I try to fade it in. Uphill? Use top spin. You get the idea. I want that ball to land near the pin and stick. I'm not looking for a lot of roll.

I apply this same concept to chips. Say the green is sloping pretty heavily to the right. I'll try to pick a spot to the left of the pin such that my chip might go in with no spin at all. (Keep in mind that I like to let my chips land about 3-6 feet before hitting the pin - I'm not an air riser kinda guy yet.) Then instead of hitting it straight, I apply a healthy dose of sidespin hook (adding topspin if the chip is uphill or backspin if the chip is downhill) and pray for perfect impact. I'm pretty sure a riser with a flag hit would get you more points. But on those crazy left or right sloping greens, I think spirals go in more often. Just my 2 cents.

[J-Mod]

Oh, and one more thing that my brother taught me. Don't always chip with a PW. If the wind is really howling and/or you don't need a lot of loft (because you're not in a deep bunker, let's say) consider chipping with an 8 iron instead. Keeping your chips low can reduce a lot of variability and produce more consistent results.

[The-Dreamcaster]

Oh, and one more thing that my brother taught me.  Don't always chip with a PW.  If the wind is really howling and/or you don't need a lot of loft (because you're not in a deep bunker, let's say) consider chipping with an 8 iron instead.  Keeping your chips low can reduce a lot of variability and produce more consistent results.


this is good advice as wind can often screw with short chips. lower trajectory means you can effectively factor the wind out.
but, you will have to take into account more of the green.
most peeps 7/8 Irons as the trajectory is relatively flat but not stupidly so.

side note: 1100th post

[MasonR]

I think a good tip for people new to spiraling would be start off hitting ssts shots (downright/upleft, or downleft/upright) instead of full blown super side spins, it'll keep the ball down, it still spirals and you'll play it mostly like a running riser, great spin for either standard chips or air smashes. Great thing about spirals is that on air smashes you get the 30 pin points, unlike risers.

[Hogwired]

Short Spiral chips are generally very tough.
When watching shihiko, he generally took a flat trajectory club, hit much harder then nessacary and played super topspin sidespin. Air Spirals are a tough technique and you really have to be very familiar with the effect your going to get off the character.
Shorter, non-air spirals are generally a bit easier, but you have to aim a little to the opposite to the direction your aiming, after lining up the slope.
generally i'll use SSS chips if the green is sloping all one direction and i would use the SSS to follow this slope.

Also if i'm playing out of the sand and its relatively flat, i've used SSS shots as the sideways effect is very minimal, and ikf its hits the pin it will go in.
Much easier than Super Topspin out of the sand and easier than Homing shot out of the sand, since you can't be sure it will trigger.


Yeah, I've been trying to figure out Shihiko's madness around the green. Not easy to do, because if you don't PI, you're screwed.