Every golfer wants to look like a pro, and consistently spin their shots on the green.
With Rickie Fowler’s advice, maybe you can! Fowler is known as one of the sauciest short-game players in the game, able to use spin to find creative ways to the hole from around the green. He’s been a strong player around the green every season over the last 17 years.
Fowler is also keen to share his wealth of knowledge with amateur golfers, and has given some key golf tips for those hoping to learn how to generate spin with their wedges.
Rickie Fowler says how to generate spin with wedges
Step by step, Fowler broke down exactly how he goes about trying to generate lots of spin on his ball from in close.
Speaking on meandmygolf’s YouTube channel, he said, “Laying the face open, trying to get the club to kind of slide under the ball. The drier the conditions, the better. If the ground’s wet balls wet, water takes a lot of spin off the ball. So, dry conditions, we like that.
“I open up a bit just so it allows me to get through the ball. Being square, it’s hard to let the club release and feel like I’m always going to hit it over there (to the right). And when you lay it open, your hands have to drop for it to sit properly.
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“For me, I’m feeling the face kind of roll open a little bit (on the backswing). And then I want to hold that angle all the way through. So very, very similar to what I would do in a bunker is trying to keep that face from closing down or that leading edge coming in.
“So getting that little roll open helps with exposing the bounce and not letting that kind of close down. It’s probably still going to have a little bit of hands leading, but having that face stay open facing back, and then I always think of it’s going to be kind of you’re facing the target and the club’s going to be pointing back at you.
“It’s not a high percentage shot, but it’s a fun one when it comes out right… Now the last thing you do is you pray.”
The simplest thing to remember from Fowler’s tutorial is the follow-through. Face the target, and have the club face looking back at you after the shot. Combine that with an open face, and you should see your ball zipping back on the green!
Why amateur golfers struggle to spin the golf ball
It’s inherently more difficult for amateurs to generate spin on the golf ball compared to professionals, according to six-time major winner Lee Trevino.
Speaking ahead of the Simmons Bank Championship in 2024, he explained, “Golf balls today are manufactured a little bit differently. They’re harder, they don’t spin as much, they don’t go as crooked as the balata did.
“That’s why the amateur has a difficult time stopping the ball on the green. They don’t have enough speed to spin it. The pro has enough speed to spin it. That’s why you see the professionals still pulling the ball back.
“When they hit the green, even though it is hard, they still—well, it’s because of their clubhead speed. They’ve got so much speed that even though the ball’s hard, they can still put spin on it, whereas a regular player who uses that golf ball won’t be able to stop it on the green.”
Despite that, Trevino has advice on how to spin the ball, which we would recommend taking on board, in addition to the advice from Fowler!
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