Ben,

Two points

Do you hit the ball past the hole every time? If not there is no point trying to get backspin cos all you are gonna do is leave yourself a longer putt, the best thing to do is to hit down firmly on the ball and try and get what a snooker player would call 'stun' and make the ball stop where it lands, you give yourself better control this way and it prevents the ball going where you dont want it to once it lands. I had a dalliance with a wrister action to get backspin, but I found that all that was happening was the ball was taking slopes and breaks away from the hole, gathering speed and ending up 5 or 6 feet further away. I try and hit every shot at the top of the pin and stun it so if I hit the right shot im 6 or 8 feet past the pin, if i underhit it slightly (which you almost always do), I'm virtually pin high, or if I hit a bad one im front edge and the bad contact lets the ball run a few feet when it lands. Its a no lose situation if you havent got total control of your shots at all times.

The other point is that to generate real backspin you need three things, Premium Golf Balls (Pro-V1 , Apex Tour, HX Blue) that are virtually fresh out the pack. Crisp contact with a nice wristy action as Gord says. You also need perfect manicured greens. If any one of these is missing backspin like you see on TV (what I like to call 'Hollywood Spin') just cant happen.

Ask yourself if you really need it.

As Sam Snead once said to someone who asked him how he put backspin on a 2 iron:

'How far do you hit a 2-iron, son'

'About 160 yards, Mr Snead'

Returning to his practice Snead replied:

'Why the hell do you want it to stop?'

D.