HOW TO PLAY THE STINGER

June 10, 2014

Modern technology along with launch monitors is allowing us to find out more about how the golf ball reacts and what the golf club is doing through impact. This is helping us to experiment and find different ways to play certain shots. One of these shots being the “stinger”.

Now previously if you want to play a low shot in to the wind, you may have heard that you should move the ball back in your stance, place more weight on your lead leg and hit down on the golf ball.  Whilst this can create a lower launch, it can sometimes create too much spin causing the ball to rise and lose that penetrating flight you are after.

To play a stinger, the idea is to create a low spin and to create low spin you need a low “spin loft”.  “Spin loft” is the difference between your angle of attack and your dynamic loft at impact. For example lets say your angle of attack is 10 degrees down and your dynamic loft at impact is 20 degrees, this gives you a “spin loft” of 30 degrees.

The bigger the “spin loft”, the greater the amount of spin and vice versa so in order to create this stinger we need to produce a low “spin loft”. Having a steeper angle of attack can often create a larger spin loft, which will lead to too much height.

So is there another way to play the “Stinger”

Yes but you need to practice this before you attempt it on the course.

The idea of this is to create a shallow angle of attack whilst keeping a low dynamic loft at impact.

Assume your usual set up with the weight 50/50 between each leg with the ball position neutral. To create a shallow angle of approach keep more weight on your trail side as you start your downswing, this will get the club bottoming out earlier. The important part now is to create a low loft so you need to maintain some shaft lean towards the target, this delofts the club and creates this low “spin loft” at impact that will see the ball pierce through the air.

This is an alternative way to play the Stinger shot and won’t be for everybody and will suit golfers who can generate some good shaft lean. Practice this and see if it can work for you. #TakeCharge