How to Hit a Thai Spinner: 5 Easy Steps for the Low One-Hop-Stop Shot
If you’ve never seen the Thai Spinner, it’s a new shot that’s gaining some popularity. At first, it looks a little like a trick, but there’s more to it than that.
This shot was originally developed by Thai golfers to combat grainy, tricky lies; this low-launch, high-spin shot has recently surged in popularity due to its impressive control and precision.
Ideal for tight lies, this shot grabs hard and stops quickly after a single bounce, giving you pinpoint accuracy around the greens. If you want to expand your short game skills, here’s how to hit a Thai spinner.
How to Hit a Thai Spinner (Key Takeaways)
Save this article and take it the next time you head to the driving range. For now, here are the key takeaways to help you get better at this shot:
- The Thai Spinner produces a low trajectory and extreme spin for quick stops.
- Ideal for grainy, tight, or difficult lies to guarantee clean ball-first contact.
- Emphasizes aggressive downward strike and precise wrist mechanics.
- The HackMotion wrist sensor is a valuable tool for training consistent wrist angles and understanding how much wrist extension is needed to hit this shot.
Contents
1. What do you want to improve in your full swing?
How to Hit a Thai Spinner in 5 Simple Steps
Here are the basic steps to hitting a Thai spinner shot.
Remember that this shot takes some finesse, so you will want to practice it before you take it to the course.
Get Your Setup Right
The ball sits significantly outside your trail foot when hitting a Thai Spinner. You need the ball here to strike it with the proper clubface angle. Here are the other setup adjustments to make:
- Place the ball significantly outside your trail foot.
- Shift about 60% of your weight onto your lead foot.
- Create noticeable shaft lean forward, keeping hands ahead of the ball.
- Use a high-loft wedge (58° or 60°) with sharp grooves for maximum spin.
Steep Angle of Attack
A steep angle of attack with a more up-and-down swing path is what you need to hit the Thai Spinner.
It’s noticeably steeper than a standard chip shot. You’ll feel like you swing outside-in, aiming to strike down on the outer quadrant of the golf ball.
It’s steeper than a bunker shot, and will feel exaggerated the first time you do it.
Aggressive Ball-First Contact
We talk about committing to short game shots often. You have to commit fully and strike aggressively on these Thai Spinners so that they actually stop on the green where they should. Aim for a shallow divot, just ahead of the golf ball with a clean and crisp sound at impact.
If you hesitate to flip your wrists during impact, you’ll struggle to get the spin necessary to stop the ball on the green.
Control Your Wrist Angles
With the steep angle of attack needed to hit this shot your lead wrist often wants to get into a more extended position. However, the other important factor in a Thai Spinner is that forward shaft lean.
Use HackMotion to track whether your lead wrist remains flat or slightly flexed through impact.
If you can get the lead wrist to this position while attacking from the correct angle, you’ll get that lower trajectory with maximum spin.
Low, Controlled Finish
After impact keep your follow through low and abbreviated. You do need some body rotation through the ball that complements the low finish of the club.
This will help you to maintain control and precision.
1. What do you want to improve in your full swing?
Drills to Practice Thai Spinner Shots
To learn to hit the Thai Spinner shot, you will need to practice it on the chipping green.
However, if you learn to control your wrist angles that process gets much easier. Not only can you hit the Thai Spinner, but also a variety of greenside shots. Here are a few drills to work on.
Up-Down Attack Drill
This drill is one that we have adapted based off of some other popular short game drills. It should help you learn to hit the Thai Spinner.
Up-Down Attack Drill – Step by Step
- Set up as if the ball is outside your trail foot. (You don’t need a ball to work on this drill.)
- Place a tee slightly ahead of the ball, marking your entry point.
- Practice steeply swinging into the tee, emphasizing the downward strike and shallow divot.
Wrist Flexion Stability Drill
If you have never considered or practiced your wrist angles in your chipping, you may want to use the HackMotion to start training.
Wearing your HackMotion while you hit various short-game shots will also help you learn to control trajectory.
Wrist Flexion Stability Drill – Step by Step
- Use HackMotion to ensure consistent lead wrist flexion through impact.
- Hit short chips, maintaining flexion, avoiding flipping or cupping at impact.
- Try taking a steeper backswing but paying close attention to the wrist angles through impact.
- Track your wrist data to consistently stay within optimal flexion ranges.
Plane and Path Drill
This is a fun swing path drill that can help you modify your normal chipping stroke to work for these Thai Spinners.
You’ll need a few water bottles to create a path for your club to swing through, and you can practice this with or without a golf ball.
Plane and Path Drill – Step by Step
- Arrange four water bottles, creating a narrow path for your club to swing through.
- Place the ball inside the forward two bottles and practice chipping through without contacting them.
- This reinforces the proper swing path, encouraging the steep downswing required.
Final Thoughts
The Thai Spinner isn’t just for highlight reels, it’s a strategic tool designed to improve scoring in challenging situations.
You can get good at hitting the Thai Spinner by mastering the wrist mechanics, getting that aggressive attack angle, and a precise setup.
Integrating HackMotion into your practice provides immediate feedback on wrist angles, helping you replicate perfect mechanics every time. Add this versatile shot to your arsenal, and confidently tackle even the most intimidating lies around the green.
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