Curing over the top lesson

One of the most common faults in Golf is the “Over The Top” movement.   This normally happens when the upper body is too dominate starting the downswing.   In this lesson, I have my student perform a drill to improve his transition. The drill gives him the feeling of separation, helping to cure his dominate upper body and, as a result, the Over The Top Movement.  A poor transition can create many problems.  If you struggle with any of the following faults, give the drill in the video a try.

Over The Top

Early Release

Steep Downswing

Slice Shots

Pull Shots

Chicken Wing

Loss of Power & Distance

Bad Contact

Poor Hip Rotation

For more information on Over The Top: https://swingstation.com/over-the-top/

For more information on Chicken Wing: https://swingstation.com/chicken-wing/

For more information on Early Release: https://swingstation.com/early-release/

Transcript

Hi everybody. Robin here with the recent lesson. If you’re somebody who struggles with your longer clubs versus your shorter clubs- Perhaps you come over the top, you take big divots. You slice the ball. Maybe you have to tee your driver very low not to sky the ball- then pay attention here, because I think I can suggest a drill and give you a feeling to help you improve this. Now, while there’s other things I’d like to see improve in this player’s swing, one of his main issues is that he moves his upper body faster than his lower body to start the downswing, in the transition from backswing to downswing. It’s a very upper body dominant downswing. This gets his upper body leaning back to the left too quickly, which I’m sure you can see, and which causes him to hit too much down on the ball. He takes big divots. The ball doesn’t fly very high. He struggles to release the club, so you get low, push shots to the right quite regular. So, if you feel you can connect with that, that’s something you have in your own swing, where your very dominant upper body to start your downswing, give this drill a try.

I asked him to point the club down the target line, as a start position. To start the backswing, he starts it with the club head from here, but the key point is, that in his mind, once the club head is crossing the top of the golf ball, he’s feeling like he’s changing direction with his lower body. That’s not quite what you see, but that’s what’s happening in his mind, and it creates a movement now, where you can see, definitely, there’s some movement in his lower body to start the downswing, rather than his upper body being dominant, and leaning to the left.

This helps him keep his upper body behind the golf ball, increasing the spine angle. He can shallow the club. He can sweep the ball off cleanly off the top of the tee peg, releasing the club freely. Maybe you are somebody who struggles getting separation, lower body to upper body, in your downswing. Also a good drill. There’s some motion and dynamics there, and that’s the key. You can’t improve this aspect of your swing through positions. It’s got to be done with motion. He’s moving the club to the right, quickly, and during that movement, in his mind, once the club crosses the top of the golf ball, he’s moving his stomach to the left in a sort of double direction move.

You see that, side by side, the change is very evident. Very dominant upper body movement, hitting down on the golf ball too much, versus lower body starting the downswing and the upper body staying behind so he can sweep the ball cleanly off the surface. This will definitely help you tee up your driver higher, hitting the ball more on the upswing, hitting your longer irons cleaner off the surface. It helps you release the club and get the club home clean. It’s a very common fault, and something I think a lot of players out there could benefit from improving this aspect of their swing. Just a suggestion to practice it. Maybe you do five to ten drills off the tee peg, and then hit five golf balls with your regular swing, trying to match the feeling. Trying to feel the seam transition is what you’re doing in the drill with your regular swing.

It’s a simple lesson and simple drill. I hope that helps many players out there. Feel free to leave a comment with any questions, and I’ll try to get back to you.