Hitting from the top

[mariner]

Anybody got a cure for coming over the top/across the line with an overactive right arm?
I can sometimes get the ball to go where I want, but my divot is still poiinting 40 degrees left of where I`m aiming.

[Ian Hancock]

Re: Hitting from the top

Hi Kerry,

There is a difference between "over the top" and "across the line"

If you are across the line then there is a good chance you are taking the club back to far inside then up and across the line at the top .i.e. club pointing to the right of the target.

A good cure for this and the "over the top" action is to practice some half swings making sure you take the club back along the toe line, once your arms reach 9 oclock the wrists should be fully cocked with the club pointing to the sky................swing through and finish at 3 oclock.

Then slowly work up a little higher with the hands making sure they don't go higher than head height.


Hope this helps


Ian.

[LowPost42]

Re: Hitting from the top

Park your car on the lawn - I'm serious here.

Set up with your clubhead ~ 3-5" away from the tire.

Take some slow swings - you will conciously come from the inside (or figure out how to in a hurry).

If you're over the top, or outside the line, you may end up replacing windows, or getting a new paint job (and club).

If you don't like using your car, you can try trees, or anything else that will give you some negative feedback for coming from the outside (because you'll hit it).

[dannyra]

Re: Hitting from the top

Stand parallel to a side hill and swing up the hill. Tee boxes or a slope in your yard works well. This will give you that inside out path. I did this a lot last year and it worked well for a while until I got to far inside and was getting stuck.

[gord962]

Re: Hitting from the top

What Ben is describing is the inside approach. You can use a cardboard box, or you can make your won inside approach:
http://members.shaw.ca/gord962/build...e_approach.htm

[mariner]

Re: Hitting from the top

Thanks guys, I`ve seen the "inside approach" on the golf channel, but I`m loathe to shell out for gadgets . . . (I`ve had a momentus swing trainer for a year and a half) however, they are selling some part-used ones off for £20 instead of £50 so I`ve ordered one!
I`ll let you all know if it works . . .

thanks again

[irhyper2]

Re: Hitting from the top

What Ben is describing is the inside approach. You can use a cardboard box, or you can make your won inside approach:
http://members.shaw.ca/gord962/build...e_approach.htm

I went to the above link, but am unclear on how to build it. Do you have a picture, exploded view, parts list etc?

[LowPost42]

Re: Hitting from the top

Save your cash, mariner. You can make one out of a couple of metal coathangers. Just bend 'em so that they resemble the inside approach, stick 'em in the lawn, and then DON'T HIT THEM.

[irhyper2]

Re: Hitting from the top

Now that makes sense!!!

[mariner]

Re: Hitting from the top

I`ve since had a lesson, and found that my particular reason for coming over the top is that my left arm has folded up at the top of the backswing, and so the first thing that happens when I start down is that it straightens and throws the club outside.

It`s strange that I`ve never ONCE heard of this cited as a cause for an outside-in swing path in all the stuff I`ve read - I knew I was doing it, but thought it was just a power leak so I`d sort it out after I got myself back online.
I`m getting better, though still inconsistent - any HINT of giving it a little more translates into a divot pointing miles left, my brain cannot convince my body that the power doesn`t come from the upper body even though I have seen the evidence - I was hitting a 9-iron 130 yards straight during that lesson and that was previously my 100 yard club.

[mcdizzle$$$]

Re: Hitting from the top

at the top of the backswing as you start the downswing, feel your shoulder separate from your chin. if you looked at your swing from a face on point of view, you would see your head moving forward laterally as you start your downswing. on your backswing, shoulder under chin at the top. now separate chin and shoulder without your head moving forward. you are on the correct plane and your going to hit the ball square and straight

(when i said that you would see your head moving forward laterally i mean that as in your over-the-top swing. look at any good, consistent golfer, and you will not see that head moving forward at the top of the backswing)

[mariner]

Re: Hitting from the top

Many thanks, I`ll get up the range and try that this afternoon - I can see that it makes sense!

Meanwhile things are getting desperate again - I played in a 9-hole club tournament last night and pulled my opening drive left of the first fairway, across the adjoining 18th fairway and landed it in the middle of the NEXT fairway to that . . . .

[mariner]

Re: Hitting from the top

My latest feat is to have played an entire round without hitting the fairway once.

[AlanN]

Re: Hitting from the top

Hi Mariner. Don't worry; most if us have experienced this. I think it's part of the learning process.

I have suffered from the "over the top" move in the past. It is often caused by standing too close to the ball. This may help.

When I set up to the ball, I let the shaft fall towards my front leg. It should hit about 2-3 inches above the kneecap. Any higher and you are too close to the ball; any lower and you are too far away.

Another cause of the OTT move can be not completing the backswing and rushing the transition. A very slight pause, at the top, can often help. One of the all-time greats, Tommy Armour, taught all his pupils to pause at the top, before getting the downswing underway.

[mariner]

Re: Hitting from the top

Thanks for that, I tried it out and I was maybe a little close, not much, but there was something there.

In the meantime, my OTT swing seems to have GONE AT LAST due to the work I`ve put in in the garden with the Inside Approach gadget.
I played this (early) morning, hit quite a few shots that actually drew left a bit (for the first time in about 12 years) and my divots have straightened up a lot.
I`ve also got a new set of clubs to replace my 10-year old Spaldings - I went for those Slazenger Big Ezee "iron woods" you see on the Golf Channel and I definetely hit them better. (No, I haven`t fallen for EVERYTHING they advertise on there, honest)
It`s comforting to look down and see a big fat 5-iron that looks like a fairway wood or a big chipper - in fact they all look like big chippers.
Now for the exasperating bit - if someone told me "You`ll have corrected your out to in swing by the end of May" I would have thought that would immediately translate into about 8 shots off my average score, but NOTHING has changed, my last 3 returns have been 93-93-91, the same as a month ago.
My driving is just terrible - I left the free driver that came with the new clubs in the car today and went with the 3 wood, but still only managed 2 or 3 fairways and consequently only 2 or 3 G.I.R.