Immediate cure for coming over the top

[mariner]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

nicklaus used to rotate his head back before his backswing

Yeah, but he still looks at the ball, I think he was just giving his shoulders a bit of room to turn.

[westbrk]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

Mariner,

Nice tip! Took it to the range today and it really felt nice. Excellent way to ensure you "drop it in the slot" when your fighting the "OTTs". I plan to utilize this method tomorrow when I play my round. I'll let you know how it goes....

[Shredder]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

Hi!
Today, I kept doing the OTT and I dont know why it was happening. So, I wanted to see if anyone had a tip! Thank you mariner

I will give it a shot tomarrow and let you know.

Thanks for the tip!!!!!!!!

SS

[mariner]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

If this method is a bit too drastic and you can`t go alomg with the taking your eyes off the ball part, here`s something else you can try that works equally well.
I reckon the major cause of all our over-the-top swings is that we are actually TRYING to do it right, but because of our right arm hit syndrome, the conventional golf swing is nearly useless for us.
Look at the conventional swing (for right handers, sorry if you`re a leftie, just reverse it all) – you get to the top, start the downswing wih a shift of weight to your left foot, start rotating the hips to the target, followed by the rest of the body, then lastly the arms and club follow.
Greg`s impact drill says your belt buckle should be facing the target at IMPACT
If you`ve got an over-the-top move, what really happens is this (get up and try it)
You get to the top, shift weight, and in an effort to “do it right”, you start turning everything towards the target, your left shoulder goes round to the left as you start the arms down - now watch the path your arms are taking – big time outside-in I think and pretty much impossible to do much else, espeically when you hit a ball for real and the hit syndrome kicks in.

Have a go at this next time at the range – try it in slo-mo now – from the top, start the downswing with the arms, shift the weight but keep the back foot on the deck and think about keeping the chest facing the ball at impact, if it is, it`s just about impossible to hit out to in.
I address the ball from a closed stance just to help it a little more, and it seems to work just fine – the quality of strike means you don`t really lose any distance.
This is not that radical, and it`s certainly not my idea, do a search for “purepoint golf” and you`ll see it is actually a conventional “unconventional” teaching method” for non superhuman golfers.

[Broadus]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

This is not that radical, and it`s certainly not my idea, do a search for “purepoint golf” and you`ll see it is actually a conventional “unconventional” teaching method” for non superhuman golfers.

I've seen the PurePoint Golf spiel and receive their free email tips, but I haven't yet been induced to lay out $79 (US) for another promising DVD. Are you using their program or know anyone who does?

BTW, thanks for sharing what works for you.

Bill

[mont86]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

When you say over the top, do you mean topping the ball?

And a buddy of mine started doing the left eye thing and told me to try it
along with this post I'm pretty excited about getting out this week.

[doogkie]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

over the top(OTT) means an outside in swingpath cause slicesa and pulls mostly

[mariner]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

When you say over the top, do you mean topping the ball?

No, it`s something else entirely - it means you are swinging the club across your intended target line from the outside to the inside and it has all sorts of unwanted effects.
It`s largely caused by throwing the club outside at the start of the downswing, and if you can find a cluster of divots on a par three tee on your local course you`ll see that the vast majority of them are pointing left of the target.
Good players come slightly from the inside on a very shallow approach enabling them to hit beautiful penetrating straight or drawn shots, but if it doesn`t come naturally or you`ve been swinging out to in for years, it is a REALLY difficult thing to do, but hugely desirable, hence the desperate measures advocated in this post!

[mariner]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

While watching the Masters I noticed that Chris Di Marco`s pre-shot routine entails a half practice swing where he watches the club go back, that`s pretty much what I`m doing, except that`s not my practice swing!

[mont86]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

Mariner this is a great thread, Today at the range I was working at keeping my left arm next to my body, is there any simularities to what you're talking about? I

[mariner]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

Um, not sure . . . . I can still do a massively outside in swing with my left arm always close to my body?

[golfonenemesis]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

If you love golf, then you are my friend.
The over the top can be simply stated as someone not completing their backswing and/or not rotating and hinging the wrists.
I really like the toe up drill, ie. halfway back the toe of the club should be pointing up and halfway through impact, the toe should be pointing up.
Some say its bad to fan the club going back but if you have the proper grip, not strong or weak but neutral, you can fan the club which hinges the wrists which puts you in a perfect tray carrying position with the right arm at the top, from there just allow gravity to take over and drop into the slot and release.
Remember: You cannot release what you don't hinge!!!
Hinge is what its all about.
Hinging allows the body to relax

[mariner]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

This is what teachers have been been trying to get me to do for years, but if you`ve got a natural/ingrained O.T.T. move like me you just can`t do it.
You can do the toe-up drill all you like but it doesn`t change your out to in swing path at all does it, it just squares the clubface to the swingpath which means I`ll pull straight left.
It`s specifically the bit about letting gravity take over and dropping in the slot that us over-the-toppers can`t do, we can`t conceive of any other way to hit the ball than by attacking it with our right arm.

[pnearn]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

It`s specifically the bit about letting gravity take over and dropping in the slot that us over-the-toppers can`t do, we can`t conceive of any other way to hit the ball than by attacking it with our right arm.

Theres nothing actually wrong with that provided your lower body also gets involved in the swinging motion thus pulling your swinging arms into the right place

Trying to force a drop to the inside (this coveted and mch hyped 'slot') is IMHO impossible. The swing is just that, a swing, where all body parts are moving together in synch. Any attempt to try and force something mechainical would kil this swinging motion and and your tempo.


Why noy try and feel that as you swing down you are swinging the butt of the club (or trying to throw it down the fairway) and this swing/throw motion is led by your left hip and right arm (like throwing a baseball). BUT make sure you feel this as purely a swinging motion (swing the clubhead). This would get the lower body moving quicker in the downswing and synch up that tendency to lead with the arms/shoulders first

Key here though is not to force different parts of your body to move at different time. It must be a swing through the ball with your arms/upper body but getting a little better timing by involving the lower body a bit more

So how to do this. I like to feel the following

1. As I swing forward I keep my head and 'core' behind the ball, with my arms swinging around it. If my head and core slide forward I come OTT and pull the ball

3. As I past impact I really swing hard 'around the corner', or get left. Provdied I keep my head behind the ball this gives me a full and powerful release. My bad shot is a push as I dont trust myself enough to do this all the time as my subconcious thinks I'll hook (I wont,as if I do this properly I get a nice draw but as with everything in golf its a mental problem)


HTH

[mariner]

Re: Immediate cure for coming over the top

Thanks, a lot of that makes sense, and I can stand up now and "throw the club down the fairway" (this a GREAT swing thought/drill) and see everything coming from the inside or at least going down the target line - but I know from bitter experience that all this changes when you put a ball there!
I also have a tendancy to stop after impact and not follow through.