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An Over Top Swing or Out-to-In Golf Downswing, Causes a Slice
An over-the-top swing is one of the most frustrating faults in golf. No matter how hard golfers try to stop the shoulders swinging around, it never seems to make any difference, and the slice is as bad and destructive as ever.
What is ‘Over the Top
There is an imaginary line drawn from the top of the back swing to the ball, which is called the plane of the swing. The idea of a good golf swing is to swing up and down on this line. This is the simplest swing and the easiest to repeat.
A swing that is ‘over the top’ simply refers to the journey the club takes on the downswing relative to the perfect line. There are only two possibilities.
The path on the downswing can either be underneath the perfect swing plane line – or over it. The swing that is over it, we call – ‘over the top.
What Causes an Over the Top Downswing.
Almost certainly, a bad fault on the back swing causes the outside in the downswing. At the top of the swing, there is a momentary pause while the golfer changes direction from the back swing to the downswing.
In this split second, the brain senses whether the golfer is in the correct position.
If the club is out of position, the brain will send messages to the body to make adjustments. If the swing is too much underneath the plane, the brain will tell the body to get the club up to the correct line. At this point, you are still not over the top.
Over the Top is an Over Adjustment
If the golfer carried this compensating movement to the right plane line carefully and slowly, he could still retrieve the situation and manage to come down on the correct line. But nearly always, the compensating move is carried out too fast.
The sheer momentum of the club traveling fast makes it reach the correct line – and then go further! This is the ‘over-the-top swing.
How to Stop an Over the Top Swing.
There are two ways to come down on a better line – a quick fix and a more permanent cure. The quick fix is to make sure you swing slowly from the top.
At the moment, you probably swing to the rhythm ‘one-two,’ one for the back swing, two for the downswing.
You must change your rhythm to ‘one – and – two.’ The ‘and’ represents a slowing down of the crucial compensating move – almost giving you a pause at the top of the swing.
It will give you time to find the correct line without the speed to take it over or past the line.
The long-term cure is to have lessons from a pro to find out why you are too inside on the back swing.
