Coming Over the Top

Guys,

Can You give me the common cures for this problem? I have established by my ball flight and divots that this is the case and not a grip problem. My problem seems to be more prevelant from my 8 iron down to Pitching Wedge & Gap Wedges. My swing path seems to be ok on the higher Irons and Woods.

Barry

I think that the primary cause of an over-the-top move is starting the downswing from the top (upper torso/shoulders), instead of starting from the bottom (hips).

In my downswing chapter, I simply act as a conduit for the wisdom of many professional golfers and golf instructors who believe that the downswing must start from the bottom-up.

See - http://jeffmann.net/downswing.htm

Jeff.

Wow,

That's ALOT of information to digest. I did an overview of the material and read much of the beginning. I don't think I'm anywhere near that technique in my swing. I Believe according to this that my Timing is way off and that I don't get my hips that much around at all. Clearly my first move down is a cast. Presently it seems that it will be hard to delay the downswing of the club a bit in order to rotate the hips first. I've tried it in the Living room and it feels weird, but doesn't any adjustment in the swing feel weird at first? I will try to read more and try this stuff out on the range soon. Thank You.

Barry

How about posting a picture of your address setup front and from behind down the line and another of your grip.

golf is a chain reaction so if you are coming over the top the first place I would look would be set up, next would be backswing

Barry,

The main change is changing your thought pattern when you start the downswing. You are probably starting the downswing with an upper body move and you have to get a new feeling - starting the swing with a shift-rotation of the hips.

Try the imaginary motion of skipping stones across a still pond, or try and imagine you are a baseball pitcher who is going to perform a side-throw pitch. Try and get a distinct feeling of starting with a hip shift-turn when you start the swing motion.

When you get the swing feeling right, then swing a driver golf club (held by the club end) like a baseball bat (horizontal to the ground) but make sure that you start the downswing with an aggressive lower body move first. Make sure that your right shoulder is held well back and that your hands are passive. Get a feeling of swishing the club through an imaginary impact zone. If you hear a swish sound that is located in the post-impact zone, then you are probably getting the sequence of body movements right. Then, try it with a golf club in the usual position.

It took me 3 months to make the swing change and get it performing adequately. In the beginning, I tended to over-exaggerate the hip shift and my body slid too far forward and past the ball. I therefore tended to push most of my shots to the right. I eventually tamed the initial hip slide, and I started to get a better feeling of rotating the left hip back in a rotatory movement (as if there is an elastic strip attached to my left hip bone that pulls my left hip back - see Hogan's elastic strip idea diagram in my downswing review.

Persist! Don't stick to bad habits. It's the best swing change decision I have ever made, and it eventually radically improved my ball flight and its day-to-day consistency.

Jeff.

barry
i like you had a big problem with swinging OTT.
no matter what i read or saw i could never cure it.
then ian h sent me a video clip of michelle dube demonstrating the "pump drill".
i practised it at the range and then incorporated it into my preshot routine and now it has improved swing no end!
no more OTT and i have now got a nice balanced swing with good tempo.
give it a go and stick with it you will soon see some good results

I like the simple advice in the book "Tour Tempo". Borrow it from the library and try the drills while listening to the "swing, set, through" instructions on you iPod. It fixes a lot of problems that are timing related issues.

www.tourtempo.com

Harvey Pennick describes what he calls the "magic move" and suggests you use to start your downswing. Instead of thinking of beginning your downswing by thinking of either your hands or hips, Harvey suggests you simultaneously plant your left heel back to the ground and bring your right elbow back in towards your right side then just let everything flow from there......

Works for me...

Cheers

Jeff Mann

Hey, Thanks for the info. That one piece of advice was great. Things went real well on the range. Today I hit many iron shots where my divots were strait. I can feel the move pretty easily. I'll get used to it. I didn't hit many good iron shots today while playing though. I Was thinking too much. But the ones I did hit good were high and strait. Ususally when I hit a good iron shot on the course I hit a bit of a fade with the divot going left. With this new move from the top I should soon being hitting alot better iron shots with practice.

Laserman