Coming Over The Top!

[shark48]

Any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

[haribo]

Here's a little drill you can do even at home, permitting you have the space to swing a club freely.

For righthanded players, lefties adjust accordingly.

Take a club, let's say our 7 iron. Get in your address position like you're about to hit a ball. But before you swing do the following: Take your right hand of the club and grip around your left wrist instead. Now swing the club like this. You'll find that by doing so you're completely taking the right side/arm/shoulder out of the occasion. Hence making it physically impossible to come over the top.

Do that as often as possible to get a feel for it. I actually go even further and integrated a modified version of this drill into my pre-shot routine. when doing my practise swings, instead of grabing my left wrist I place my right hand on top of my left. This is a bid closer to my actuall grip but still gives me the similar sensation as the drill does.

Good luck. haribo

[haribo]

Here's a little drill you can do even at home, permitting you have the space to swing a club freely.

For righthanded players, lefties adjust accordingly.

Take a club, let's say your 7 iron. Get in your address position like you're about to hit a ball. But before you swing do the following: Take your right hand of the club and grip around your left wrist instead. Now swing the club like this. You'll find that by doing so you're completely taking the right side/arm/shoulder out of the occasion. Hence making it physically impossible to come over the top.

Do that as often as possible to get a feel for it. I actually go even further and integrated a modified version of this drill into my pre-shot routine. when doing my practise swings, instead of grabing my left wrist I place my right hand on top of my left. This is a bid closer to my actuall grip but still gives me the similar sensation as the drill does.

Good luck. haribo

[MGB]

Two keys to avoiding coming over the top.

First, check your swing plane. If you go too far inside on the backswing, you won't have anywhere to go but over the top on the way down.

Second, The first move down from the top should be to drop your hands about six inches down. Your right elbow (for right handers) should be in front of your right hip bone. Then just accelertate the club through the hitting zone for all you're worth.

Good drill for this is to make sure that with the clubhead at 9 o'clock the shaft is parallel to the target line. Break your wrists and rotate to the top. From the top, drop your hands til your right elbow is in front of the right hip, WITHOUT MOVING ANYTHING ELSE. Bring the arms back up to the top, repeat, then hit the ball. This drill's been magic for me. Hope it helps you.

[Guest]

Go get a lesson.....could be so many things.....it'll be worth it. Too far inside on the backswing like MGB said, swinging with the arms instead of laying into the shot with your lower body first, poor weight transfer, reverse spine pivot, rolled wrists, etc. Who knows??? Maybe your not even coming over the top [i'm assuming you think you do since your slicing the ball] and just leaving the club face open.

[chipin]

I've tried most of your tips but I am still having troble with the shorter irons, WHY WHY WHY? You guy's are good you fix the driver down to the 6 iron after that I begin to slightly pull. Please help!

[hue]

OTT is ALWAYS a faulty Pivot Problem.

http://www.chuckevansgolf.com/forum/viewto...topic.php?t=109

[CLMelton]

Here's a drill I learned that solved the problem for me:

Start with a 9 iron and take your normal setup. Once you are in position, move your left foot four inches away from the line and then go ahead and hit the ball. While it may seem unconventional it works by causing you to swing outside the line and you cannot come over the top and are forced to swing inside the path that you took the club back on. You'll find, if you have a fairly sound setup, that you will at first start hitting balls left of your target. After you get the hang of things with the 9 iron, try other clubs in the bag and see if it help.

[hue]

I've tried most of your tips but I am still having troble with the shorter irons, WHY WHY WHY?  You guy's are good you fix the driver down to the 6 iron after that I begin to slightly pull.  Please help!

On the longer clubs you have a wider stance and a bigger hip bump which sets up secondary axis tilt. On the short irons the hip bump is less pronounced and the backstroke motion is altogether shorter. This means there is a tendency to rush from the top and miss out the hip bump at transition and bypass it straight into the OTT move. Although there is less hip bump in the short irons you must still start the downswing with this move. To discipline yourself hit short irons different distances with a full swing with the same club and focus on the hip bump at transition. You need to make time for your self at transition with the short irons and this is a good way of training it. The hip bump sets up the correct down plane trail shoulder move. Miss it out and the odds are that the trail shoulder will move above plane and you will hit pull shots.

[jboy]

By the sounds of things, you are fanning the short club face open on takeaway which results in an severe inside plane backswing. Result is if you go up inside and narrow, you come over the top and wide down.

You have to reverse this. Take the short club back straight out and wide on the takeaway, you'll find you'll come down the inside and on plane.

[bburke45]

I have been fighting an over the top problem coupled with a casting problem that has developed after a few years of the over the top problem. This season, I spent most of my range time doing a drill that is really a combination of two drills. First, take your normal grip and address position. Slide your right hand (for right-handed golfers) down almost to the end of the grip (the good old split-grip drill). Next, slide your right foot back until the toes of your right foot are even with the heel of your left foot. Hit an entire bucket of balls like this, swinging along the line of your feet (not the target line) and focus on feeling your right elbow collapse on the backswing.

Having the right foot back will encourage your downswing to come from the inside, as opposed to the outside angle which occurs from swinging over the top. At some point, if you are doing the drill correctly, you will hook the ball a bit, so you can pull your right foot forward a bit. The split-hands drill focuses on feeling the wrist hinge, and helps you hold and release the club through impact. I found that, after a long period of over-the-top moves that I was casting the club severly, and so this drill, over time, has helped me regain some of my lag. For a while, I was actually holding the club in a 10-finger grip on the course to let this drill do its work on the course.

I first did this combination drill on a Sunday afternoon. The following Saturday, which was the first time I played after doing the drill, I was hitting the ball much longer and much straighter than I had in years, and every member of my foursome commented as such. Now, about half my range time is spent doing this drill or some variation of it.

[jeffy]

Like I said in Canadian Mike's thread, the best "causes and cures" handbook available is Manuel de la Torre's "Understanding the Golf Swing". He goes through all the causes for pulls, as he does for all faulty ball flights, and prescribes simple, effective corrections. Blessedly, it is not complicated and position oriented like so much instruction but focuses on the swinging motion and balance: of the right and left side as well as the upper and lower body. I highly recommend it!

Jeff

[bigdawg]

This is a problem I fight all the time. So I am always writing down drills 'cos one might work better than the next and so on.

But in the posts above we have two guys suggesting two contradictory approaches to the same problem. The first guy advocated an open stance and the second a closed? Are they both right or what? :sad:

CLMelton:

Once you are in position, move your left foot four inches away from the line and then go ahead and hit the ball.

BBurke45

Next, slide your right foot back until the toes of your right foot are even with the heel of your left foot.

[bburke45]

The "right foot back drill" was recommended by a PGA teaching professional, several colleagues, and (ta-da) David Leadbetter in his book 100% Golf. The "split hands" drill also came from Leadbetter. What I did was combine the drills to cure the over the top problem and a casting problem that surfaced because of the over the top problems.

I'm not saying that this approach works and the other guy's doesn't, I'm just telling you the source of the instruction. You should use what works.

Another drill: address the ball by standing with your back to the target. Turn you upper body to address the ball, but leave your feet pointing 180 degrees opposite the target, and hit the ball. Swing slow or you might hurt someone (not to mention yourself).