GOLF.com: The Sequencing Fix That Eliminates Over-the-Top Swings for Good

The Real Reason Over-the-Top Persists

An over-the-top swing is remarkably common—and stubbornly persistent—because it genuinely feels powerful. When golfers reach the top of the backswing and immediately fire their upper body open, they think they're loading energy into the shot. What they're actually doing is throwing the clubhead outside their hands, locking in an out-to-in path that produces weak fades and slices.

Shift Before You Rotate

According to TPI's Greg Phillips, a GOLF Top 100 Teacher, the defining characteristic of elite ball strikers is their transition sequence:

1. From the top, initiate a lateral pressure shift toward the lead side first 2. Only then allow the body to rotate through

When rotation comes first, the club is forced over the top. When the lateral shift precedes the turn, the club has room to shallow out and approach from the inside—producing a natural in-to-out path.

The Diagonal Drill

Phillips teaches this feel using alignment sticks placed diagonally across the stance—running from behind the trail foot out past the lead foot. On the downswing, the task is to move pressure along that diagonal before the rotation begins.

His key mental image: pretend you're going to hit the ball well right of target. This thought redirects the brain away from early rotation and toward the lateral shift that sets everything in motion correctly.

Strokeslab Perspective

For data-driven golfers, an over-the-top path typically surfaces as weak SG: Off-the-Tee and inconsistent SG: Approach numbers in tandem. Fixing transition sequencing is one of the highest-ROI swing changes available—it costs only focused repetition.