- Welcome, I'm Adam Bazalgette,
a three-time PGA Teacher of the Year,
founder of Scratch Golf Academy.
Today's subject is a great one, how to stop
coming over the top, and an easy drill
to help you work on it.
(upbeat music)
(club strikes ball loudly)
So how to stop coming over the top,
I'll show you briefly what it is,
give you a great little drill to work on it,
and a couple of thoughts as to how
you can really put it into practice.
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Hope you'll check that out.
Let's get started.
Okay, so what is coming over the top?
Very briefly, if this is the shaft,
playing something like this is ideal.
It's in the downswing coming above or over the top of that.
That's called coming over the top.
I think there's a lot of possible reasons,
but two primary ones that I see the most often.
One is physical, and that's whipping the club
behind you in the takeaway.
Most players do this.
They get the club more over there than great players.
Believe me, it's speed.
That club has balance.
It has to come this way to some degree to even hit the ball.
So that's number one.
The drill we'll talk about will address that.
Number two to me is really a mental thing,
and again, I've just seen enough people
try to get good at golf and begin golf.
Deep down most people, even though they don't know it,
their target is the ball, especially newer players,
and they strike at it, and it forces the club
to go out there.
Now if you doubt that, if you hand a club to someone,
if you watched a few of my videos,
you've seen me play around with this idea,
and without a ball, have them toss one out
towards the real target that's out there.
You'll never see someone accidentally slam the club
into the ground on that plane.
It will never happen.
They'll always be some degree of under their body,
out in that direction, so it's mental, number two.
Let's have a look at the drill.
Now before we look at the drill here,
let me just briefly say there are a lot of factors
in coming over the top.
Some are in the backswing.
Sometimes someone's got the club face open
so that every time they hit the ball it goes to the right.
That would encourage them to come over the top.
But we're not gonna tackle all of that.
We're just gonna assume a reasonable grip,
and I think this drill's gonna help you willy-nilly
with whatever you work on.
So here's the drill.
I'm gonna give one other little preface,
'cause I know people like to jump off these videos
and jump around.
I've got a few mental tips for you
just a little later in the video that are crucial to hear
if you're gonna make this drill work,
so hang in there with it.
Here's the drill.
I've got a nine iron here.
We'll do a practice swing.
You get set up.
You pre-cock your wrists directly straight up.
You pause for a second or two, so full break,
then you pivot back and swing.
As you'll see when we look at this from the other angle,
this is the polar opposite of snatching the club inside,
and it just gets the club in such a nice flow.
I've got these two balls on a tee.
I'd suggest that initially.
This is a nine iron again.
Gonna be very soft with the shot.
So just have a look, set the club,
(club slices loudly through air)
just let the club work in there.
Now listen, I teach golf for a living every day.
That's what I actually do.
These videos are sort of a side thing.
I've tried to get people to do this drill.
Most of the time there is so much anxiety,
this is what we're gonna get into
in a couple of minutes mentally,
they literally can't pause.
It's just like one move.
That's how much the presence of that ball
frets them and sort of burdens them
to have a strike at it, so relax.
Take the energy out.
Once you're ready, set it, pause.
Solid contact doesn't mean anything.
Pivot back, feel that club drop to the inside.
Let's have a look from here,
then we'll talk about those mental things.
(club striking ball loudly)
So as we look at the drill from this angle,
again, I'm gonna get settled in.
First off, take lots of practice swings.
You can do this at home without a golf ball for sure.
Get your set, relax, take your time.
Start away with your core, and you're really
gonna feel the weight of this club out there.
It's gonna feel quite different to you,
and in a very soft manner, it really can't do anything else
but drop in a little bit coming down.
Let's try it with a ball and I'll show you
how you can graduate from this drill
to a more normal sort of a shot.
So here we go.
There's my hinge.
I'm in no rush.
(club slices through air loudly)
Could just feel the club drop in a little bit.
You may not want to hit the ball.
I didn't hit that that hard,
but you may not wanna hit it that hard initially.
Now once you're feeling some confidence with that,
try it this way, at your discretion.
Go ahead and get set up, and this time hinge it,
but not as much, maybe there, maybe here.
So we'll try it just a little bit,
again just a little drop in of the club there.
I'm not trying to manipulate that club at all.
The lie is easy.
I feel like I can swing out to the target.
So let's have a look here at the mental aspect
that's really gonna make the difference,
because the drill itself is easy.
All right, let me briefly give you three little thoughts.
I've been around this game 45 years, teaching it 30 years.
I have struggled in this game in my life,
not only playing it but teaching it.
If I had known these three things
and been able to put them into practice,
this is just a broad brush of a few things
that would have really helped me.
So I'm gonna pass them along to you.
I'm better at them now, but not as good
as I hope to be in five more years.
Let me give you three quick thoughts.
Number one, relax your mind.
Just physically relax a little bit.
People get that ball in front of them.
They wanna hit such a good shot,
they wanna do the position right.
They just get tight.
You're not gonna transfer things well.
You're not gonna feel things well when you do that.
Number two, don't as you're swinging
tell yourself what to do.
I cannot tell you how many times I have done that
in my golf life.
It's not necessary.
Listen, if I was gonna reach down and pick up that tee,
it's off camera there, I don't need
midway over to tell myself, now don't forget
to get the tee.
You're almost there; bend over.
You're mind doesn't need that.
Once you've established what you're working on
and you know what you're trying to do,
just quiet down and feel it as it happens.
If you're too busy trying to think about what to do,
you won't feel what's actually happening.
And three, and this is a biggie, forget the outcome.
The outcome counts.
It's the final judge when you really get down
to playing golf, but not when you're doing your drill.
The more subconsciously you're wired in
to say I wanna hit a solid shot, the less likely you are
to feel anything or to change anything.
So I'm gonna hit this one without a tee.
I don't know if I'm gonna deliberately do anything,
but I'm probably gonna top this one.
I'm just gonna have a bit of fun.
I topped it, and you know what?
I don't care.
I could feel the club do what I wanted it to do.
In other words, these three little principles
gave me the freedom to hang in there
with what I wanted to hang in there with.
That's feeling the golf club, feeling my target direction.
It's magic when you do it.
It doesn't just apply to this drill,
any kind of drills you do.
When you're in the development stage,
camp out in these areas, I promise you.
Well, I really hope that was helpful for you.
I hope that helps you stop coming over the top.
Hope that drill's good for you,
and those tips on the mental approach did.
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please subscribe to the channel.
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Thanks again.