How to Do the Pump Drill in Golf

If your downswing feels like an aggressive, over-the-top chop that launches weak slices, the pump drill might be the single best thing you can do for your ball striking. This drill builds the correct feel for starting the downswing with your body, not your arms, creating that smooth, powerful, from-the-inside swing you see from good players. This guide will walk you through exactly how to perform the pump drill, fix the common mistakes, and finally ingrain a better downswing.

What is the Pump Drill, and What Does It Actually Do?

At its heart, the pump drill is a slow-motion rehearsal of the most important part of your golf swing: the transition from backswing to downswing. The name comes from the small "pumping" motions you make, dropping the club onto the correct plane before returning to the top and repeating. It might look a little funny to an observer, but the feelings it teaches are fundamental to a good golf swing.

Let's be clear about what this drill accomplishes. This isn't just a random movement, it’s designed to train three specific, game-changing improvements:

• It Shallows the Club: This is the big one. The dreaded "over-the-top" move happens when your first move down is with the hands and shoulders, throwing the club onto a steep path outside the proper plane. The pump drill teaches you to drop the club behind you as your lower body starts forward, shallowing the club shaft and allowing it to approach the ball from the inside.
• It Fixes Your Sequence: A powerful golf swing happens in a specific order, known as the kinematic sequence. It starts from the ground up: your hips begin to unwind, followed by your torso, then your arms, and finally the club. Most amateurs reverse this, starting with their arms. The pump drill forces you to feel the correct sequence: hips first, arms follow.
• It Creates "Effortless" Power via Lag: When your body leads the downswing and your arms drop passively, you naturally store energy by maintaining the angle between your lead arm and the club shaft. This is called lag. The result isn't a swing that feels ridiculously hard, it's a swing where the club accelerates massively through impact, creating speed that feels smooth and unforced.

First Things First: Understanding the Downswing Engine

Before you even attempt the drill, you need to understand what powers the downswing. Your power doesn't come from your arms. It comes from your body’s rotation. Think of your body as the engine and your arms and club as the whip. The engine creates the speed, the whip delivers it.

In a poor swing, the arms try to be the engine. From the top of the backswing, the first thought is "hit the ball," so the shoulders and arms lurch forward. This throws the club out and over the target line, forcing a steep, cutting motion across the ball. The result? A weak slice or a sharp pull to the left.

The pump drill's core purpose is to reprogram this instinct. It teaches you to separate the movements of your lower and upper body. The first move from the top isn't with your hands - it's a slight shift of pressure to your lead foot and a subtle rotation of your hips toward the target. When you do this correctly, your arms and club don't have a choice but to drop down onto a shallower plane. You’re using your body’s rotation to get the club into the perfect delivery position. This is the feel we're chasing.

The Classic Pump Drill: A Step-by-Step Guide

For this drill, grab a 7-iron or 8-iron. To start, you don't even need a golf ball. We’re working on feel, not results. The goal is to perform the movements slowly and deliberately.

1. Set Up and Make a Full Backswing: Take your normal stance and posture. Swing to the top of your backswing. Get to a comfortable, full-turn position. Don’t rush this part. Pause at the top for a second to feel balanced.
2. The First "Pump": Initiate with the Lower Body: This is the most crucial step. From the top, your very first move should be shifting pressure into your lead foot while beginning to open your hips just a little toward the target. As you do this, let your arms feel heavy and simply "fall" or drop down in front of your chest. Don’t pull them down. Your hands should drop to about chest height. Notice how the club head, which was pointing towards the sky, has now "shallowed" and is behind your hands. This is the position good players are in halfway down. Pause here. You’ve just completed Pump #1.
3. Return to the Top: Now, using only your arms, lift the club back to the top of your backswing position. It's important that your lower body stays in its slightly open, "downswing-ready" position. You haven’t unwound it yet back to the top. This contrast programs the feeling of separation between your upper and lower body.
4. The Second "Pump": From the top again, repeat the sequence. Start with the lower body, feel the arms and club drop and shallow passively. Maybe you drop it a little bit further this time, to around waist height. Feel that club head lagging behind your hands. Pause and soak in the sensation.
5. Return and Swing Through (The Third Pump): Go back to the top one last time. Now, on this third pump, you're going to do the same initial move - lower body first, arms drop - but you're just going to continue turning through to a full, balanced finish. Let the momentum you’ve created carry you all the way around. The feeling should be one of unwinding, not hitting.

Do this entire sequence five times without a ball. Then, place a ball on a tee and try it again, making solid contact on the final swing-through. The key is to trust the motion you’ve just rehearsed.

Common Pump Drill Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

It’s easy to do this drill incorrectly and reinforce bad habits. Be mindful of these common pitfalls. It's often helpful to record yourself on your phone to see what you're actually doing.

• Forcing a "Shallowing" with Your Hands: Many golfers hear "shallow the club" and immediately try to manipulate the club behind them with their hands and forearms. This defeats the entire purpose. The shallowing motion is a result of the correct lower body sequence, not the cause.
  The Fix: Focus entirely on your lead hip. Make your only thought "move my lead hip pocket back and around." Your arms will respond naturally. It should feel passive, almost like gravity is doing the work.
• Swaying Off the Ball: A common mistake is to slide the hips laterally toward the target instead of rotating them. This is a sway, and it throws your swing out of sync and costs you power.
  The Fix: Feel the pressure shift into the instep of your lead foot, not the outside. Imagine you have a wall just outside your lead hip at address. As you start down, your hip should rotate back along that wall, not smash into it.
• Standing Up and Losing Posture: As you start the downswing rotation, it’s easy to lose your spine angle and stand up, which again leads to steepness and poor contact.
  The Fix: Maintain the feeling of having your "chest over the ball." As you rotate, your chest should feel like it stays pointed down at the golf ball for as long as possible. This keeps you in posture and allows the club to swing under your body.

Taking It to the Next Level: Progressing with the Drill

Once you’re comfortable with the basic version, you can adapt the pump drill to make it more applicable to your actual golf game on the range.

The One-Pump Feel Rehearsal

This is a great pre-shot routine during practice. Set up to your ball. Take your backswing. At the top, do just ONE pump down to the shallow position and return to the top. Then, immediately start your real swing, trying to replicate that exact transition feel. This is a fantastic way to bake the feeling into your full-speed swing.

The Blended Rep Routine

This progression helps bridge the gap between rehearsal and real-time execution. Use this pattern at the range:

1. Perform one full, 3-pump drill with no ball. Focus entirely on the feel.
2. Perform one "One-Pump Feel Rehearsal" with no ball.
3. Step up and hit a ball with your normal swing, trying only to recreate the sequencing feel you just practiced.

Doing a 1:1 ratio of rehearsal-to-ball really helps the new motor pattern stick. Remember, practice is about improving your motion, not just hitting balls into a field. The pump drill is your best tool for improving that motion.

Final Thoughts

The pump drill exists to teach you one thing: a golf swing powered by the body's rotation, not a frantic heave with the arms. By slowing down the transition and feeling the club shallow as a reaction to your lower body unwind, you can finally defeat the dreaded "over-the-top" swing and replace it with a smooth, powerful, and consistent motion.

Translating that great feeling from a practice drill to confident execution on the golf course is the next step. Sometimes, even with perfect practice, a "weird lie" in the rough or a high-pressure shot brings old habits back. This is precisely where we designed our tool to step in. If you find yourself on the course and defaulting back to a steep slice, getting instant, on-demand advice from Caddie AI can tell you the smartest play for your situation - analyzing a photo of your lie and giving you a simple strategy to avoid compounding a mistake. It serves as your on-course coach, giving you shot strategies that allow you to swing with confidence and commit to the better mechanics you’re already working so hard to build.