How to Fix Being Too Inside on a Golf Shot

There's nothing quite as frustrating as stepping up and striping a drive, only to watch it start right of your target and keep going… and going. That shot is the dreaded block-push. Or maybe for you, it’s the opposite: you feel the club get trapped behind you, and your hands work overtime to save the shot, resulting in a vicious snap hook that dives out of the sky. Both of these misses can often be traced back to the same root cause: getting the club stuck too far on the inside during your backswing. This guide will walk you through exactly why this happens and give you practical, straightforward drills to get your swing back on the right path for straighter, more powerful shots.

What "Being Too Inside" Actually Means

When coaches talk about a swing being "too inside," they’re talking about your swing path. Imagine a large, tilted hula-hoop looping around your body, running from the ball up through your shoulders. A great golf swing stays on or very close to the angle of that imaginary hoop. The club moves away from the ball, travels up and behind you, and then returns down to the ball on a similar path.

A backswing that’s "too inside" (or "too flat" or "too shallow") is one where the club deviates from this path early. Instead of traveling up and back, it gets pulled immediately behind your body, well underneath the ideal swing plane. Think of it less like swinging on a tilted hula-hoop and more like swinging around a barrel lying on its side.

From this trapped position, two bad things usually happen:

• The Block/Push: Your arms and club are stuck behind your rotating body. With no room or time to swing out towards the target, you simply push the ball straight to the right (for a right-handed golfer). The clubface is often square to the far-inside path it's traveling on, but wide open to the actual target line.
• The Snap Hook: This is the over-correction for the block. Your brain senses the club is stuck, so your hands and wrists flip over aggressively at the last second to try and square the clubface. This rapid closing of the face sends the ball starting left and hooking even more.

If you fight one of these two shots regularly, there’s a good chance an inside backswing is the culprit. The good news is that we can fix it by addressing the movements that cause it.

Common Causes of an Inside Takeaway

This issue rarely appears out of nowhere. It's almost always a reaction to a flaw in your setup or your initial movement away from the ball. Let’s look at the most common reasons golfers get the club stuck behind them.

1. An Incorrect Setup

How you stand to the ball dictates a large portion of your swing. If you start in a position that encourages an inside move, it’s an uphill battle from the start.

• Standing Too Far From the Ball: This is a big one. When you have too much reach at address, your natural tendency is to pull your arms and the club back in toward your body to feel more connected and stable. This immediately pulls the club off plane and behind you.
• Too Much Forward Bend from the Waist: A lot of golfers bend over from their lower back instead of tilting forward from their hips. This causes the shoulders to work on a much flatter, more horizontal plane, which drags the club flat and around the body on a very inside path.

2. A Disconnected Takeaway

The "takeaway" is the first two or three feet of your backswing. It sets the tone for everything that follows. A "disconnected" takeaway is when your hands and arms start the swing independently from your body.

Often, this involves the hands immediately rolling the clubface open and pulling it to the inside. You'll feel as though your hands are doing all the work, while your chest and shoulders stay still. This separation is a recipe for getting stuck. The ideal first move is a "one-piece takeaway," where the shoulders, arms, and hands move away from the ball together as a single unit.

3. Overactive Lower Body

Sometimes the desire for power can go wrong. If your hips spin open too quickly and too early in the backswing, a couple of things happen. First, you lose stability. Second, as your hips spin horizontally, they pull your torso, arms, and club down with them, dropping everything severely underneath the correct plane. The sequence should be a blended turn of the shoulders and hips, not a sudden, violent hip rotation that leaves the arms behind.

Drills to Correct an Inside Swing Path

The best way to fix a swing path is with drills that give you instant feedback. You need to feel the correct motion. Here are three incredibly effective drills to help you get the club on a better path.

Drill 1: The Takeaway Track

This drill gives you a clear visual for the proper starting path. It feels strange at first, but it is one of the quickest ways to build a new muscle memory.

1. Set Up: Place an alignment stick (or another golf club) on the ground just outside your golf ball, pointing directly at your target.
2. The Feel: As you start your backswing, your goal is to have the clubhead track *straight back* along the target_line side of the stick for the first couple of feet. To do this, you will feel like the clubhead is staying "outside" your hands. This is a powerful sensation for anyone used to whipping the club inside.
3. Practice: Make slow, deliberate practice swings, just focusing on that first move. Watch the clubhead. Is it staying out over the stick? Or is it immediately veering inside? This drill forces your arms and torso to work together and prevents your hands from yanking the club inside right away.

Drill 2: The Headcover Gate

This drill provides physical feedback by creating a "gate" you have to swing inside of, which forces your takeaway to be less inside.

1. Set Up: Take your normal address. Now, place your driver headcover on the ground a foot directly behind the heel of your club.
2. The Goal: Your objective is to make a backswing without hitting the headcover. If your first move is pulling the club inside and flat, you will knock the headcover over every single time.
3. Feel the Change: To miss the headcover, you have to initiate the backswing with your shoulders, allowing the club to move back and up. You’ll feel a much wider arc and you will feel the clubhead stay in front of your chest for longer. This is exactly what you want.

Drill 3: The Connected Towel

This is a an old-school drill that works wonders for promoting a connected swing and preventing the arms from working independently.

1. Set Up: Tuck a small golf towel under your lead arm (your left arm for a right-handed golfer), pinching it between your bicep and your chest.
2. The Task: Hit short shots (75% speed) without letting the towel drop. To keep the towel in place, your arm and your chest have to rotate back together. If your arms run off on their own and get ripped behind you, the towel will fall to the ground immediately.
3. What it Teaches: This drill grooves the feeling of your body’s rotation being the engine of your swing. Your arms are along for the ride, staying connected and in front of your turn, which keeps the club beautifully on plane.

Translating Practice to the Golf Course

It’s one thing to perform these drills on the range, but another to trust the new feeling on the course. The key is to not think about all three drills at once. Pick *one feel* that resonates with you most.

• Maybe it's the sensation of the "clubhead staying outside the hands."
• Maybe it's imaging that invisible headcover behind your ball.
• Maybe it's the feeling of your left arm staying connected to your chest.

Whatever it is, make that one feeling a part of your pre-shot routine. Take a practice swing focused on that feel, then step up to the ball, trust it, and go. Be patient. Ingraining a new swing path takes time, but by eliminating those costly blocks and hooks, your consistency and confidence will soar.

Final Thoughts

Combating a swing that’s too far inside really boils down to correcting your first move away from the ball. By focusing on your setup and using simple feedback drills, you can retrain your takeaway and get the club moving on a more neutral plane, setting you up for solid, straight shots.

Mastering a new swing feel is a process, but building confidence in your on-course decisions can happen instantly. For those tricky moments where old habits emerge or you're facing a tough lie that leaves you guessing, our app, Caddie AI, is there to help. you can get a simple, smart strategy for any hole, ask questions about club selection, or even snap a photo of a difficult shot to get an expert recommendation on how to play it. it takes the guesswork out of the game, helping you commit to every shot with confidence while you Tweak your technique.