How to Flatten the Golf Downswing

If your golf swing feels more like you're chopping wood than hitting a ball, you’ve come to the right place. That steep, over-the-top motion is one of the biggest power-sappers in the game, leading to that weak slice and frustratingly inconsistent contact. This guide will show you exactly how to flatten your downswing, get the club moving on the proper plane, and start compressing the ball for pure, powerful strikes.

What Exactly is a "Steep" Downswing?

Imagine your golf swing happens on an angled piece of glass, with the glass running from the ball up through your shoulders. This is your swing plane. In a perfect world, the club glides up this plane on the backswing and comes back down on a very similar, or slightly shallower, plane to strike the ball.

A steep downswing is when the club, during its transition from backswing to downswing, moves above this ideal plane. Instead of the club dropping behind you and approaching the ball from the inside, it lunges forward and comes down at a very sharp, vertical angle. Think of it like this:

• A flattened (or shallow) swing is like a carousel: round and wide.
• A steep swing is like a Farris wheel: upright and narrow.

This steep attack angle forces you to make last-second compensations just to make contact. Most often, this results in an outside-to-in swing path, which puts slice-spin on the ball. You might also hit big pulls, fat shots (where you hit the ground first), or thin shots, all because the bottom of your swing arc is in the wrong place.

Why Do We Get Steep in the First Place?

For most amateurs, a steep downswing comes from a single, overpowering instinct: the desire to hit the ball hard from the top of the backswing. It's a natural reaction. You get to the top, you see the ball, and your immediate thought is to throw your hands, arms, and right shoulder at it with all your might.

When your right shoulder fires first and pushes your hands out and away from your body, the club has nowhere to go but down steeply. This "over-the-top" move is the number one cause of a steep swing. You've short-circuited the proper swing sequence.

A proper, powerful golf swing isn't powered by the arms and shoulders from the top. It's powered by the ground up. The downswing should start with a feeling of the lower body shifting and rotating, which gives the arms and club time to drop down into the "slot" onto a shallower, more powerful path. We get steep because we get impatient and let our upper body dominate the swing.

The Key Feeling: How to Initiate a Flatter Downswing

Flattening the golf swing isn't about consciously moving the club with your hands. It's about creating the right sequence so the club flattens naturally. The entire secret is in the transition - that small moment where you change direction from backswing to downswing.

The feeling you're searching for is one of patience at the top. As your lower body begins to shift and unwind towards the target, you must feel like your hands and the club are just passively "dropping" or "falling" down behind you. The right elbow should feel like it's tucking in towards your right hip instead of flying out away from your body.

Here’s the sequence to visualize:

1. Complete your backswing turn. Get your back to face the target.
2. Start the downswing with your lower body. Feel your left hip (for a righty) start to turn open.
3. As this happens, let your arms *drop*. Don't pull them down. Don't throw them out. Just let gravity work and allow them to fall vertically for a split second. This is the flattening move. This is where you drop the club into the "slot."
4. Unwind your body. Once the club is in this shallow position, you can turn your torso and hips as hard as you like, and the club will be delivered to the ball from the inside, creating power and compression.

At first, this will feel incredibly strange. It might feel like you're going to miss the ball or hit a huge push to the right. Trust the process. This "lagging" feel of the club behind your body is the source of all effortless power in golf.

Actionable Drills to Ingrain the Feeling

Understanding the concept is one thing, feeling it is another. Here are three effective drills you can do to turn the idea of a flat downswing into a real, repeatable motion.

Drill 1: The Headcover Barrier

This is a fantastic visual drill to prevent you from coming over the top.

• Setup: Place your ball on the ground or a tee. Now, take a long headcover (from your driver or wood) and place it on the ground about 6-8 inches outside of your golf ball, and slightly in front of it. It should sit just outside your target line.
• Execution: Your goal is to swing and hit the ball without hitting the headcover. If you swing with your normal steep move, you'll immediately clobber the headcover on your downswing. To miss it, your only option is to drop the club to the inside, approaching the ball from a flatter angle.
• Focus: Start with slow, half-swings. Don't worry about the ball flight at first, just focus on missing the headcover. As you get comfortable, you'll start to feel that inside path and can increase your speed.

Drill 2: The Right-Elbow-Tuck Feel

This drill helps you get the feeling of keeping the right elbow connected to the body, a hallmark of a shallow downswing.

• Setup: Take your normal address. Grab a spare glove or a small towel and tuck it into your right armpit.
• Execution: Make swings trying to keep the towel squeezed in your armpit throughout the backswing and for the first part of your downswing. If you throw your arms out from the top (a steep move), the towel will immediately fall out.
• Focus: You'll be forced to use your body rotation to power the swing while keeping your right elbow tucked, which naturally flattens the club's path. As the club drops, you can release the towel as you swing through to impact. This is purely about feeling the connection between your trail arm and chest.

Drill 3: The Pump Drill

This popular drill isolates the a key transition feel - the dropping of the club into the slot.

• Setup: Get into your normal setup position.
• Execution:
  1. Make your normal backswing to the top. Halt there.
  2. From the top, initiate a slight downswing motion by just letting your arms drop and tucking your right elbow. Only drop the club down to about chest height, feeling it get behind you. This is "Pump 1".
  3. Raise the club back to the top of the backswing.
  4. Repeat the "drop" motion again, getting used to the sensation. This is "Pump 2".
  5. Raise it back to the top a final time, and on the third "pump," go ahead and swing all the way through, hitting the ball.
• Focus: This drill rehearses the one motion you need most. By repeating the "pump," you are training your brain and body to drop the club into that perfect slot before committing to the full rotation.

Final Thoughts

Fixing a steep swing is one of the most transformative changes you can make to your game. The solution lies not in making complex adjustments, but in understanding the proper sequence: let your lower body start the downswing and allow your arms and club the time to drop onto a shallow plane before you release your power through the ball.

Making a change like this requires good feedback, as what you feel you are doing can be very different from what you're actually doing. While drills help build the new sensation, seeing your swing can provide the confirmation you need to trust the new move. Our app, Caddie AI, offers an instant swing analyzer to show you if you are truly managing to flatten your plane. It's like having a coach's eye on-demand to guide you as you practice and take the guesswork out of your improvement.