How to Shallow a Golf Swing

Struggling with a steep, over-the-top swing that ruins your round with slices and weak pull-hooks? The fix you’re looking for is learning to shallow the golf club on the downswing. This one move separates high-handicappers from consistent ball-strikers. This guide will walk you through what shallowing really means, why it’s so important for your game, and give you practical, step-by-step drills to finally ingrain this powerful feeling.

What Does “Shallowing the Swing” Actually Mean?

Let's forget confusing golf jargon for a moment. At its heart, shallowing the swing is all about the path your club takes on its way down to the ball. Most amateur golfers have a steep swing. Imagine you’re chopping wood - the axe comes down in a very vertical, up-and-down motion. That's a steep swing plane, and it’s a recipe for disaster in golf.

A shallow swing, on the other hand, is more like an airplane coming in for a smooth landing. The club head approaches the ball from a lower, flatter angle, moving from inside the target line. Think about the best ball-strikers you’ve seen. Their downswing looks almost effortless. Their club seems to "lag" behind them before it's whipped through impact with incredible speed. That's the shallow move in action.

Why is this flattened angle so much better?

• Effortless Power: A shallow path gives your body time to rotate and unwind correctly, using the ground for leverage. This is where you get that incredible "snap" through the ball without feeling like you're muscling it. Steep swings rely on arm and shoulder strength, which is a weak and inconsistent power source.
• Ultimate Consistency: When the club approaches from the inside, you have way more room for error. You don’t have to make last-second compensations with your hands to save the shot. The club is already on the right path, so you can just rotate through and trust it.
• Better Ball Flight: The number one cause of the dreaded slice is a steep, over-the-top swing path. When you shallow the club, you automatically promote an in-to-out path, which is what produces beautiful, high draws or straight shots instead of weak bananas out to the right.

By learning to shallow your swing, you are fundamentally changing your engine from an inconsistent, arm-powered chop to a smooth, body-powered rotation.

The Telltale Signs of a Steep Swing

Not sure if "steep" is your problem? Here are a few dead giveaways. If any of these sound familiar, you've come to the right place.

• You hit a pull-hook (a ball that starts left and curves further left) or, more commonly, a big slice (a ball that starts left and curves way to the right for a right-handed player).
• Your divots, when you take them, are deep, "bacon strip" marks that point noticeably to the left of your target.
- You hit a lot of shots thin or top the ball, especially with your longer irons and woods.
• You feel like you're "lunging" at the ball, with your right shoulder (for righties) throwing itself toward the target to start the downswing. Your friends might have even told you that you have an "over the top" move.
• Your swing photos or videos show the club shaft pointing way outside the ball on the downswing, almost directly at it. A shallow player's club shaft will point inside the ball, toward their feet.

The Root Cause: Why We Get Steep in the First Place

Golfers don't become steep on purpose. It happens for a simple reason: the desire to hit the ball hard. The problem originates in the transition - that critical moment when you finish your backswing and begin your downswing.

For most amateurs, the first move from the top is with the upper body. They fire their right shoulder, chest, and arms at the ball as hard as they can. This "over the top" action throws the club onto a steep, outside-in path, forcing all sorts of compensations just to make contact. The correct downswing sequence actually starts from the ground up, with the lower body leading the way.

A poor backswing can also set you up for failure. If you simply lift your arms straight up instead of rotating your torso fully, you leave yourself with no other option than to chop straight down from the top.

How to Shallow Your Golf Swing: A Step-by-Step Guide

Making a change like this takes patience and practice. It’s about teaching your body a new feeling and a new sequence. These step-by-step drills are designed to do exactly that, moving from a pure feeling to a full swing.

First Things First: A Better Backswing

You can’t have a shallow downswing without a good backswing. If you pick the club straight up, you’re doomed to chop straight down. Instead, focus on rotation and depth.

Stand in front of a mirror. As you start your backswing, feel your chest and torso turning away from the ball. Feel your hands move not just up, but back and in. A great thought is to feel like you're trying to hide the club from the target on your backswing. This "depth" is what gives your arms and club the necessary space to drop into the shallow position on the way down.

Drill 1: The Gravity Drop (Feel the Transition)

This is the most important drill to learn the feeling of shallowing, completely separate from hitting a ball.

1. Take your normal setup and make your backswing, stopping at the very top. Consciously feel the weight of the clubhead.
2. Now, here’s the key: without turning your hips or shoulders, do nothing but let your arms and the club simply “fall” straight down about 6-12 inches. Let gravity do the work. The club should feel like it's dropping behind you.
3. Go back to the top and repeat. Pause at the top, then just let the arms fall behind you. Over and over.

This exercise isolates the very first part of a properly sequenced downswing. It teaches your body to let the club shallow before you begin to rotate. Master this feel without a ball before you move on.

Drill 2: The Hip Bump Starter

Now we add the engine. A proper downswing starts with the lower body initiating the movement. For steep players, this feels completely backward, but it’s the secret.

1. Address an imaginary ball and take it to the top of your backswing. Pause.
2. To begin your downswing, make your very first thought a subtle lateral "bump" of your lead hip (your left hip for a righty) toward the target. It’s not a huge slide, just a small shift of pressure to your lead foot.
3. Notice what happens when you do this. That hip bump naturally creates room for your arms to do the "Gravity Drop" from the previous drill. It automatically pulls the club into the "slot" behind you.

Your new swing thought should be: "Bump, then turn." Bump the hip slightly, feel the club shallow, then rotate your body through to impact.

Drill 3: The Headcover Gauntlet

This drill provides immediate, unmissable feedback. If you're steep, you literally cannot do this drill correctly.

1. Place a golf ball on the tee or the ground.
2. Take your driver's headcover (or any similar object) and place it on the ground about one foot outside and one foot behind your golf ball. This creates a "gate" you have to swing through.
3. Your goal is to hit the ball without touching the headcover on your downswing.

A G steep, over-the-top swing will come down and hit the headcover every single time. To miss it, you are forced to make the club approach the ball from the inside - in other words, you are forced to shallow it. Start with slow, half-swings, focusing on the feeling of bringing the club under the headcover. Gradually build up speed.

Final Thoughts

Shallowing the golf swing is about reprogramming your transition from the top. It’s about ditching the urge to lunge with your shoulders and learning to trust a sequence - letting the club drop into position as your lower body begins to unwind. Using these drills, you can transform your steep chop into a smooth, powerful motion that produces Tour-quality contact.

Making a swing change can be a tough process, but having an expert guide you makes a world of difference. When you're at the range wondering if you're actually getting shallower or just ingraining bad habits, that's where I come in. You can describe your shot pattern to me, ask for a new drill, or even send a slow-motion video of your swing right to Caddie AI to get an instant analysis of your swing plane, so you know exactly what to work on without the guesswork.