How to Stop Overswinging in Golf

That long, flowing backswing you see from a few pros isn't the reason they hit it far - and for most amateurs, it’s a direct path to inconsistency and frustration. An overswing, where the club flies past parallel at the top, seems like it should generate more power, but it almost always does the opposite. This guide will show you exactly why overswinging is sabotaging your scores and give you several simple, effective drills to build a more compact, powerful, and repeatable golf swing.

What is an Overswing (And Why Is It Killing Your Game)?

An overswing is simply a backswing that continues past the ideal top position. Visually, this means the club shaft drops down below parallel to the ground and often points way across the target line. While a player like John Daly made a living with a massive overswing, he was a rare athletic talent who could re-route the club with phenomenal timing. For the rest of us, an overswing is a consistency-killer.

When you swing too far back, you lose the vital connection between your arms and your body's rotation. The sequence of the downswing breaks down. Instead of a powerful, fluid turn unwinding through the ball, your body finishes its rotation early, leaving your arms and hands disconnected at the top. From this disconnected position, your hands are forced to start the downswing and frantically try to "find" the ball on the way down. This leads to a chain reaction of compensations that result in all the shots you hate:

• Inconsistent Contact: Thins, chunks, and tops become common because the low point of your swing is unpredictable.
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An overswing feels powerful, but it's a "power leak." You lose the tension and coil built up in your backswing, forcing you to use your arms to generate speed instead of your bigger, more powerful torso muscles.
• Poor Direction: When your hands and arms manipulate the club to save the shot, the clubface can be wide open or shut tight at impact, leading to big slices or pull-hooks.

Ultimately, an overswing sacrifices control for the illusion of power. Fixing it means learning to build a swing that is both more efficient and more powerful.

The Real Reasons You're Overswinging

To fix the problem, you first have to understand the root cause. For most golfers, overswinging comes down to a few common culprits.

The Power Myth: Swinging Harder vs. Swinging Better

This is the most common reason we see. The thought process is simple logic: longer swing = more time to build speed = more power. But golf physics don't quite work that way. True power comes from coiling your upper body against a stable lower body, storing energy like a twisted rubber band. An overswing goes past the point of maximum coil, becoming loose and disconnected. The stored energy dissipates at the top, and your body has to try to manufacture speed on the way down, usually with a steep, armsy motion. Think of it this way: Power comes from rotation, not from length.

The Disconnected Swing: When Your Arms Outrace Your Body

A good golf swing is a sequence of movements, a kinetic chain where the body leads and the arms follow. An overswing happens when this chain breaks. It typically happens when a player completes their torso rotation but their arms keep going, lifting independently thanks to momentum. This "run-on" swing creates a gap between your arms and your chest, forcing that frantic re-routing on the downswing.

The core of the backswing is a body turn. Your arms and club should feel like they are "going along for the ride," not doing all the work on their own.

Physical Limitations: Is Your Body Working Against You?

Sometimes, an overswing is your body's way of compensating for limited mobility. If you have a stiff upper back (thoracic spine) or tight shoulders, achieving a full 90-degree shoulder turn can be difficult. To feel like you’ve completed a "full" backswing, your body might cheat by simply lifting your arms higher and letting your left elbow bend excessively. This gets the club further back, but not through proper rotation. It’s an easy path to a disconnected overswing. Recognizing this isn't an excuse, but it helps understand that you might need to focus on rotating within your comfortable range of motion.

How to Stop Overswinging: Actionable Drills and Feel-Based Cues

Correcting an overswing is all about replacing old feelings with new ones. Your current, overly long swing feels "normal," while a proper, more compact swing will feel incredibly short. These drills are designed to help you recalibrate your sense of what a "full swing" really feels like.

Step 1: Find Your "Real" Top Position

Before you start any drills, understand the goal. We're not trying to stop your swing arbitrarily. The goal is to swing back only as far as you can while maintaining yur body's connection and rotation. For most people, this means stopping when your lead arm is about parallel to the ground and your club shaft is pointing roughly towards the sky, or just shy of being parallel to the target line.

Drill 1: The Left-Arm-Parallel Stop

This is your fundamental feedback drill. It teaches you where the top of your swing should be.

1. Set up in front of a mirror or record yourself with your phone from a "down the line" view.
2. Without a ball, take a very slow, deliberate backswing. Focus on turning your shoulders and chest away from the target.
3. Stop your hands when you feel your lead arm (left arm for a right-hander) is parallel to the ground. Hold that position.
4. Now, look at the mirror or replay the video. Where is the club? You'll likely be surprised. Due to momentum, even when you stop your hands, the club head will continue to a position that is likely at or short of parallel. This is the feeling you need to internalize. This "short" feeling is your new, controlled top position.

Drill 2: The Towel Under the Armpit Drill

This classic drill is one of the best for cementing the feeling of "connection."

1. Place a headcover or a small towel under your trail armpit (the right armpit for a righty).
2. Take slow, half-to-three-quarter swings an an empty range basket or tee. Your goal is to keep the towel or headcover from falling out during the backswing.
3. If you lift your arms independently from your body turn, the towel will drop immediately. To keep it in place, you are forced to keep your right elbow closer to your body and power the swing by rotating your chest. This keeps the arms and body synced up and physically shortens the backswing.

Drill 3: The Head Against the Wall Drill

This drill helps if your overswing is caused by swaying off the ball.

1. Take your normal setup posture a few inches away from a wall, so the side of your head is barely touching it.
2. Make slow, deliberate backswings, making sure to keep your head in contact with the wall.
3. A sway will cause your head to push hard into the wall or come off it entirely. This drill forces you to rotate around your spine, which is a more stable and powerful move. A stable rotation makes it much harder to overswing.

Focus on "Wide," Not "Long"

Here is a powerful mental cue to take with you. Instead of thinking about making a long backswing, think about making a wide one. During your takeaway, feel as though you are pushing your hands as far away from your chest as possible. This promotes extension and engages your core muscles. A wide arc naturally encourages a full body turn and discourages the arms from lifting up shallowly and getting too long. Width creates power, length creates problems.

Bringing It to the Course: Trusting Your New Swing

The hardest part of this change is trusting it on the course. On the driving range, you can use drills and video feedback, but on the course, you have to rely on feel. Your new, compact swing is going to feel weak and incredibly short at first. This is the "feel vs. real" dilemma. You have to trust that this shorter-feeling motion will produce better results.

Start by making your on-course focus tempo and rhythm. Take some practice swings where you consciously stop at your new top position. Then, step up to the ball and try to repeat that same feeling at about 75% speed. Don’t force it. Let the smooth, connected rotation produce the power. Over time, as you see straight, solid shots flying off the clubface, your brain will begin to accept this new motion as the "right" one, and trust will replace uncertainty.

Final Thoughts

Grooving a more compact backswing addresses one of the most common causes of inconsistency in golf. By focusing on a synchronized turn instead of a long, disconnected arm swing, you will build a more reliable and surprisingly powerful motion that holds up under pressure.

As you work on this, getting real-time feedback is invaluable. This is precisely what we designed Caddie AI to do. Imagine you're on the range wondering if your swing truly is shorter, or standing on a tight par-4 needing a strategy that favors control over raw power. You can get instant advice and analysis, helping you diagnose issues right as they happen and build trust in your new, more efficient swing. It simplifies the process, taking the guesswork out of getting better so you can play with more confidence.