What Does Coming Over the Top Mean in Golf?

If you've ever heard a friend tell you that you’re coming over the top and stared back blankly, you’re not alone. This phrase is one of the most common - and misunderstood - swing faults in amateur golf. We’ll show you exactly what coming over the top means, why it’s probably the root cause of your slice, and most importantly, we'll provide some clear, practical drills to help you finally fix it.

What “Coming Over the Top” Actually Is (and Why It’s Wrecking Your Shots)

In the simplest terms, coming over the top is when the first move you make on your downswing forces the club outward and away from your body, traveling on a much steeper plane than the one you used on your backswing. Think of it like this: on your backswing, your club travels up and around your body on a certain path, let's call it the “backswing highway.” A good downswing brings the club back down on a similar highway, or even one that’s a little more from the inside.

When you come over the top, you basically exit the backswing highway at the top, take a steep, outside detour, and try to cut back in at the last second to hit the ball. This motion almost always creates an “out-to-in” swing path.

The Disastrous Results of an Out-to-In Path

This out-to-in motion is the number one cause of the dreaded slice. Imagine your clubhead cutting across the ball from right to left (for a right-handed golfer). This path puts sidespin on the ball, causing it to start left and curve dramatically to the right.

You may also experience:

• The Pull: If you manage to get the clubface square or closed at impact with that over-the-top path, the ball will start left of your target and just keep going straight left. No slice, but still far from your target.
• Thin Shots &, Sky Balls: Because the swing is so steep, your angle of attack is like a guillotine coming down on the ball. This makes it extremely difficult to make solid contact, leading to thin shots that barely get airborne or sky-high pop-ups with your driver.

Fundamentally, coming over the top puts you in a weak, inconsistent position at impact, robbing you of power and accuracy.

Why Am I Coming Over the Top? The Main Causes

Fixing the problem starts with understanding why it's happening. Coming over the top isn't just a bad habit, it’s a symptom of a deeper issue in your setup or swing sequence. Most golfers fall into one of these common traps.

1. The "Urge to Hit from the Top"

This is the most common cause. The top of the backswing feels loaded with power, so the natural, yet incorrect, impulse is to try and unleash all that power immediately. The first move is a forceful uncoiling of the shoulders, a throwing of the right hand and arm, and a lunge towards the ball. This instantly pushes the club onto that steep, outside path. The feeling is one of "hitting at the ball" instead of "swinging through the ball."

2. A Bad Backswing

Sometimes, your downswing is doomed before it even starts. An over-the-top move can be a subconscious correction for a backswing flaw. A common fault is getting the club "stuck" too far behind you on the backswing. If you are a right-handed golfer and pull the club in too quickly behind your body on the way back, turning your chest but leaving your arms behind, your brain knows the only way to get the club back to the ball is to throw it out from the top.

It’s like running around a cone in the wrong direction, you have to make an awkward, inefficient move to get back on track. In golf, that awkward move is coming over the top.

3. Poor Sequencing: Upper Body First

The ideal golf downswing has a clear sequence of movement, often called the kinematic sequence. It’s like a whip-cracking effect. It should start from the ground up:

1. Your hips begin to turn toward the target.
2. Your torso and chest follow.
3. Your arms and hands “drop” into the space created.
4. Finally, the clubhead is delivered to the ball.

When you come over the top, this sequence is backward. Your shoulders and arms fire first, out of sync with your lower body. The lower body is left behind, inactive, while the upper body dominates the swing, leading to that out-to-in path. The swing is lost at that moment.

4. A Faulty Setup

Your swing path can be determined a lot before you even begin your takeway. For many golfers, incorrect alignment is the culprit. If your shoulders are aimed way left of the target at address (an “open” setup), your natural swing path will want to follow that line. To hit the ball toward the fairway, you are eventually forced into the over-the-top casting we've discussed. On the contrary, if your clubface is too shut or closed, a natural athletic compensatory move is to swing out-to-in to avoid hooking the bejeezus a ball right into the lumberyard. Often, simply squaring your shoulders and the face up to your target can go a long way to fixing this move!

How to Stop Coming Over the Top: 3 Drills to Shallow Your Swing

Alright, enough theory. Let’s get to work. You need to train your body to feel the opposite motion: dropping the club on an inside path, or "shallowing" the club. These drills are designed to do exactly that.

Drill 1: The Headcover Drill

This is a classic for a reason - it provides immediate, undeniable feedback. It forces you to swing from the inside or suffer the consequences hitting of the "obstacle".

How to Do It:

1. Take your normal setup to hit a ball.
2. Place an object, like a headcover or a rolled-up towel, about a foot outside of your golf ball and a foot in front of it. It should be positioned directly in your over-the-top swing path.
3. Now, just hit the ball.
4. If you come over the top, you will absolutely smash the headcover. There’s no escaping it.
5. To avoid the headcover, your only option is to let the club drop to the inside on the downswing, approaching the ball from an inside path. Start with half swings, feeling the club swing *under* the imaginary plane that the headcover is on.

Why It Works:

This drill provides immediate consequence for a bad swing, forcing your brain to find a new solution. The feeling you’re looking for is that your hands and right elbow are staying closer to your body on the way down, allowing the club to approach the ball from the inside a nice, shallow attack angle.

Drill 2: The Pump Drill

This drill is all about reprogramming your swing sequence and feeling the club "drop into the slot" before you start your rotation through the ball.

How to Do It:

1. Without a ball at first, take your normal backswing to the top. Pause there for a second.
2. Instead of rotating from the top, let your arms and hands drop straight down a few inches. This is the “pump.” Don't use your shoulders, just let gravity help your arms drop.
3. Return to the top of your backswing.
4. Repeat this pump motion two or three times. Feel how your arms are getting “slotted” behind you and in a powerful position.
5. On the third pump, instead of returning to the top, rotate your body all the way through to a full finish. Once you get the feel for it, you can take a smooth swing try to hit a ball using just one pump motion to start our your downswing.

Why It Works:

Coming over the top is a premature rotation of the upper body. The pump drill forces a vertical drop of the arms *first*, before the powerful horizontal rotation. This separates the two movements and allows you to learn the correct downswing sequence: drop, then turn. It will feel weird initially, like you'll never hit the ball, but it’s the proper way to create a powerful, whip-like generation of speed through the ball.

Drill 3: The Step-Through Drill

This is a an incredibly dynamic great drill for generating the pure sensation an over and downswing led by the lower body instead of being driven by an "arm-sy" swing.

How to Do It:

1. Start with a 7- or 8-iron, and address the ball with your feet together.
2. As you take your backswing, let your left foot (for right-handers) step towards your right foot. You’ll be coiled up with all your weight loaded on your back foot. Don't worry abut swinging too over the stop on this take away part!
3. To start the downswing, your very first move should be to confidently step your left foot forward toward the target, positioning it where it would be in a normal stance. Keep stepping!
4. As your foot lands, allow your body to naturally unwind through the shot. The momentum of the step will pull your hips open, followed by your torso and arms. Don't stop turning through the swing even at the end -- allow your body's motion to naturally let you a full step with your right for a balanced, full finish.

Why It Works:

Believe it or not -- this "Happy Gilmore" drill will change how your view your kinematic sequence. It’s physically impossible it'll impossible to throw the club out with your arms and shoulders when your first movment is to step towards the target with your front leading food. Your body has no another option but to start generating turning power by letting your from the arms "trail" to catch up. This drill is an amazing and exaggerataed sensation trainer, a "feels like a drill that is completely different to a "real" move. But more importantly, it helps you train train a correct sequencing for a swing originating originating from the ground up, to help cure for your out-to-in swing forever.

Final Thoughts

Coming over the top is a massively common but very fixable swing flaw. By understanding that it stems from a bad sequence - usually the upper body firing too early - you can use targeted drills to retrain your swing to drop from the inside, giving you a powerful and consistent path into the ball.

Fixing long-standing habits like coming over the top really takes consistent practice, clear and honest feedback for the most confident practice. At Caddie AI, we work to make swing analysis immediate and simple. You can take a video of your swing on the golf range to have your swing plane analyzed by us - instead of just blindly guessing - so you you'll you'll finally have a swing where the club "is in the right spot," as you've heard all the TV analysts have been describing about the best players in the game forever. With Caddie AI, you now can just grab an instant, a pro-like, second-opinion or swing thought without any embarrassment or fear. Because smart, confidence-building advice is always more fun... and just makes playing with this 'white dimpled ball' simpler for every golf fan.