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.
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.
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:
Fundamentally, coming over the top puts you in a weak, inconsistent position at impact, robbing you of power and accuracy.
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.
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."
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.
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:
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.
Your swing path can be determined a lot before you even begin your takeaway. 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 ball right into the woods. Often, simply squaring your shoulders and the face to your target can go a long way to fix this move!
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.
This is a classic for a reason - it provides immediate, undeniable feedback. It forces you to swing from the inside or suffer the consequences of hitting the "obstacle."
This drill provides immediate consequences 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 at a nice, shallow attack angle.
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.
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.
This is an incredibly dynamic drill for generating the pure sensation of a downswing led by the lower body instead of being driven by an "arm-sy" swing.
This "Happy Gilmore" drill will change how you view your kinematic sequence. It’s physically impossible to throw the club out with your arms and shoulders when your first movement is to step towards the target with your front foot. Your body has no choice but to start generating turning power by letting your arms "trail" to catch up. This drill is an amazing sensation trainer, wholly different from a "real" move. But more importantly, it helps you train correct sequencing for a swing originating from the ground up, to help cure your out-to-in swing forever.
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 and honest feedback. 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 - so you’ll finally have a swing where the club "is in the right spot," as TV analysts describe the best players in the game. With Caddie AI, you now can get instant, pro-like second opinions or swing thoughts without 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.
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