Shallowing the golf club is a downswing move that separates great ball-strikers from the rest of us, and it might just be the one thing standing between you and consistent, powerful shots. It's the secret sauce that transforms a weak slice into a powerful draw. This article will break down exactly what shallowing means, why it’s so important, and provide you with actionable drills to help you finally master this highly sought-after move.
Shallowing the golf club simply means getting the club shaft to lie down, or become more horizontal, as you start your downswing. Picture your backswing: the club travels up on a certain angle, or plane. A steep swing, common for amateurs, happens when the club comes down on an even steeper angle than it went up. This is the classic "over-the-top" move.
Shallowing is the opposite. It’s the transition move where the club travels down on a flatter or "shallower" plane than it went up. Imagine the club head dropping slightly behind your hands as your lower body starts to unwind. This allows the club to approach the ball from the inside, which is the holy grail for solid, powerful contact.
Why should you care? Because mastering this one move can fix a whole host of problems:
Before we learn how to shallow, it’s important to understand its enemy: the dreaded over-the-top move. Tens of thousands of golfers suffer from this and it’s the root cause of the power-robbing slice. It all starts in the transition from the backswing to the downswing.
What happens is this: a golfer gets to the top of their swing and their very first move is to throw their right shoulder and hands "over the top" of the swing plane and out towards the ball. The club kicks out, away from their body, and travels on a steep path from outside the target line to inside it. This path, commonly called an "out-to-in" swing, forces the clubface to cut across the golf ball at impact, imparting left-to-right sidespin (for a right-handed golfer). The result? A weak slice that peels off into the right-hand trees.
If you're a slicer, there is an overpowering urge to start the downswing with your upper body. It feels powerful, but it's disconnecting your arms from your body's proper sequence and sending all that energy in the wrong direction. Shallowing is the antidote - it forces your lower body to lead the downswing, giving the club time and space to drop onto the correct inside path.
Okay, enough theory. How do we actually do this? It's not about consciously thinking, "I need to shallow the club" during your swing. That will only lead to paralysis. Instead, we ingrain the feeling through drills. When the feeling becomes second nature, the move will happen automatically. Here are three simple drills to get you started.
This is one of the best feeling-based drills for shallowing the club. It gives you an exaggerated sense of what the wrists and hands should be doing in the transition.
Start without a ball, just making slow-motion swings. Feel the sensation of the "rev." Then, try hitting balls at 50% speed. The goal isn’t to hit it perfectly at first, but to connect the feeling of the motorcycle rev with the start of your downswing. This drill trains your wrists to work correctly and passively in the transition, allowing the club to flatten naturally.
This drill helps you sync up the shallowing move with your body turn and train the proper downswing sequence. It teaches you to let the lower body initiate the downswing while the arms and club drop into place.
This drill ingrains the proper sequencing. It stops you from firing the upper body first and instead trains the lower body to lead, creating the space for the club to get on plane.
This drill is a fantastic way to physically prevent yourself from coming over the top. It gives you immediate feedback if you make a steep move. No equipment is needed other than a wall and a club.
If you can successfully get from the top of your swing to your impact position without hitting the wall, you are by definition shallowing the club and keeping it "on plane" - you're getting it onto that inside path. This drill forces the proper sequence and path better than almost any other feeling a coach can describe.
As you work on this move, you might run into a few common roadblocks. Here’s what to look out for:
Learning to shallow the golf club is a game-changer. It is the move that allows you to deliver the club to the ball with power, purpose, and consistency. By focusing on drills that train the feel of the proper sequence, you can replace that destructive over-the-top habit with a beautifully efficient, inside-out swing path.
Trying a new move on your own can be confusing, which is where having a coach in your pocket can make all the difference. As you practice these drills, our app, Caddie AI, can help you lock in the change faster. You can take a video of your swing, ask it to analyze your transition, and get instant feedback on what your real swing path is and what you are feeling. When you get truly curious or confused and need to talk something out, you can get reliable and nonjudgmental feedback 24/7 as you learn the new move so we can build a better swing built for the long term.
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