What Is the Correct Swing Path in Golf?

The correct swing path in golf isn't about moving the club straight back and straight through - it’s about swinging the club on a gentle arc around your body. This guide breaks down exactly what that means, how to groove the right path in your backswing and downswing, and provides simple drills to make it happen. You'll learn how to create a more consistent, powerful, and accurate golf swing.

What is a Swing Path, Exactly?

In simple terms, your swing path is the direction the club head travels during your swing - specifically in the moments just before, during, and just after impact. While you swing in a large circle, it's that little segment at the bottom of the arc that we call the "path." It's the blueprint that determines where your ball starts and how much it curves.

Think of it like tracing a line on the ground. There are three primary directions your path can take relative to the target line:

• In-to-Out Path: The club head travels from inside the target line, strikes the ball, and continues to the outside of the target line. This path encourages a draw or, if the clubface is too open, a push-slice.
• Out-to-In Path: This is the classic slicer's move. The club head approaches the ball from outside the target line and cuts across it, moving back to the inside after impact. This path creates a slice or a pull.
• In-to-Square-to-In Path: This is the ideal. The club approaches from slightly inside the target line, becomes perfectly square at the moment of impact right on the line, and then moves back to the inside. It’s what most pros and skilled players strive for, as it delivers the most neutral and powerful strike.

Many amateurs fight an out-to-in path, which is why the slice is so common. Understanding that the goal is a gentle "in-to-in" loop is the first step toward fixing it.

The Ideal Path: A Circle Around Your Body

Forget the idea of a complicated technical movement. At its core, the golf swing is a rotational action. You aren't "lifting" the club up and "chopping" down on the ball. You are turning your body away from the target, and then unwinding your body through the ball.

The correct swing path is a natural result of this rotation. Imagine a large, tilted hula hoop standing up around you. Your club wants to trace the line of that hoop. It moves back inward and upward during the backswing, and then comes back down inward and slightly from the inside on the downswing.

Where most golfers go wrong is by trying to control the club with their arms and hands. They lift the club straight up or pull it outside the line on the takeaway. This forces them to reroute the club and come "over the top" with an out-to-in swing path to get back to the ball. The key is to trust your body’s rotation to guide the club. The power doesn’t come from your arms, it comes from your torso turning and unwinding.

The Backswing: Setting the Ideal Path

A good downswing path starts with a good backswing path. If you get the club in the right position at the top, bringing it down correctly becomes much easier. The goal of the backswing isn't just to "get the club back," it's to create width and put the club on the right plane.

Step 1: The Takeaway

The first few feet of the backswing set the tone for everything else. As you begin, focus on turning your chest, shoulders, and hips together as a single unit. Your arms and the club should just be going along for the ride. Avoid the temptation to pick the club up with just your hands. For the first two to three feet, the club head should feel like it's staying low to the ground and moving straight back from the ball or slightly inside the target line. This feeling of a one-piece takeaway keeps the club in front of your body and prevents it from getting stuck behind you too early.

Step 2: Getting to the Top

As your body continues to rotate, your wrists will naturally start to hinge. Think of it less as a conscious "hinge" and more as something that happens in response to the momentum of the clubhead. As you turn, you want to feel your weight shifting onto your back foot, but it's important to do this while staying "centered."

A great way to imagine this is to think of yourself standing inside a barrel or a cylinder. As you make your backswing, you want to rotate your shoulders and hips, but without swaying and bumping into the sides of the barrel. Your right hip (for a righty) should feel like it's turning behind you, not just sliding sideways. Staying centered prevents you from having to make big, inconsistent compensations on the way down.

When you reach the top of your swing, you shouldn’t feel like you’ve reached your absolute physical limit. You should be in a balanced, powerful position, ready to unwind.

The Downswing: Tracing the Path Home

This is where everything comes together. If your backswing set the path correctly, the downswing becomes a simple sequence of movements that allows the club to drop back onto that same path from the inside.

This is probably the most important part of the entire swing for generating a good path.

Step 1: The Transition

The very first move from the top of the swing is not with your hands or arms. It begins with your lower body. Before you even consciously think about swinging down, allow your weight to shift slightly forward onto your lead foot. This is a small, subtle move - your lead hip begins to open as your weight transfers. This one move does two amazing things:

1. It "drops" the club into the "slot," meaning it automatically starts the club on an inside path instead of casting it "over the top."
2. It sequences your swing properly, using the ground for power and letting the body lead the arms.

Most slicers do the opposite: their first move is with the shoulders and arms, throwing the club out and away from their body, creating that out-to-in path.

Step 2: Unwind and Release

Once that slight weight shift has happened, the rest of the downswing is all about unwinding. All the power you stored up in your backswing gets released as your hips and torso rotate open toward the target. Your arms and the club should feel like they are "along for the ride," accelerating naturally through the impact zone.

You shouldn’t feel like you are trying to "steer" the club to the ball. Trust that by unwinding your body, the club will return to the ball on the correct path. As you follow through, keep rotating. Your chest and belt buckle should finish pointing at your target (or even slightly left of it), with nearly all your weight on your front foot. This strong, balanced finish is a tell-tale sign of a good swing path and proper sequence.

Simple Drills to Groove Your Swing Path

Understanding the concept is one thing, but feeling it is another. Here are a few drills to help you train the correct in-to-in swing path.

• The Two-Ball Gate Drill: Place a ball in your normal address position. Then, place a second ball about four-to-six inches outside and in front of your primary ball, and a third ball four-to-six inches inside and behind your ball. These form a "gate." To hit your primary ball cleanly without disturbing the others, you are forced to swing from the inside and approach the ball on the correct path. It's instant feedback if you come over the top.
• The Headcover Drill: This is a classic for a reason. Place an empty headcover (or a small towel) on the ground about a clubhead's width outside your golf ball. If you have an over-the-top, out-to-in swing path, you will hit the headcover on your downswing. The goal is to train your body to start the downswing from the inside, missing the headcover completely.
• The Feet-Together Drill: Hit short iron shots with your feet touching. This will feel very unstable at first! Because you have no wide base to "sway" with, this drill forces you to rotate around your spine. It gets rid of any wild body movements and trains you to use your core rotation to power the swing, which naturally syncs up your arms and body to create a better path. Start with small, half-swings and build up from there.

Final Thoughts

Mastering a consistent in-to-in swing path is about shifting your focus from hitting the ball with your arms to swinging the club by rotating your body. By setting the path correctly in the backswing and unwinding properly from the ground up, you can make an over-the-top slice a thing of your past.

With practice, these movements become second nature, but getting the right kind of analysis can accelerate your progress. Using an app like Caddie AI, you can get the kind of quick feedback that helps you understand your patterns. While a coach can watchyour path, Caddie AI can show you the results - like a satellite view of all your shots that might reveal the classic curving pattern of a slice - and give you strategic advice for how to play when you end up in a tricky spot as a result.