What Is the Reverse Loop Trick in Golf?

Tired of that weak, leaking slice that ruins your scorecard? Or maybe it’s the violent, dead-left pull that shows up without warning? The source of these frustrating shots is almost always the same: an over-the-top swing path. This article will show you one of the most effective and popular swing thoughts for fixing it, known as the Reverse Loop Trick. We'll break down exactly what this means, provide a step-by-step guide to nail the feeling, and give you drills to make it a permanent part of your swing.

What Is the "Over-the-Top" Swing Flaw?

Before we can fix the problem, we need to understand it. Imagine a golfer in their setup. There is an imaginary line running from the ball up through the shaft of the club and through their body. This is the desired swing plane. An "over-the-top" swing is when the club moves above this plane during the downswing, attacking the ball from the outside-in.

Here’s how it usually happens:

• The Takeaway: The golfer pulls the club too far inside and behind them on the backswing. It feels powerful, but it puts the club in a poor position.
• The Transition: From the top, the first move is with the shoulders and arms, "throwing" the clubhead *out and over* the correct plane.
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The club then cuts across the ball from outside to inside, a bit like slicing a piece of fruit.

This steep, out-to-in path is the root cause of the most common misses in amateur golf. If your clubface is open to this path at impact, you get a weak slice. If the clubface is square to the path, you get a dead pull to the left (for a right-handed golfer). If the face is closed to the path, you hit a nasty pull-hook. In every scenario, you’re losing power and consistency because you’re not delivering the club into the back of a ball squarely.

Introducing the Reverse Loop: Your Path to a Powerful Inside Attack

If the over-the-top move is a loop where the club goes *inside* then *over*, the "Reverse Loop" is its exact opposite. The conscious feeling is to take the club back slightly more "outside" or "on-plane" during the takeaway, and then intentionally let it "drop" or "loop" to the *inside* to start the downswing. It's called a "reverse" loop because you are reversing the shape of the typical amateur's flawed swing path.

This does two amazing things:

1. It shallows the club. "Shallowing" is a term you hear a lot, and this is what it means. Instead of the club shaft getting steep (pointing down at the ball) in transition, it lays down (gets more horizontal), preparing for an attack from the inside.
2. It promotes an in-to-out path. By dropping the club "into the slot" on the downswing, you give yourself the room to rotate your body and send the club straight down the target line and traveling from inside that line to outside of it through impact. This is the path needed for a powerful draw or a straight shot.

It’s important to understand this is mainly a feel or an exaggeration drill. For a golfer who is severely over-the-top, feeling this reverse loop might actually just get them perfectly on plane. It's about retraining your muscles and your instincts to stop throwing the club from the top.

Your Step-by-Step Guide to the Reverse Loop Trick

Let's walk through the movement. The best way to learn this is to make slow-motion practice swings at first, without a ball. The goal is to feel the sequence, not to hit a perfect shot right away.

Step 1: The "Wider" or "On-Plane" Takeaway

Many over-the-top moves begin with a flawed takeaway where the hands and arms immediately pull the club inside, behind the body. To counteract this, you need to feel the opposite.

• As you start your backswing, feel like you're keeping the clubhead outside of your hands for the first couple of feet.
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Feel like you are pushing the club straight back away from the ball with the turn of your chest, not with your hands.
• This will feel "wider" and less connected to your body than you might be used to. That's a good thing. It sets up the club on a better path to the top.

Step 2: The Magic Move – The "Drop" at the Top

This is it. This is the heart and soul of the reverse loop trick. Once you get to the top of your backswing, your instinct might be to fire your shoulders and pull the handle down hard. We are going to fight that instinct.

• At the very top, as you start the transition from backswing to downswing, your first thought should be to let your arms and the club feel heavy and simply "fall" or "drop" slightly behind you.
• It’s a passive move, almost like you’re letting gravity take an initial hold. For a split second, there's no pulling or forcing.
- A great swing thought is to feel your right elbow (for a righty) tucking down towards the front of your right hip. This naturally drops the club behind you and onto an inside path. You are not actively trying to pull your elbow a certain path, you are just letting gravity lead your elbow drop to the side of your body.

This "drop" or "shallow" is what gets the club out of the steep, over-the-top position and puts it "in the slot," ready to attack the ball from the inside.

Step 3: Unleashing from the Inside

Once you’ve nailed the "drop," the hard part is over. Your club is now in the perfect position to deliver a powerful blow.

- From this shallowed position, the primary feeling is to

Your hips and chest unwind, and your arms and the club are just along for the ride.
• Because the club is already on an inside path, your body's rotation will naturally whip it through the impact zone from in-to-out. You don't have to steer it or save it with your hands.
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If you completed steps one and two, simply committing to turning your body through the shot will deliver the club to the ball correctly. The feeling is one of being "behind" the ball and striking it with force.

Drills and Feels to Ingrain the Reverse Loop

Understanding the concept is one thing, making it happen on the course is another. These drills are designed to exaggerate the feel so it becomes second nature.

The Headcover Drill

This is a classic for a reason. Place a headcover (or an empty sleeve of balls) on the ground about 6 inches outside and 12 inches behind the golf ball on your target a straight target line. An over-the-top swing, coming from steep and outside, will hit the headcover on the way down. To miss it, you absolutely must drop the club to the inside first. It provides immediate, undeniable feedback.

The Two-Tee Drill

Place your ball on a tee. Then, place a second tee a few inches behind it and a few inches to the inside. Your objective is make a practice swing or hit the shot while feeling like your clubhead swings over the top of the rear tee before contacting the golf ball. It forces your swing path to come from the inside, a direct result of shallowing the club in transition.

Exaggerated Slow-Motion Swings

Without a ball, and swinging at 25% speed, grotesquely exaggerate the reverse loop. Feel the club go back super wide, then at the top, pause and consciously let it fall behind you. Feel that big drop, then slowly rotate your body through to a finish. Repeat this over and over. You’re building a new muscle memory pattern that will feel more normal when you speed it up.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

As you work on this, you might run into a few common issues. Don't worry, they are part of the process.

• Getting "Stuck": Sometimes, golfers drop the club so far behind them and fail to rotate their body that the club gets "stuck." This can lead to big blocks or pushes to the right. The fix is remembering that the body rotation in Step 3 is just as important as the drop in Step 2. Keep turning!
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If you’re used to saving a slice with a last-second roll of the hands, you might find yourself hitting hooks when you first learn this move. The goal is to let the club release naturally through your body rotation, not with an active hand manipulation. Feel your body pulling the club through impact.
• Relying Only on the Arms: The "drop" is a slight, passive move with the arms at the beginning on the transition. The main move through impact is powered by the unwinding of the body. If you try to achieve this by only using yous arms and hands in a looping motion an power from the body, you won’t develop consistency or power. Let your body be the engine.

Final Thoughts

The reverse loop trick is a powerful swing thought that helps to corrects an over-the-top path by feeling a wider takeaway and a "dropping" motion in transition. Mastering this feel can finally get your swing on the proper plane, allowing you to attack the ball from the inside for more power, more consistency, and much better shots.

Perfecting a feel like the reverse loop takes practice and honest feedback. To see if you’re actually shallowing the club or just creating a different fault, sometimes you need another set of eyes. That’s where I can help. With Caddie AI, you can snap a photo of your ball in a tricky lie or simply ask for a specific drill to fix your over-the-top move. I can provide instant, personalized advice that helps you translate these swing thoughts into real, on-course results, guiding you to finally get rid of that slice for good.