Mfed

This is the best lesson I've seen to prevent coming over the top. I have a drill that I give people that is designed to do the same thing... (involves a tree or golf bag just out of reach of the backswing), but this drill is much better. If this is something that Cathy Schmidt came up with...my complements. This is a great drill!! The beauty of this drill and this video, is it not only stops you from coming over the top, but, as the vidoe shows, power is generated when the club works away from your body through the hitting area rather than toward your body.

I was lucky enough to have been the golf buisness. I got to meet a number of famous people. Got to play many rounds with Walt Hriniak (former Red Sox batting coach) and Carl Yastremski. Bacame friends with both. My best story though, was before I got in the golf buisness. Late in the afternoon, I showed up at the course I played regularly as a single. I was told that I could go to the 10th tee and join a threesome making the turn. I met them on the tee and introduced myself. All three were friends and one by one they introduced themselves and we went off and played. In those 9 holes, I never laughed so hard in my life. I had just finished playing 9 holes with Mike Mcarthey, Lenny Clark, and Denis Leary.

If you just stand up straight and let your arms hang naturally, you'll notice your palms either face each other or face slightly inward. If you just bring them together on the grip, that would be considered a "neutral" grip.

I gave this tip to someone on another thread who said helped. You don't even need a ball. If done properly, you'll feel a swing that doesn't come over the top. I think this drill works best with a driver, but will work with any club. Take your setup. Have a tree or a pole lined up behind the ball along what would be your target line (your golf bag would work too). It should be positioned so that when you start your normal back swing, your club head barely gets by the tree (no more than a half inch). Practice swinging. As long as the tree or golf bag is positioned properly, it will force you start your downswing by "dropping" the club first to get it past the tree or bag. It automatically will stop you from coming over the top. If you come over the top, you'll hit whatever's back there. Hope this helps

That's great to hear! Just one word of caution. You say "the feeling is that there is more power in reserve to hit much "harder"". In my opinion, trying to do anything in golf "harder" doesn't work. A better thought would be to do it "quicker". For the longest time, my handicap fluctuated between 2 & 4. My game was fairly consistent. I would throw in an occasional 71-72, or 79-80, but for the most part, I was 74-77. Up until about 1 1/2 years ago, that was my game. About a year and a half ago, I started "taking something off" my swing. I remembered something Curtis Strange said a while ago. Speaking about touring pros, he said that "99% of touring pros swing at 80% of their capabilities 90% of the time" . My swing was sound enough to play at the level I did, which isn't bad, but I figured that was as good as it was going to get. About a year and a half ago, I slowed down a little. Because golf is a game of timing, I found that by slowing everything down, I got the timing right more often. I started hitting more good crisp shots and really didn't lose much distance, and started to become more accurate. What it also did was make me realize that if I was always swinging at 100%, I was really limiting my options. If I was always swinging the club at 100%, and was in between yardages, my only viable option was to take more club and try to swing easy. But not being the sharpest knife in the draw, sometimes I would take less club and try to "jump" on it. More often than not, I wouldnt hit it good. No wonder...if I 'm swinging at 100% of what I can control, then trying get a little "extra" out of a club requires me to swing at a speed I can't control. When I say I slowed down, I slowed everything down. The timing is the same, it's just slower. So now when I need to get a little more out of a club, I'm able turn a little "quicker" and still maintain the timing of the swing. Most high handicappers, swing with their arms, and when I hear "harder", I think of trying to "muscle" it out there. Good players turn their hips and shoulders to swing the club. If you can maintain the timing, you would turn "quicker" not "harder" to geneate club head speed.

MEfree...The reason the other post is not there is because I thought I posted it to the wrong thread so I reported it to get it taken off and when I found I was mistaken, it was too late to cancel my request. I still believe the guy's swing on the top swings more on a plane (in to out) that promotes a draw than the guy on the bottom, but as I said in the post that was deleted, the "best" swing is the one that is the most consistent. The question was "who do you think has a better swing, not who gets the best results (although you'd never know results based on 1 swing). Everybody swings the club a little differently. Based on one swing, I think the guy's swing on top is more like I try to swing the club, therefore to my eye, it looks better. If you put either swing up against Jim Furyk's swing without knowing it was Furyk, most golfers would not pick Furyk's swing, but (knowing the results of each guys swing) if asked which guy gets the best results from their swing, everyone would pick Furyk. That's because even though his swing doesn't look pretty, he does what he does much more consistently and therefore gets better results. Personally, I think I have a better "looking" swing than Furyk, but would kill to be as consistent with mine as he is with his.

If you're interested, on page 48 of the Nov. '12 issue of Golf Digest, there is some information regarding mats and hitting off them.

Also, the guy on the bottom, dips his head on his backswing

Glad to hear that might be helping. Here's another idea for you which will also help you feel that move without hitting balls. This might be hard to explain, so bear with me. First, find a two tiered area. For example, picture raised tee box (a 3 or 4 foot rise). Stand facing the rise (maybe a foot or two away from the bottom of the rise). Take a club, and take your set up (I find I get a better feel for this with my driver). The head of the club should be on the rise in front of you. Practice swinging the club so it swings up the hill and go to a full finish. This will also help you get a feel for that initail move that we talked about earlier. The swing is obviously going to be flatter than a normal swing, but what it will do is force you to get your right elbow to your side without releasing the club too early. It will be the only way you'll be able to swing the club up the hill. Remember to go to a full finish to get the best results. Let me know if there's anything you don't understand or that I didn't explain very well. Hope this also helps.