Backswing - Training Yourself To Come From The Inside On Your Backswing

Every aspiring golf player should take the time to put serious effort into fine-tuning his or her backswing. There is a boatload of tips and tricks to help you improve both your aim and your form. But sticking to the basics is probably the best advice you can follow, especially if you are a beginner or amateur golfer.

Everyone who plays the game wants to hit the ball with both maximum power and accuracy, but not at the cost of their form and balance. To accomplish these two, often conflicting goals you must give the ball you very best shot, but without "coming over the top", as it is commonly referred to.

The phrase, "coming over the top", describes a problem with your swing that causes the head of the club to veer to the outside of the target line during the downswing. Most often the result of this flaw is a horrible slice.

Coming From The Inside

To avoid this type of terminal shot, you have to learn to avoid coming over the top and keep your clubhead from going outside of the target line. You can accomplish this by using a technique that is just the opposite of coming over the top: come at the ball from the inside.

The most accurate and powerful of golfers can accomplish this each and every time they try, but coming at the ball from the inside is much easier said than done for the beginner golf player. Practice is key and once you get the hang of it, you can rid yourself of that terrible slice shot by making impact with the ball from a downswing which comes from the inside of the target line ever so slightly.

How to Train Yourself

There are drills that you can practice which will help you train yourself so that you can come from the inside on your swing whenever needed. Below is a simple training procedure known as a swing path drill:

1. Take 3 tees and placed them into the turf approximately 3 to 4 inches apart from one another, and in a perfect line at a 45 angle with your target line. If you are a right-handed golfer then the line should be pointing to your left foot. Make sure that you have enough room in between each tee so that you can swing the club through.

2. Now it is time to find your swing path. Take out your 5-iron and initiate a few swings by attempting to hit the top portion of the middle tee. In order to do so, your clubhead must pass between the outside tees in a pathway best described as "in-to-out" in order to avoid contact with them.

You will know you are making contact correctly from the inside when you are hitting the middle tee consistently. Hitting either of the outside tees will tell you that you are still coming over the top and need to continue working on your swing until you hit only the center tee on a consistent basis.