Over-The-Top And Casting

As previously mentioned, "over-the-top" and casting, they go hand in hand, are the most common manipulations amateurs use to counteract a block and are by far the worst of the manipulations available to a golfer. In the first picture, I have already moved the club out significantly so that I can get my arms around my body when I get into the impact area and also so that I will swing to the left of my target to counteract the open clubface that the upright swing promotes (I don't want to hit the ball 30 degrees to the right of my target!). Over-the-top and casting begin to close the clubface, but the golfer usually doesn't close enough because if they overdo it, the ball is going dead left because of the leftward swing path.

Notice the two arcs I have drawn in the first picture. The vertical arc to the left (marked with the "x") is the path the club would have taken if it had been able to follow the direction of the shaft. Obviously this isn't a possibility because I would never get out to the ball. The other arc is showing the path that I have already started to take and is the most common path an amateur takes when the club gets too steep during the initial stage of the forward swing.

The second picture is showing what is commonly referred to as "casting", which is the early uncocking of the wrists during the forward swing. Had I started forward with a correct swing plane, and thus correct swing path, my wrists would have remained cocked and the clubhead would be back somewhere above my right shoulder. Rather than go into details, suffice it to say that casting happens in conjunction with coming "over-the-top" and there is little you can do about it until you fix your swing plane and swing path.

One last item. Do you see how my right arm is higher than my left in both of these pictures? If you look at pictures of good players at this point, you'll see that the right arm even with, or lower, than the left. This is a result of swinging forward on a much flatter swing path than what I'm doing here. If you see pictures of your own swing and notice that the right arm is higher, as it is here, you're in trouble!

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