Mike Southern Gets Ruthless With My Golf Swing Part 4 - Coming Over The Top

I am feeling so much better about my swing. It is like night and day. The loop is gone and I am swinging the club much more consistently. In part 4 of Mike Southern's "Dexter's coming Over The Top" series, Mike shows us how to get from waist high to the top of the swing. He explains that there are two positions at the top of the swing that we need to fall within. They are upright and neutral.

Mike explains "upright" and "neutral" as such:

In the "upright" swing your elbow bends less,so your hands go more up than back; and in the "neutral" swing it bends quite a bit, so your hands go more back than up.

Like I said we want to fall somewhere within these two. Whatever is the most comfortable for you, then you should stick with that. Mike used these pictures of Ai Miyazato and Justin Leonard to demonstrate to the two positions. Ai is much more upright which means her elbow comes up higher. Justin is in the neutral position. His elbow is closer to his body but still not touching his side.

In my former swing, I would start the takeaway by tucking my right elbow into my ribcage. It stayed tucked until I got to the top of my swing. From there I had no choice but to throw the club out and over in attempt to get back on the proper swing plane. I was the extreme opposite of Miyazato. The result was me hitting across the ball instead of down the line.

Now I am closer to Justin Leonard at the top of my swing. After practicing the drills that Mike gave me for getting to the top of the backswing, the neutral position just felt more natural. When I tried to get upright like Miyazato, it felt like I was picking my head up, thus losing my posture.

The drills for getting to the top are very easy. Mike explains what it is supposed to feel like and what we are looking to accomplish by practicing these drills. When you read his post, you will find that it easy to understand and with practice the results follow.

Mike posted a bonus article today as closure to this series. It deals with the downswing. Throughout this process I have only been taking half swings during my practice sessions. I just wanted to take it step by step. Now that we have the takeaway, it is time to let the ball fly.

But like I said do not get ahead of yourself. Practice the drills in part 4 and then move onto the downswing. It is all about baby steps. But soon we will be making giant leaps and bounds. Have a good round and always hit your target.





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