Down-the-line
Over the top.
The club comes outside and steep from the top. Film down-the-line with the club in the frame.
Down-the-line · Club in frame · Top, Transition, Downswing
What's going on.
From the top the club is thrown outside the backswing line. Down-the-line, the shaft tips over the shoulder and the club arrives from outside the ball. Pulls, pull-slices, and a wipe that gets worse with longer clubs.
What's already OK.
A committed full mid-iron is already a swing. The club is just arriving from outside the line instead of dropping into it.
The one thing.
Let the club drop into the slot before anything unwinds toward the ball. A headcover outside the line is only there so the club has to come from inside it.
The drill.
Drop inside the headcover
A mid-iron. A headcover just outside the ball on the target line. Camera down-the-line. Stock full swing.
10 rehearsals, then 10 balls.
Let the club fall inside the headcover, then send it through the ball.
Film again.
5 full mid-irons, down-the-line, club in the frame. Share the best. The next look is only this idea.
Down-the-line at Transition the club is under the backswing line, not over it. Downswing still shows the shaft inside the shoulder, not tipped out over it.
- Watch Titleist TPI (Dave Phillips) 0:00–2:17
- Watch Athletic Motion Golf 1:18–2:34
- Watch Titleist TPI 1:56–3:14
- Headcover drill: 10 rehearsals, then 10 balls
- Film 5 down-the-line mid-irons with the club visible and share the best
Watch these clips.
Official YouTube. Start times are the bit that teaches this idea, not the whole channel.
This is the down-the-line check. The shaft line through the body is the plane. When the body turns together from the top, that shaft moves out over it. Watch that picture, then the headcover so the club has to come from inside.
They name the down-the-line picture we will check: club out over the target line, or the shaft tipping over the shoulder. Hands out on a steeper line is the same idea.
Down-the-line, rotation on a tilt keeps the club from getting steep. When everything turns together, the club comes out over the top. Watch that shaft, not the hula hoop talk.