The "Why" And "How" Of Shallowing Your Golf Swing - The Left Rough

Are you struggling to hit crisp irons and instead, find yourself hitting thin, fat and generally inconsistent shots?

If so, we’re here to help. Of course mishits are a part of golf but you might be suffering from the dreaded over the top move that holds so many golfers back from playing great golf.

Which means you need to learn how to shallow the golf club.

As you probably know, swinging over the top and hitting weak fades is the number one miss for almost every amateur golfer. But if you look at PGA Tour pros, one of the few things they have in common is to come from the inside as they make contact with the ball.

How you start the downswing determines how the ball reacts off the clubface. If you don’t have the right angle of attack with your irons, you will continue to be inconsistent with your approach shots.

Here’s the latest on how to shallow out your golf swing to start being more consistent, learn to hit a draw, and play some of your best golf yet.

Key Takeaways

• A shallow golf swing can help you hit it longer, straighter, and cure a slice too.
• A majority of golfers have a steep golf swing that results in an over the top downswing. This makes it easy to cut across the ball producing in pulled golf shots, not to mention a slice as the face is typically open.
• To develop a shallow golf swing one of the first things to look at is your first move (aka the takeaway) with the golf club.
• A better takeaway with the proper wrist action can help you develop consistent contact and overall much better ball striking.

Keep reading to learn more about swing plane and body movements needed for a more consistent golf swing.

Why Do You Need a Shallow Angle of Attack?

Before I get into specifics of how to shallow your golf swing for more consistent shots, it’s important to understand the why behind it. If you don’t shallow out your golf swing on the way down, it’s nearly impossible to make consistent contact at impact.

Shallowing the golf club means that you get the club to flatten out more horizontally on the downswing.

Most golfers instead, have an over the top, casting motion which leads a steeper plane on the downswing. This can produce fat shots, skinny shots, and big misses to the right. With a driver, this can also produce the dreaded pop-up shottoo.

Ideally, you want to get the golf club to split the right forearm (assuming you are a right-handed player) on the downswing. This will allow you to have a perfect angle to compress the golf shot at impact and make great contact.

A shallow golf swing can also help you:

• Compress your irons and wedges.
• Hit your driver longer and straighter.
• Having less movement in your golf swing which makes it easier to hit it consistently.

Why Most Golfers Are Too Steep

If you don’t have a shallow angle of attack at this time, it probably means that you are coming down too steep on your transition.

Instead of fixing the downswing, fix the root cause in the backswing. As Golf.com noted, “What your club does on the downswing is largely dictated by what you do in the backswing. So if you want to be on the correct plane in your downswing, you first need to assess your backswing.”

The main reasons a steep golf swing happens are:

• Poor alignment.
• A weak left hand grip.
• A takeaway that is too inside and not on plane.
• Not transferring your weight properly and starting the downswing with your upper body.

We’ll address all these issues today so you can fix a steep golf swing once and for all.

First, let’s focus on what should happen to begin the downswing and shallow the club.

At the beginning of the downswing, there should be a slight move down into the ground which helps generate power and use your legs more in the swing. It’s a small squat that almost activates the legs known as ground force.

If you watch a slow-motion swing of Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy, you can see how the first move on the downswing is into the ground. They are using their legs to create tons of power for momentum and torque.

Unfortunately, most amateur golfers do the opposite and begin the downswing with their upper body. Instead of using their legs, they cast their upper half and never transfer their weight to the lead foot.

This makes it nearly impossible to use the lower body to unwind on the way down. This also produces that steep motion that leads to hitting wildly inconsistent golf shots.

How to Shallow the Golf Club – 4 Proven Strategies

Here are four ways to create a shallow golf swing.

1. Shift Your Weight To Get Use Your Lower Body

In the video above, the coaches talk about the importance of starting the downswing with the lower body. If you start the downswing with your upper body, as so many golfers do, you will have a steep swing that isn’t consistent. Not to mention lose out on tons of power from your lower body.

Instead, at the top of your golf swing, you need to immediately shift the majority (roughly 80%) of your weight to your left (or forward) side. This happens before you open your hips!

Once your weight is on the left side, then you can use it to properly start the downswing. This athletic golf move will allow you to use the ground and get the club more behind you.

Remember in golf, power starts from the ground up.

2. Check Your Left Wrist

Another reason that so many golfers come down steep is that they don’t have a flat lead wrist at the top of the backswing. Instead, most everyday golfers have a cupped wrist.

Ultimately, you want to make sure that your left wrist is flat or bowed to begin your downswing.

When you have a slightly bowed wrist, it usually means you’re coming down from the inside with a square clubface. Dustin Johnson does this a ton and is very noticeable, while others like Jordan Speith also do but not quite as easy to spot unless their golf swing is slowed down.

If you’re struggling with consistency, check out your left wrist when your backswing is complete. If it is bowed the club should be laid off slightly, allowing you to drop the club into place on the way down.

3. Fix Your Right Arm

Learning how each arm works is also key to hitting the ball more consistently. The same Golf.com article from above also stressed the importance the trail arm plays in the swing.

“If you feel you’re getting too steep on your downswing, try thinking about softening your right arm and getting it more behind you on the backswing. Chances are, this will get you into a position where you will automatically shallow the shaft on the downswing and hit much more consistent shots.”

Try to “soften” your right arm so it folds more in the backswing. This will help get the right shoulder/arm behind you in the backswing and in a much better spot to attack the ball from the inside and achieve shallowing.

4. Let Gravity Do Its Thing

Hopefully, this is all making sense and you can understand why getting shallow is so important. But one thing I don’t want you to do is to overcorrect the issue.

A lot of golfers who are trying to shallow out the club will try and do too much on the downswing. You don’t want to overcorrect the move and feel like you’re pulling the club down.

Instead, you want to focus on making the proper weight shift and starting the swing with your lower body. If you do this and have the proper wrist position, everything else will fall into place. There is no need to worry about this as gravity will do its job.

3 Drills to Shallow Out Golf Swing

Now that you understand why it’s so important and how to make the shallowing move happen, it’s important to have a few drills to assist. Master this move in practice so you can take it to the golf course with ease.

1. Front Tee Drill

As Chris Ryan – a top YouTube instructor – explains in the video above, in this drill you want to compress the golf ball and not hit directly at the ball. Meaning, you want to feel like you are swinging to create a divot that is ahead of the golf ball vs. behind it.

To get started, put a tee in front of the ball by a few inches. Try to hit the tee to improve your low point and make sure it’s more ahead of the ball.

Do this 5-10x times to get the feeling of hitting down. It’s a simple drill that you can do at the range or at home if you have a golf simulator.

2. Behind the Ball Drill

If the first drill doesn’t work for you, then try and reverse it.

Instead of putting the tee in front of the ball, put something behind the ball like a plate from Fat Plate Golf. This training aid will help you improve your angle of attack and make sure you don’t get too steep.

This drill will make sure that your low point is at or ahead of the ball. If the club hits the device, it provides instant feedback that your attack angle is not correct. This is a great tool to help you practice in the upcoming winter months when hitting off of mats as well.

Head over to our post on the best golf training aids for more devices and gadgets that can help you improve your contact and consistency.

3. The Water Bottle Drill

I really like this drill as it will provide instant feedback if you are starting the downswing with your upper body and casting the club early. The water bottle drill will make sure you aren’t steep and ensure the club is behind the hands on the way down. Not to mention, it’s super easy to do at home to help you ingrain the feeling of swallowing your angle of attack.

To get started, tie a half-full water bottle to the hosel of a pitching wedge or short iron. Make a slow backswing and pause slightly so you can really feel it.

If you make the incorrect shift, the water bottle will hit you in the head so make sure to swing very slow and deliberate. You really want to feel the shallow swing in slow-motion before going to the range.

Try to feel as though the water bottle is going behind you and coming more from the inside to hit the golf shot.

4. Alignment Rod Drill

The final golf drill for shallowing is with the help of three alignment sticks.

By putting one behind the ball, one in front, and one into the ground, you can create a path to help your golf swing get shallow. Watch the full video above to make sure that you are positioning the sticks correctly.

Use this shallow downswing drill with a tee first before hitting a shot. With the alignment stick positioned the way it is, you don’t want to accidentally hit it and injure yourself.

FAQs About A Shallow Golf Swing

Do you have more questions about hand path, transition, and shallowing the golf club? If so, keep reading through the most frequently asked questions and answers now.

Is a flatter golf swing better?

A flatter golf swing isn’t necessarily better as every player has natural tendencies. But in general, a flatter swing is easier to keep on plane and swing from the inside.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, a high, upright swing is a lot harder to keep your arms and hands synced throughout the golf swing. This can lead to a lot of steep swings that will make it much more challenging to get the club square as you bottom out.

If you want to learn more, check out our article on the One Plane Golf Swing theory.

Why should you shallow the golf swing?

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, most amateur golfers start their downswing with their upper body, instead of their lower body. But if you begin the downswing with your upper half you are missing out on your greatest power source – your legs!

When you begin to shallow out your golf swing, you can generate so much more power and hit the ball much more consistently. Shallowing the club will also help with driving distance and most likely accuracy for every golfer as well.

What are the best training aids to shallow the club?

There are no shortage of training aids in the golf world. Here are some of our favorites that can help you shallow the club with ease.

• Pressure Plate: You won’t find this in the pro shop but it’ll help your game a ton by learning how to transfer your weight properly.
• Tour Striker PlaneMate: This device is worn around your waist and attaches to the shaft of the golf club. It forces a better takeaway and makes it easy to feel the club dropping more behind you on the downswing.
• Lag Shot Swing Trainer: This swing trainer works with practice swings or when hitting golf balls. It will improve your takeaway, transition, and lag thanks to the whippy shaft.
• deWiz Golf Watch: This wearable device can help shallow the club, improve tempo, transition, wedge distance control, and more. The video feedback on the app is incredibly useful when learning to shallow the club.

My Experience

Like most of the golf population I struggled with a steep golf swing plane earlier in my career. It made it impossible to hit a draw as I had such a steep move on the downswing.

It wasn’t until I got a lesson with a top coach that I learned my takeaway was the biggest issue. I strengthened my grip slightly but most importantly started taking it more outside on the backswing. This helped me drop the club in the slot and come more from the inside.

My biggest tip is to overcompensate in practice as it takes some getting used too. I used to suck the club inside with my old swing so to create the new feeling it felt like I was pushing the club very far away from my body. But when I saw the video, it was actually a very good golf swing.

Remember, feel isn’t real!

When you get the left arm and right arm working together for a one piece takeaway, it makes it so much easier to stop getting so steep. It’s one of the most important moves in the golf swing and can help you hit it better than ever. Also, I used the Tour Striker PlaneMate and found more consistent contact almost immediately!

Final Thoughts

The best players like Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, DJ, and Tiger Woods don’t have much in common except two things:

• A good pre-shot routine.
• Shallowing the golf club on the downswing.

This is arguably the most important move as it directly correlates to better ball striking. Once you find the slot, you will hit longer and straighter shots with all of your clubs.

Before heading straight to the driving range and making all kinds of adjustments, make sure to film your swing. Understanding where you are right now is crucial in making sure you don’t change things that are actually helping your game. Plus, you’ll have a good before and after to compare your swing.

Lastly, if you continue to struggle with shallowing the club, make sure to check out our post on the Reverse K Setup and the role of the right arm in the golf swing. Paired together, it can help you learn how to flatten a steep golf swing and improve your consistency.