By now, everyone at one time or another has gotten into the habit of taking the club back too inside; thus, allowing the club to get “behind” your hands and body at the 9:00 position. This is usually a result from thinking that to draw the ball from the right to the left you must work the club inside your target line on the takeaway- this is correct advice, but a little goes a LONG way here! I bet the majority of slicers in the world who have tried to take the club inside slightly off the start have “overcooked” this movement and allowed the club to get even farther behind their bodies at 9:00. When this occurs the result is a more dramatic “pick-up” of the club from 9:00 (in efforts to get the club back on plane, and the physiology of human flexibility); thus, you will come over the top even more and hit even bigger slices or pulls. YUCK! This dreaded “in-up-and over” motion of the club in the backswing affects professionals and amateurs constantly, because it is quite easy to get the club going back too much to the inside. But, did you know that this overly inside takeaway can be deriven from two different sources? Most people only look at their hand action and forearm rotation if they are too inside, but it can be the hands and/or the shoulders! If you can watch for these tell-tail signs listed below then you can immideatly identify where your path problem originates, and finially correct it so you can always take the club back on plane!

When you over-turn the shoulders off the start then your hands, clubshaft, and clubhead all get too far behind your torso; thus, you have placed yourself in an awkward position in order to reach the top without several compensations in your backswing plane. This action can be linked to the over compensating of ideas like trying to keep the left shoulder working across your body in efforts to stop “dipping,” wanting to gain more power by overturning the whole torso (which we have proven is incorrect through the “X-Factor” research and data,) or by trying to take the club back excessively inside in order to try to hit the ball from right to left. Any of these moves, in excess, will allow the shoulders to over–turn off the start of the backswing- allowing the club, hands, and your clubhead to get too far behind your body at the 9:00 position. The Tour Average for correct shoulder rotation to the 9:00 position is around 20 to 25 degrees while the average (overly inside!) amateurs rotational numbers for the same 9:00 position are in the 40+ degree range!!! Don’t get caught up in the numbers, but understand that the professionals do not let their shoulders become too overactive too early, and the numbers prove that. If this sounds like a problem of yours then my favorite fix is to concentrate on the idea of not allowing the right shoulder to get “behind” your torso until the last instant off the takeaway. What this will do is keep the shoulders square to your target line for a fraction of a second longer; and this will not allow your shoulders to over-rotate into the 9:00 position! Please, be CAREFUL in doing this, because it will be easy to “dip” the left shoulder if you exaggerate this takeaway position! Use your mirror to help guide you on your way, it never lies!

When your clubhead is the only thing behind your body at 9:00, then it is usually safe to assume that your left forearm roation is the root of your overly inside takeaway position. When your left forearm turns too much clockwise during the takeaway then it causes your wrists to turn inward and your right wrist to also break to the inside as well- what does this all mean? Your clubhead will move too inside and behind your body at 9:00; and your hands usually will be somewhere between your legs and your buttocks. If you allow this to happen you are doomed into lifting the club from 9:00 to the top; and thus, you will fight the tendency to come over the top during your downswing!

To fix this overactive left forearm use a broom. . .If you choke up on a broom handle leaving about 7-12 inches exposed then it will tell you at 9:00 how well your club is in positon! The correct positon (using any method) for the club at 9:00 is for the clubshaft to be parallel too and on top of the line drawn across the tip of your toes. This stance line will always be the position of choice for the 9:00 postiton- it does not have to be exact, but the closer the better. So, by taking your broom to 9:00 the exposed handle (as you look down) should be right on top of the tip of your stance line. If it is pointing into right field somewhere then the broom head is too far behind you and your body or overly inside! The broom and the mirror will not lie- use them both to gain the correct feeling of a sound takeaway. It will feel like your hands are “dead” in the actions to get the club back to 9:00- don’t worry just look where the broom handle points!

I know there is more to the 9:00 position than just your club’s plane, but the overly inside takeaway just raptures golf swings of ALL levels. The first step in curing your takeaway is to identify WHERE the problem lies- your shoulder rotation and/or an over-active left forearm. Next, you should use a broom or a chair set 1 inch behind your stance line to audit your 9:00 position- use any physical swing key that will give you instant feedback when you take the club back too inside. Finally, you need to spend some time with a qualified teacher, one who can show you the cause and effects about how this incorrect 9:00 postions will eat at your swing, so you can understand and fix it forever. “In-up-and over” will kill your game and scores, but understanding where it comes from is the catalyist in improving for good!