By Michael Ellis, PGA
Senior Golf Instructor
Marriott Golf Academy

All too often I see golfers excessively spinning or unwinding the hips and shoulders too early in the downswing or forward swing.  This almost always creates poor swing path and results in an over the top motion or an outside to inside swing path.  Slices or pulled shots, or both, are very common with this swing flaw.

Here is a drill that I use in my golf lessons to prevent the dreaded spin-out move in the downswing and to assure a good swing path and solid hit…

	Take a shaft and stick it in the ground so that it is standing straight up and down a couple of inches from your left hip as illustrated here.
	Take your backswing and pivot onto your right side by rotating your hips away from the shaft without swaying.  Notice here that the backswing has a mixture of a little lateral motion combined with rotational motion.
	On your downswing or forward swing, without spinning out, let your left hip move forward and touch the shaft as you approach impact.
	From a down the target line view, bumping the shaft will allow the proper sequence of the unwinding of the body.  This also allows the club to approach impact from the proper shallow angle of attack and from inside the target line.
	When I unwind or turn my hips and shoulders prematurely in the start of the downswing, notice how the club now approaches impact very steeply which will usually produce an outside to inside path causing pulls, slices, miss hits or all of the above.

If you have the dreaded spin-out move or the classic over the top motion, try this drill when you practice.  The sequence of your downswing is bound to get better.