Shallowing the club is a buzz phrase often seen on Instagram and Youtube Shorts. First of all what does it even mean? Shallowing the club simply means starting the arms more behind the body on the downswing along with making the angle of the shaft less steep. All elite players have a common position on the downswing when the club is around the centre of their chest. This being where the shaft is set on an angle which is just above the right elbow. In a nutshell the shaft should be pointed at the ball.
Now the question is should we actively flatten the path? This really depends on what the state is of your current swing. But in general if you work through the steps starting with your set-up, most of the time there isn't a need to flatten your downswing. The most important elements to get right before you look at the downswing are your set-up, first position of the golf swing and how you transition with your legs on the downswing.
Just ensure you have a neutral set-up with great alignment, grip and ball position. Next ensure your first position is as correct as possible. This means when the club reaches parallel to the ground that the clubface and the hands form a straight line. The clubface can be a little closed at this point. The last element is the transition. Ensure you start the downswing with the bumping of the left hip. This hip will bump laterally to around 2 inches followed by the remainder of the body transferring onto the front foot whilst turning.
Most of the time when we don't flatten the path automatically is when the path moves too far behind the body on the backswing causing the path to 'come over the top' on the downswing. The other is when during transition, the body tends to turn straight away causing again an 'over the top' move. When the path is neutral at the first position followed by starting with the left hip bump on the downswing, the arms tend to naturally trail behind the body causing the path to flatten. However after doing all these steps correctly and you're still 'coming over the top', we would then work on a feeling of flattening the path on the downswing. These are usually from players who may have 'come over the top' previously for some time.
If you'd like any further help in working on your downswing, just book in with myself at David Waters Golf.
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