Improve Your Swing with the High Low High Drill

The high-low-high drill trains one of the most important skills in ball-striking: creating a longer, more stable flat spot at the bottom of the swing. Instead of the club crashing sharply into the ground like a wrecking ball, you want it to travel low through impact, with the clubhead moving down and out while the handle works up and in. That blend helps you control low point, improve contact, and make your strike less steep and more repeatable. This is an advanced drill, but if you are a better player fighting diggy divots, inconsistent strike, or a two-way miss, it can be extremely valuable.

How the Drill Works

The high-low-high drill builds on the simpler low-to-high release concept. In the basic version, you rehearse the club moving low and outward through impact while your body continues rotating so the grip rises and works inward. That motion creates a shallower, longer strike zone.

The advanced version adds a small amount of motion from above that delivery point. Instead of starting only from the low position, you move from high into low and then back to high again. The key is that this transition should be driven by your pivot and body motion, not by throwing your arms and hands at the ball.

If you use too much arm action, both the club and the handle tend to move downward together into impact. You can still hit the ball solidly that way, but the strike window is smaller. The club reaches the bottom too abruptly, contact gets steeper, and divots often become deep and narrow.

When you do the drill correctly, your body helps send the club down and out while continuing to rotate through the shot. As that happens, the handle can work up and in even though the clubhead is still traveling outward through the strike. That is what gives you the sensation that the club is sliding along the ground rather than stabbing into it.

There is also an important release component here. For the clubhead to keep moving out while the handle moves inward, you need some softness in the wrists and enough ulnar deviation to let the clubhead lag and shallow properly. If you get tense and drag everything left together, you lose the shape of the release and the drill stops doing its job.

Step-by-Step

1. Start with a short setup. Use a short iron and make a narrow, controlled practice motion. This drill is easiest to learn with a smaller swing before you build toward fuller speed.

2. Rehearse the low-to-high portion first. From a delivery position, feel the clubhead moving down and out through the strike area while your body keeps turning so the handle works up and in. You are teaching yourself the flat-bottomed motion before adding more speed.

3. Keep the motion body-driven. Let your chest and pivot move the hand path. Avoid artificially flipping or yanking the arms. Your arms should extend naturally through the strike rather than collapsing or pulling across your body.

4. Hit a few waist-high low-to-high shots. Keep the club below waist height on both sides of the ball. This helps you feel the club travel along the bottom without adding the complexity of a bigger backswing.

5. Add the first “high.” Once the low-to-high release feels solid, begin slightly above that delivery position. This is not a full backswing. You are only moving a little farther back so you can rehearse high to low to high in one blended motion.

6. Feel the transition accelerate through the low point. As you move from the small “high” into the low area, let the motion gather speed smoothly. The sensation should be more like swinging through the ball than hitting at it.

7. Allow the clubhead to shallow as the handle changes direction. Your hand path will begin to work more out-to-in with the body, while the clubhead can still drop and travel outward. That separation is what preserves the flat spot.

8. Blend it into a longer motion. After you can do the mini version, gradually lengthen the swing. As the swing gets longer, the speed must build more gradually. If you rush the release too early from a longer backswing, the handle and club will keep traveling downward too long and you will lose the flat bottom.

9. Use a three-ball progression. A simple practice sequence is:

   • Ball 1: Low to high only, below waist height
   • Ball 2: High-low-high from slightly above the delivery point
   • Ball 3: Full swing with the same blended timing through impact

10. Check your strike and ball flight. Well-executed reps should produce a solid, compressed strike with a relatively straight flight or a controlled draw. The ball should feel as if it comes off the face with speed, not as if you simply hit down on it.

What You Should Feel

This drill is all about changing the shape and timing of your release. Here are the main sensations you want to notice:

The clubhead stays low through the strike

You should feel the clubhead traveling along the ground for longer through impact. That is the hallmark of a better flat spot. The club is not diving sharply into the turf and then bouncing out. It feels more level and more extended through the bottom.

The handle rises while the clubhead moves outward

This is one of the most important checkpoints. Through impact, the grip should be coming up and in while the clubhead continues down and out. Those two movements happen together when the release is sequenced correctly.

Your body keeps moving

You should feel your pivot carrying the motion through the strike. If your chest stalls and your arms take over, you will tend to dump the club downward. A good rep feels as if your body is continuously guiding the release around the corner and into the follow-through.

The speed happens later

Better players often describe this as a later burst of speed through the ball. The motion should not feel like a quick hit from the top or from the transition. It should feel as if the club is gathering speed and then releasing through the strike zone.

The strike feels like a sweep-compression blend

You are still compressing the ball, but the feel is different from a steep hit. The ball seems to jump off the face because the club is moving efficiently through the bottom, not because you are smashing down on it.

Video checkpoints

If you film yourself, the face-on view is especially useful. A rough guide is to watch the height of the hands through impact:

• If the handle continues dropping too much, you are likely too high-to-low and too steep.
• If the handle stays closer to the same height through impact before gradually rising, you are more likely preserving the flat spot.
• On a fuller swing, a good checkpoint is seeing the club around mid-thigh height through the strike area rather than up near hip height too early.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Using your arms to manufacture the motion instead of letting the pivot move the hand path.
• Pulling the handle up and left too soon, which sends both the handle and clubhead inward together.
• Keeping too much tension in the wrists and forearms, which prevents the clubhead from staying out as the handle moves in.
• Releasing like a wrecking ball, with the club and grip both driving sharply downward into the ball.
• Trying to hit at the ball rather than swinging through it with a later, smoother acceleration.
• Making the drill too big too soon. If you start with a full swing before learning the short version, timing usually breaks down.
• Stalling your chest through impact, which forces the hands to take over and shortens the flat spot.
• Ignoring divot pattern. Deep, steep, diggy divots are often a sign that the club is reaching the bottom too abruptly.

How This Fits Your Swing

The high-low-high drill is not just a specialty exercise. It connects directly to how elite ball-strikers control the club through impact.

At a bigger-picture level, this drill improves three critical pieces of your swing:

1. It improves your release pattern

If you tend to throw the club with your arms, this drill teaches you to organize the release around body rotation. That gives you a more reliable relationship between the handle and the clubhead through impact.

2. It helps you control low point

Solid contact depends on where the club bottoms out and how long it stays there. A better flat spot gives you more margin for error. Instead of needing perfect timing on a very narrow strike window, you create a longer, more forgiving one.

3. It changes impact from steep to efficient

Many good players can survive with a steep, handsy strike, but it often shows up under pressure as heavy shots, thin shots, or a two-way miss. This drill helps you shift toward a strike that is shallower, more stable, and easier to repeat.

It is especially useful if you are the type of player who:

• Takes deep divots
• Feels too “hitty” through the ball
• Can hit good shots but lacks consistency
• Misses both right and left depending on timing
• Struggles to blend body rotation with the release

As you work on it, remember that this is a progressive drill. Start small. Learn the low-to-high release first. Then add the slight move from high into low. Only after that should you blend it into a fuller swing. If you do that patiently, you will start to feel the club staying on the bottom longer, the strike becoming more stable, and the ball coming off the face with that powerful, compressed flight every good player is chasing.