Golf Smart Academy
If you are trying to understand why your ball starts left, starts right, curves too much, or refuses to shape the way you want, one of the fastest clues is your club path. A simple video checkpoint can give you a strong read on whether your swing is traveling too far from the inside, too far from the outside, or relatively neutral. By looking at the club when the shaft is roughly parallel to the ground on the downswing and again on the follow-through, you can diagnose whether your pattern leans toward a hook, block, pull, fade, or slice.
What It Looks Like
The checkpoint is taken from a face-on camera view. You are not trying to analyze every detail of your swing. Instead, you are looking at one simple relationship: where the clubhead is relative to your hands when the shaft is around waist height.
There are two key moments to check:
- Downswing checkpoint: when the shaft is about parallel to the ground before impact
- Follow-through checkpoint: when the shaft is about parallel to the ground after impact
These two positions give you a general picture of your path tendency.
Inside on the Downswing
If the clubhead sits inside your hands at the waist-high downswing checkpoint, your path tends to be moving more to the right of the target for a right-handed golfer. That usually creates a draw or hook bias. If the face does not close enough relative to that path, it can also produce a push or block.
In practical ball-flight terms, this pattern often looks like:
- Shots that start right and draw back
- Shots that start right and stay right
- Hooks that curve too much left after starting near the target
Outside on the Downswing
If the clubhead is outside your hands at that same checkpoint, your path tends to be moving more left. That is the pattern commonly associated with fades, slices, and pulls.
You may see:
- Pulls that start left and stay left
- Fades that start slightly left and curve back
- Slices that start near the target and peel hard right
What the Follow-Through Tells You
The follow-through checkpoint helps confirm what happened through impact.
- If the club is more outside, higher, or to the right side of the hand line after impact, that usually matches a rightward path and an inside-out delivery.
- If the club is more hidden by your body, left of the line, or pulled inward after impact, that usually matches a leftward path and an outside-in delivery.
If both checkpoints look relatively centered, you likely have a more neutral path. That does not guarantee a perfectly straight shot, because face angle and strike still matter, but it usually means the curve should be smaller.
Patterns You May Notice
These are the common combinations:
- Inside on the way down + outside on the way through: strong rightward path, draw/hook/block tendency
- Outside on the way down + inside on the way through: strong leftward path, fade/slice/pull tendency
- Centered on both sides: neutral path, smaller curve tendency
There is also a pattern seen in many good players where the club may look slightly inside on the downswing and still finish slightly inside on the follow-through because of how the body rotates through the shot. So this checkpoint is very useful, but it is still a general tendency tool, not an absolute law.
Why It Happens
Your club path is the result of how the club approaches and exits the ball, and those checkpoints reflect the bigger motion of your swing. If the club is too far inside or outside at waist height, it usually means your overall delivery is biased in that direction.
Why You Get Too Far Inside
When the clubhead gets too far inside your hands on the downswing, you are typically delivering the club more from the inside. That can happen for several reasons:
- Excessive shallowing without enough body rotation
- Arms dropping behind you in transition
- Trail shoulder working too far under instead of around
- Stalled pivot through impact, forcing the club to sling out late
This is the pattern that often shows up in players who fight hooks and blocks. The path is too far right, and then the face either closes too much or stays too open relative to that path.
Why You Get Too Far Outside
When the clubhead gets too far outside your hands on the downswing, the club is typically steepening and moving left through impact. Common causes include:
- Over-the-top transition
- Arms and shoulders firing first from the top
- Too much steepness coming down
- Handle pulling left too early
This is the classic slice pattern. The path cuts across the ball, and unless the face is significantly closed to that path, the shot curves right. If the face is square to the target but the path is still left, you often get a pull.
How Steep and Shallow Show Up
This checkpoint is especially helpful for understanding whether the club is acting too steep or too shallow in a way that affects direction.
- A club that is too steep often appears more outside on the downswing and more left/inward on the follow-through.
- A club that is too shallow often appears more inside on the downswing and more outward/right on the follow-through.
Neither steep nor shallow is automatically bad. The issue is whether it pushes your path so far in one direction that your ball flight becomes hard to control.
How to Check
You can build this checkpoint with a phone camera and a couple of alignment sticks. The goal is to create a visual reference for where your hands and club should appear from a face-on view.
Set Up the Camera Correctly
Place your camera in a face-on position and aim it roughly through your hand line at address. If the camera is badly misaligned, the checkpoint becomes less reliable.
You do not need perfect tour-level filming. You just need a clear, repeatable setup.
Create a Hand Line Reference
Put an alignment rod on the ground and set up so your hands are roughly above it at address. Then place another stick upright several feet away so you can see that same line in the video. If you are indoors or on a hard surface, a basket or stand can hold the stick. On the range, you can simply stick it into the ground.
This gives you a visible plane to compare the club against when the shaft gets to waist height.
Use These Self-Diagnosis Steps
- Film your swing from face-on.
- Pause the video when the shaft is about parallel to the ground on the downswing.
- Check whether the clubhead is inside, on, or outside the hand reference line.
- Pause again when the shaft is about parallel to the ground on the follow-through.
- Check whether the club exits outside/right, centered, or left/inward relative to that same reference.
- Match that pattern to your ball flight.
How to Read the Results
- Inside early and outside late: path is likely too far right
- Outside early and inside late: path is likely too far left
- Centered both ways: path is likely fairly neutral
If you hook the ball and your club is clearly inside on the downswing, that supports the diagnosis. If you slice and the club is clearly outside on the downswing, that fits too.
Important Exceptions
This checkpoint is very useful, but do not treat it as absolute. Better players can have subtle variations because of how their body rotates and how the club exits. Also, face angle still controls a large part of the starting direction and curve.
So think of this as a path tendency check, not a complete swing analysis.
What to Work On
Once you identify the pattern, you can use these checkpoints to guide your practice. The goal is not to chase positions for their own sake. The goal is to move the club into a delivery that produces your desired stock shot.
If You Hook or Block the Ball
If your club is too far inside on the downswing and too far out/right on the follow-through, your path is likely too far right. You need to feel the club working less from underneath and more in front of you.
Useful priorities include:
- Reduce excessive shallowing
- Keep the arms more in front of the torso
- Rotate through the shot instead of stalling
- Feel the club approach less from the inside
If you are trying to turn a hook into a controlled fade, this checkpoint can be very helpful. You do not need the club dramatically outside. You simply need it less trapped behind you.
If You Slice or Pull the Ball
If your club is too far outside on the downswing and too far left/inward on the follow-through, your path is likely too far left. You need to feel the club shallow and approach more from the inside.
Useful priorities include:
- Soften the over-the-top move
- Let the club shallow in transition
- Avoid pulling the handle left too early
- Feel the clubhead work more behind you on the way down
If your stock shot is a slice and you are trying to build a draw, these checkpoints give you immediate feedback that your path is actually changing, not just your feel.
If You Want a Neutral Stock Shot
If your goal is a straight ball with only a small amount of curve, aim for a club that looks relatively centered at both checkpoints. That usually means your path is not heavily biased in either direction.
From there, small face-to-path differences will determine whether the ball falls a touch left or right.
If You Are Working on Shot Shaping
This is one of the best uses of the drill. You can intentionally move the checkpoints to match the shape you want.
- For a bigger draw, the club will usually look more inside on the downswing and more out/right on the follow-through.
- For a bigger fade, the club will usually look more outside on the downswing and more left/inward on the follow-through.
This gives you a concrete visual instead of relying only on feel. You may think you are swinging more from the inside or more across it, but video will tell you whether that change is actually happening.
Use the Checkpoint as Feedback, Not a Swing Thought
The real value of this drill is that it improves your self-diagnosis. You can hit shots, film a few swings, and quickly see whether your path pattern matches the ball flight you are getting. That makes practice much more efficient.
If your shots curve too much right or left, do not guess. Check where the club is when the shaft is parallel to the ground before and after impact. Those two snapshots can tell you a lot about whether the club is too steep, too shallow, too far inside, too far outside, or right where it needs to be.
