Avoid Steep Downswing with the Stir the Pasta Drill

Stir the Pasta is a simple drill that helps you avoid one of the most common impact problems in golf: getting too steep at the bottom of the swing. Many golfers arrive in a decent delivery position, but as the club approaches the ball, the clubhead races out in front, the shoulders disconnect, and the arms work down in a way that leads to pulls, toe strikes, digging contact, and inconsistent low point. This drill gives you a clear feel for a better shoulder-and-arm motion so the club can shallow properly, maintain arc width, and move through impact with more rotation and less “throw.”

How the Drill Works

The name comes from a kitchen motion. If you were stirring a pot the wrong way for golf, you might lift the shoulder, disconnect the upper arm, and twist the forearm in a way that looks strong for cooking but poor for delivery. In the golf swing, that same pattern tends to put the club on top of the plane and send it steeply into the ball.

The better version is to “stir” with your arm in a more golf-friendly position:

• Your shoulder feels more back rather than shrugged up and out.
• Your tricep stays more connected to your side.
• Your arm feels more externally rotated instead of rolled over and disconnected.
• The club or training object works more behind your arm rather than over it or in front of it.

That matters because your body can rotate much more efficiently when the arm and shoulder are organized this way. If the shoulder is elevated and the arm is disconnected, your torso turn does not move the club very well. But when the shoulder is “locked in” and the upper arm is working with your body, your core rotation and pelvis motion can deliver the club without the handle and clubhead getting thrown outward.

In practical terms, the drill teaches you that the club should feel as if it is falling behind you slightly during the release, while your body keeps turning. That is a much different pattern from a steep player, who often feels the clubhead catching up too early and moving out in front of the hands.

This is why the drill is so useful for golfers who struggle with:

• Digging too much into the turf
• Toe contact
• Pulls and left-starting shots
• A club that looks fine halfway down but gets on top near impact

Step-by-Step

1. Start with a household rehearsal. Take a wooden spoon or similar object and hold it out in front of you as if you were stirring a pot. First, notice the “bad” version: shoulder up, arm disconnected, forearm rolled inward, and wrist set in a way that feels narrow and cramped. Then switch to the golf version, where the shoulder feels back, the upper arm stays more connected, and the arm is rotated so the motion feels organized and supported.

2. Feel the shoulder connection. As you make the stirring motion, pay attention to how your shoulder and upper arm behave. You want a sensation that the shoulder is more stable and the upper arm is not floating away from your body. You may also feel some light arm extension. This is often surprisingly tiring at first because you are using a more efficient but less familiar pattern.

3. Add body rotation. Once the arm motion feels comfortable, begin turning your torso and pelvis while keeping that same shoulder-and-arm organization. This is the key transfer to the golf swing. In the correct pattern, the arm follows the body much more naturally. You are not manually throwing the club down; you are letting rotation carry the motion through.

4. Rehearse the delivery position. Take a club and move into a halfway-down delivery position. From there, feel that the clubhead stays behind your hands and arm as you begin to release. This is the “stir the pasta” sensation in swing form. The club should not feel like it is jumping out in front of you.

5. Use an upside-down club into an impact bag. For a stronger training version, hold the club upside down and make slow motions into an impact bag. The goal is to feel the “spoon” or club working in the space behind your trail-side shoulder and arm as your body turns. This exaggerates the proper delivery without the distraction of trying to hit a ball.

6. Turn it into a pump drill. Make a backswing to about lead-arm parallel or slightly higher. Then pump down into delivery and rehearse the release where the club shallows and works behind you while your body rotates. Repeat this several times without hitting a shot. You are teaching the sequence: delivery, then “stir,” then turn through.

7. Add both hands and a normal grip. Once the single-arm feel is clear, place both hands on the club and make the same rehearsal. You should feel that your lead arm stays a bit more up while the clubhead works down and behind. This is often the opposite of what a steep player is used to.

8. Make slow dynamic swings. Hit soft shots where you allow the club to “fall behind” a little later in the downswing while your body keeps rotating. Do not force it from the top. The timing should happen in the release phase, not as an early reroute that stalls your pivot.

9. Progress to fuller swings. As you lengthen the swing, keep the same timing. The sensation may occur a little later simply because the swing is longer, but the pattern remains the same: the club stays behind longer, your body rotates, and the bottom of the swing becomes shallower and more stable.

What You Should Feel

When you do this drill correctly, the sensations are often very different from what a steep player expects.

A more organized shoulder

Your shoulder should feel set back and stable, not lifted or jammed upward. Some players describe this as a “locked in” shoulder or a doorknob-like feeling where the upper arm and shoulder are connected and controlled.

The clubhead staying behind you

You should feel that the clubhead is not catching up too early. Instead of throwing out toward the ball, it lags behind your arm path a bit longer. That creates the shallower bottom you want.

Less hit with the hands, more motion from the body

The drill may initially feel weaker in your arms because you are not using a last-second hand throw. But that is exactly the point. The motion becomes more powerful through rotation, not through a frantic effort to save the strike with your wrists.

Earlier wrist movement, later arm-and-shoulder organization

If you normally retain wrist hinge too long and then dump the club steeply, this drill may feel like the wrist action starts a bit earlier while the arm and shoulder stay better organized later. That combination helps the club shallow instead of tipping over the top at the bottom.

Better arc width through impact

One of the biggest checkpoints is that the swing keeps its width. The club does not collapse inward through the strike. The body keeps turning, the arms stay more extended, and the club exits with more space and structure.

Cleaner turf interaction

On good reps, the club should move through the ground more shallowly. You may take less divot than usual, and the strike often feels more centered and controlled.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Shrugging the shoulder up as you rehearse the motion. That usually recreates the same steep pattern you are trying to fix.
• Letting the upper arm disconnect from your side. The tricep should feel more connected, not flying away from the body.
• Throwing the clubhead outward from delivery. If the club gets on top or in front of your hands too early, you have lost the point of the drill.
• Trying to shallow from the top too aggressively. The feel should happen in the release area, not as a dramatic reroute that disrupts your sequence.
• Stalling your body rotation. This drill is not about dropping the club behind you and stopping your pivot. The club shallows while your torso and pelvis continue to turn.
• Overdoing the hand action. The motion should not become a flip. You are training better arm-and-shoulder delivery, not a scooping release.
• Expecting the real swing to look as exaggerated as the rehearsal. The kitchen spoon and impact bag versions are meant to overstate the feel. In an actual swing, the movement will look much subtler.
• Only practicing with a ball. This drill works best when you rehearse it away from the ball first, then gradually blend it into shots.

How This Fits Your Swing

The bigger purpose of Stir the Pasta is not just to make your downswing look shallower on video. It is to improve the way your body delivers the club so you can control low point, contact, and face-to-path more reliably.

If you tend to get steep near impact, the club often approaches the ball with too much downward and outward motion. That can create a chain reaction:

• The low point gets inconsistent
• The club digs too much
• The strike drifts toward the toe
• The face and path become harder to manage
• The ball starts left more often

By contrast, when the club stays behind the arm longer and your body keeps rotating, you create a much better delivery position into impact. The club can approach on a shallower pitch, the arc stays wider, and the face has more time and space to square up without a last-second rescue.

This drill also helps you understand the difference between hand path and club path. Many steep players move the clubhead too much with their hands, especially near the bottom, and the club overtakes the arm structure too soon. Stir the Pasta teaches you that the hands and arms can keep moving while the clubhead remains more behind them. That relationship is a major piece of a functional release.

It also fits well with golfers who are working on a stronger pivot. If you want your body to move the club more effectively, the arm and shoulder need to be in a position where rotation can actually influence the strike. This drill gives you that bridge. It is not just about where the club is; it is about creating a body-club relationship that holds up under speed.

In the end, this is a feel that can become part of your everyday routine. Rehearse it in the kitchen, then in slow-motion swings, then in pump drills, and finally in full shots. If you tend to get steep at the bottom, this is one of the simplest ways to train a better release: club behind the arm, shoulder organized, body rotating through. That combination is what leads to shallower contact, better width, and more solid golf shots.