In the final installment of his four-part series on ... golf swing terminology, Titleist staff member John Kostis addresses the concept of "Over The Top". As John mentions in the video, this idea of swinging the club steeply on the downswing (above or "over" the ideal downswing plane of the club's path) is often accompanied by the sense of taking the club too far inside on the takeaway.

Golf is often a game of opposites. We hit down on iron shots to make the ball go up. We swing left to make the ball go right, etc. And if the club gets too far under the plane on the way back, it almost always gets thrown over the plane on the way down. It's simply a matter of physics.

To solve for the over-the-top swing fault – which can cause poor contact as well as directional misses – John shares a great drill to ingrain the feeling of keeping the club's center of mass more in front of you. When you can keep the club's balance point under control, the club will naturally swing up on the proper plane. And when it swings up on the correct plane, it comes down on the correct plane – the definition of an efficient swing motion. Give John's tip a try and see how much more consistently your ball striking becomes.