You can play great golf while swinging over the top. Three keys to make it work

Many golfers have swing tendencies that, no matter how hard they try, they can’t get rid of. In this Golf Digest+ series, Matchmakers, I’m teaching you how to play with what you’ve got. No matter your tendency, you can play well with it as long as you match it up with the right moves. I’ll show you how.

If you’ve been fighting a slice for years, you’re probably sick of hearing about the different tricks that promise to fix your dreaded over-the-top move. Sometimes the easiest solution is to learn to play with that over-the-top transition, where your upper body and arms move over the top of your backswing plane, creating a club path that travels from out to in.

How do you know if you come over the top? You fight a slice with a weak ball flight. Impact feels like a glancing blow. You might occasionally hit a big pull as well. Your swing might feel very effortful, despite producing a lack of distance. With irons, those who come over the top typically have very deep divots that point to the left of the target (for right-handers). Your swing might look something like this (below).

But you can play great golf while coming over the top. You just need to match it up with the right moves to neutralize your swing path and square the clubface.

1. Play the ball up

Often, slicers have the ball too far back in their stance, which causes them to come over the top to try and get the ball started on line. With a driver, the ball might be toward the middle of their stance instead of off the front foot. This is a huge problem because you don’t have time to square the clubface coming down, so you present an open face every time.

Move the ball forward in your stance. Typically, I advise my players to have the ball position with a driver even with their lead heel, but for someone who comes over the top, I want you to move it up ever farther. Play the ball even with the toes of your front foot (above).

This will give you more time to square the clubface coming down, which will minimize the curve of the shot. Now you won’t need to swing from out to in as much to hit a straight shot.

2. Tilt away from the target

Slicers, especially those with the ball too far back, have their spine angle straight up and down when viewed from in front of the chest. This is a no-no with a driver because it exacerbates the out-to-in path. Your spine should be tilted slightly away from the target to promote a club path that travels more from inside the target line, which is key to getting rid of your slice.

When you move the ball position up, your spine should naturally tilt away from the target. Make sure your trail elbow is slightly bent and that your trail shoulder sits below your lead shoulder (above). This helps you swing less across the ball from out to in, and as a result, you’ll be incentivized to start squaring the clubface.

3. Aim right

The worst thing a right-handed slicer can do is aim left. This encourages even more of an outside-in path with an open face, so your slice will get weaker and weaker.

Instead, aim slightly right of the target with your feet, hips and shoulders (above). Then, when you come over the top, you’ll square the face and hit a power fade where the ball starts a little left of your target and slides a touch to the right.

But remember, this will only work if you’ve moved the ball position well forward in your stance. You need that time in the downswing to get a square clubface. If it’s too far back in your stance and you aim right, you’ll hit push-slices all day.

So move the ball up, tilt away from the target and aim right, and you’ll turn your over-the-top move from a slice to a power fade.

Mark Blackburn, voted No. 1 by his peers on Golf Digest’s 50 Best Teachers in America, is based at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala.