The backswing sets the stage for the downswing.

If you are able to make it through your backswing successfully, you can feel good about your chances to strike a solid shot at impact. Unfortunately, many golfers get into trouble on the way back, and they never manage to recover. Find a way to get the club to the top of the backswing without making any big mistakes and this game will suddenly get a lot easier.

One of the most common issues to come up in the backswing is putting the club in an ‘across the line’ position at the top. Don’t worry if you don’t know what that means just yet – we’ll clarify later in the article. When you do find yourself across the line with the club at the top of the backswing, some kind of correction is going to be necessary in order to hit a good shot. But here’s the problem – you don’t have much time at all available to make that correction. There is only a fraction of a second available between the top of the backswing and the moment of impact, so it’s nearly impossible to get things straightened out. In other words, if your club is in the wrong spot at the top of the swing, it will likely be in the wrong spot at impact, as well.

In this article, we are going to describe what it means to have the club across the line in the backswing, why it is a bad thing, and what you can do to get back on the right track. To be sure, this is not something that you should expect to be a quick or easy fix. It’s going to take some time and effort to improve the positioning of your club during the backswing, so plan on investing plenty of time in this effort. If you are willing to put in the work and stick it out through the struggles on the range, you’ll eventually see improved performance start to appear on the course.

All of the content below is based on a right-handed golfer. If you happen to play left-handed, please take a moment to reverse the directions as necessary.

What Does It Mean to be Across the Line?

You aren’t going to be able to fix this problem until you have a firm understanding of what it is all about. Experienced golfers tend to toss around various terms and expressions without a second thought, forgetting that less experienced players might not know what they mean. If you are somewhat new to the game, it’s important that you are willing to ask questions in order to grow your knowledge. Don’t just nod along and pretend to understand – ask questions and seek out the information you need to make yourself a better golfer.

To help you understand the issue of being across the line in the backswing, we have laid out a few helpful points below.

• We are talking about the top of the backswing. The first thing to know is that we are talking about the position of the club at the top of the backswing. The ‘top of the backswing’ is the point where you change directions from backswing to forward swing. The club will come to a stop – if only for a moment – as it changes directions, and that is the top of your swing. If you are across the line at that point, you’ll be likely to run into trouble later on. Since you can’t really see the position of the club when you are at the top of the swing, you are going to need a little bit of help to evaluate how you are doing. That help can come in the form of another person who will watch your swing and provide feedback, or it can be a video camera which can be used to record your swing, so you can watch it back later. Whatever the case, you need to find a way to learn how your club is positioned at the top, so you can make the necessary changes in order to improve.
• The ‘line’ in question is the target line. For every golf shot, there is a target line. That is the line that runs from your golf ball to the target that you have picked out for that particular shot. Knowing where the target line is, you can compare the position of your club at the top of the swing to see if you are on track. If the position of the club matches up nicely to the target line – that is, if the club is roughly parallel to the target line – you should be in good shape. If, however, the club is pointed to the right of the target (as seen from behind the player), you are in an across the line position. This is an extremely common mistake, and it can lead to a variety of problems. Often, players who swing across the line at the top will wind up using an over the top move to get through the transition, and the end result of the swing will be a slice.
• Confused with a long backswing. Part of the problem with players winding up in an across the line position is the fact that many golfers seem to think it’s a good thing to go back as far as possible. A long backswing tends to be associated with longer drives in the minds of some players, so those players are prone to forcing the club to keep going back long after the backswing should have been finished. There is nothing wrong with making a long backswing, of course, but only if the club stays in a good position throughout the action. If you force yourself to push the club back so far that you wind up across the line, you’ll have done more harm than good. As long as you are making a full shoulder turn as part of your backswing, you don’t need to worry much about how far back you manage to move the club before changing directions and heading into the downswing.

Now that you know what it means to be across the line – your club is pointing to the right of the target at the top – it should be pretty easy to determine whether or not this is a problem that is giving you trouble. Ask a friend to watch your swing or record your swing on video and watch it back for yourself to see if you are across the line. If you are indeed making this mistake, it will be time to get down to work on finding a solution.

Why It’s a Problem

So, we now know what it is to be across the line. But we haven’t yet talked about why this is a problem? Why does it matter if your club shaft matches up with the target line at the top of the golf swing? Isn’t the moment of impact the only point during the swing that’s actually important? Well, while it is true that impact is the ‘moment of truth’ in terms of determining where your ball is going to go, what you do leading up to that point is going to have a lot to say about what happens in the end.

Placing your club in an across the line position at the top of the swing can cause a variety of problems, so let’s take a closer look at why this is a mistake you’d be best to avoid.

• An indirect path. The beauty of keeping the shaft of the club in the right position throughout the golf swing is that you don’t have to redirect your swing on the way down. You can make a simple motion, back and through, without any extra ‘fluff’. If the club ends up across the line at the top, however, something will have to happen between the top and impact to get back into position. By adding an extra move into your swing – even if you are able to pull it off sometimes – you’ll be adding inconsistency. Sometimes you’ll pull off this move and hit a good shot, and sometimes you won’t manage to get back into position before impact arrives. It’s simply not necessary to complicate the swing in this way. Learn how to position the club properly at the top and you can simplify your swing for the better.
• Hard to find the sweet spot. Part of the issue here is that you are going to be making it even harder than it already is to find the sweet spot at impact. As you already know, it’s important to find the center of the face at impact, so you can transfer the power of your swing efficiently into the shot. It’s never easy to hit the sweet spot, even with good fundamentals, so making it harder than necessary is obviously a step in the wrong direction. When you stop your club in a position that is parallel with the target line, it’s likely that will make your backswing a bit shorter, and that is going to help you locate the sweet spot when impact rolls around.
• Get steep. Hitting down through the ball with your irons is a good thing in golf – however, making a swing which is dramatically steep will not typically work out to your advantage. When the golf swing gets too steep, your club digs way down into the turf and you will have a hard time efficiently transferring the energy of your swing into the ball. Also, you’ll likely be left with a high backspin rate, and that is going to cause the ball to balloon up into the air. It’s hard to play quality shots throughout your bag from short clubs to long clubs when you are dealing with a steep swing. While being in an across the line position is not the only potential cause of a steep swing, it is one issue that you can straighten out on your way to a flatter move through impact.

There is a lot that can go wrong when you try to swing down from an across the line position at the top. Is it possible to hit some good shots from time to time while still making this mistake? Of course. But don’t let those occasional good shots distract you from the problem at hand. There is still an issue to be resolved, even if you do get away with a quality shot on occasion. Improving your fundamentals is always a positive thing in golf, as fundamentally sound swings are those which typically work best under pressure.

Some Potential Fixes

Finally, it’s time to get down to the business of figuring out how to correct your errant club positioning in order to get things back under control. While we can’t say exactly how you need to change your swing without actually seeing you swing the club, we can point out the common errors that often lead players to an across the line position. If you can wipe these common errors out of your technique, there is a good chance you’ll find the club settling into a nicely square position at the top of the backswing.

• Reduce hand action at the start of the swing. During the takeaway, you want your hands to remain quiet while your shoulders do the work of moving the club away from the ball. This is a segment of the swing that many players get wrong. Instead of sweeping the club back by using shoulder rotation, many golfers activate their hands and their wrists right from the start of the swing. That is a big mistake. When your hands are responsible for the takeaway, they are almost certainly going to turn the club to the inside of the target line. As that kind of swing continues up to the top, it will very likely wind up in an across the line position. While it might be hard to do at first, work to take the excessive hand action out of the takeaway phase of your swing. Trust that simply turning your shoulders away from the target is going to be enough to get the job done. There will be a time later in the swing for your hands to get involved and set the club – but that time is not during the takeaway. The sooner you can break this habit, the sooner you can make progress with the quality of your swing as a whole.
• Leaning to the left. As your backswing moves along, the goal you should have in mind is to maintain your balance. You don’t want to slide away from the target, and you don’t want to lean back toward the target, either. It is that latter mistake that may lead you to wind up in an across the line position. As you get farther into the backswing, you may find that you are leaning onto your left foot, toward the target – this is known in golf as a ‘reverse pivot’. That move, in addition to robbing you of power and making it hard to achieve solid contact, is going to potentially put the club in an across the line position. For the purpose of getting your club into a better position, and for many other reasons as well, it is a good idea to work on your balance during practice sessions. Find a way to get all the way through your backswing with your weight still in the middle of your stance and things will get much easier from that point forward.
• Leaning down toward the ball. When you settle in to get ready to hit a golf shot, you should be in a good stance with your knees flexed and back straight, and you should be leaning forward from your hips. This is the classic golf position, and it is important that you maintain this position as far into the golf swing as possible. One common mistake that can lead a player into an across the line position is leaning down toward the golf ball as the backswing moves along. Basically, this means you are increasing the amount of tilt from your hips during the swing, causing your head to move down closer to the ball. If you think this is a mistake that is giving you trouble currently, work on feeling like you are keeping your chin up as you swing. This thought alone should help you avoid diving forward, and you should find that your ball striking improves as a result.

It's possible that one of the three errors listed above is at the heart of what is going wrong in your golf swing. Of course, it’s also possible that something else is to blame. You are going to have to invest some practice time in exploring this topic to figure out why your swing is getting across the line. Once you have the underlying cause uncovered, you can get to work straight away on eliminating that technical flaw.

From Range to Course

It’s often said that the longest walk in golf is from the range to the first tee. That is not true in a literal sense, of course, but it is in a metaphorical sense. It’s hard to take your game from the range to the course. How many times have you heard another golfer complain about how poorly he or she is playing on the course, as compared to the quality of their play on the range? It’s a common complaint, and one you have probably made yourself from time to time.

As it relates to fixing your across the line tendency, it’s going to be tough to take your progress from the range out onto the course. That’s because when you get onto the course, you are going to feel like you need to swing harder – and swinging harder is going to put you right back into a troublesome position at the top. It takes a confident player to resist the temptation to make a bigger swing once on the course. So, if it is confidence that you need, the goal of building confidence is something that you should keep in mind as you practice.

How do you build up confidence without stepping foot on the course? It comes down to testing yourself appropriately on the range. Many golfers just pull out one practice ball after the next, swinging away with no particular goal in mind. This type of practice is nearly worthless. Sure, you’ll be rehearsing your swing, but you won’t be doing anything to improve your ability to hit targets – and this is a game that is all about hitting targets. For each shot you hit on the range, you should have a specific target in mind, and you should plan the ball flight you are going to use in order to hit that target.

It is high-quality practice that tends to carry over most successfully onto the course. When you practice with a purpose, you should see your confidence grow in a way that helps you when it is time to play rounds. You will be able to look back on that practice and remember all of the good shots you hit – and those memories are going to give you a needed boost to believe in yourself even when facing some of the toughest shots that your local course has to offer.

You may be able to hit a solid shot on occasion even with your club across the line at the top of the backswing. With that said, this is not the recommended way to swing the club, since some kind of adjustment will be needed in order to get back into a good position by impact. We hope the content in this article has helped you to understand this topic and understand how you may be able to get your game back on track. Good luck!

Taking the golf club what we would call across the line is one of the more technical and one of the more destructive faults that you might have in your backswing. And it’s often a difficult thing for you to spot because across the lines section actually happens way up here over the top of your head and you can’t really see what’s going on. Sometimes even when you have a mirror behind you, let’s say there is a mirror placed where the camera is, it could look really nice in your practice swing and it could be into a good position, yet as soon there is a ball in front of you, you swing it, across the line and you might not even be noticing this.

So the first thing is get a friend, somebody to video yourself or take photos of you, but ideally a video of where that club is going to and check that it’s not pointing across the line. Now where it should be pointing to is exactly down the target line. So this clip here should be pointing at the flag that I am aiming at square and parallel to where my toes are pointing as well. If it’s laid off or of it’s across the line then we need to do something about the positions you have early around in your backswing. So here is a great little tip if you are getting across the line at the top, I have a laid a club on the floor here and this is basically pointing out my target as well. So I would like to be able to swing my club back to hip level I would stop at the hip level and I would check and look at the shaft here needs to be parallel to my target line. Pointing much along the line at my feet and if the club heads pointing up towards the sky or slightly spine angle and that’s even better as well. The big movement with across the line it tends to be the fault is whipping the golf club inside too much, too much risk or too much forearm rotation in the takeaway, points to the club to the right here and that would then go up and over and reverse and points across the line. So it just be really careful, when you take the club back it’s online not inside, online should then lead to online and inside could lead quite drastically to over the top and that’s where you are going to get yourself bit stuck, generally people that swing inside over the top, inside blocks and hooks from that bad habit. So lets try and get yourself videoed from down the target line, make sure that you are not getting the golf club across the line and if you are, double check that your backswing has a little bit more online that hip level.