An “over the top” refers to when a golfer moves their arms out significantly so that they can get them around the body and into the impact area. Rather than a straight line down from the shaft at the start of the forward swing, the club comes out in a more rounded arc.
Usually an over the top motion is made to overcorrect a swing that is too steep. The arms swing wide out when a golfer feels himself swinging too far inside. Too often a golfer swings a club like a baseball player swings a bat. In baseball, a wide outside swing will help with momentum in order to hit the ball as far as possible. However golf is not played the same way that baseball is played. There should be no need to “reach” for the ball or to build up that momentum with an overly wide swing.
Casting
A part of the over the top motion is casting, when the wrists come un-cocked too early. This happens when the forward motion is not done correctly; when the forward swing is done correctly there is no motion made with the wrists this way. The club head is back above the right shoulder. Typically there’s not much you can do to fix casting except to fix your entire swing.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=17e2c5df-e027-4a4d-8097-9fef6630e05e)