It's one of the most common stories in golf instruction: a golfer works hard to shallow the club, fixes their slice, and then starts hitting blocks and snap hooks instead. They traded one two-way miss for another. The problem isn't that they shallowed — it's that they shallowed too much.
Eric Barlow has a drill that defines exactly where "enough" ends and "too much" begins.
The drill
Eric Barlow — PGA Master Professional, Golf Digest Best Teacher in Every State (2022–2027), NEPGA Section Teacher of the Year (2018), Mass Chapter Teacher of the Year (2016), and Director of Instruction at Winchester Country Club — uses the pathpal to create an upper boundary for the hand path through impact.
See the full drill at pathpalgolf.com/pages/pathpal-golf-inside-path-corrector-drill.
The setup:
- Set the pathpal at an angle just slightly above your shaft angle at address
- The rod sits just above your natural hand path as a ceiling
- Make swings focused on staying underneath the rod through the hitting zone
- If your hands rise through impact, you catch the stick — instant feedback
The ceiling the rod creates is the key. A too-inside path forces the hands upward through impact to find the ball — and the pathpal catches that rising move immediately. To clear the rod, the hands have to stay low and connected, which naturally brings the path back to a neutral, on-plane delivery.
Watch the drill
Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=qA067_6zO5c
Why it works
The raised-hands move through impact is a compensation, not a technique choice: the body is solving a low point problem created by an excessively flat swing plane.
What makes this drill particularly valuable is that it addresses a fault most golfers don't know they have — or don't believe they have, because they've been told to shallow for years. The pathpal rod above the shaft angle catches the compensation and forces the swing to solve the actual problem instead.
It's also worth noting how this drill pairs with Eric's Over-the-Top Elimination drill. That one places the pathpal outside the lead leg to catch too-left exits. This one places it above the shaft angle to catch rising hands. Together, they define the full corridor of a correct swing path — not too steep, not too shallow, not too left, not too inside.
Over-the-Top Elimination drill: pathpal outside the lead leg — catches too-left exits, fixes an out-to-in path.
Inside Path Corrector drill: pathpal just above the shaft angle — catches rising hands, fixes an excessively in-to-out, too-shallow path.
Who this is for
- ✓ Golfers who block shots to the right or snap-hook the ball
- ✓ Players who've overcorrected a slice and now have the opposite problem
- ✓ Anyone who's been told their swing is "too flat" or "too far from the inside"
- ✓ Golfers experiencing a two-way miss who can't identify which fault is causing which shot
Try it
Set the pathpal just above your address shaft angle and make 10 slow-motion swings focused on staying underneath the rod. Then hit 15 shots at 75% effort. You'll likely feel the hand path staying lower and more connected almost immediately — and your contact will reflect it.
Full drill breakdown: pathpalgolf.com/pages/pathpal-golf-inside-path-corrector-drill
- Set the pathpal at an angle just slightly above your shaft angle at address
- Make 10 slow-motion swings — staying under the rod through the hitting zone
- Notice where the rod makes contact if you catch it — that's your hand path fault
- Add the ball and hit 15 shots at 75% effort focused on clearing the ceiling
- Remove the pathpal and hit 5 free shots — carry the lower hand path feel forward
Related drills
This drill sits in the middle of Eric's full path correction system. These three drills together define the correct swing corridor from every direction:
"Over the Top" Elimination Barrier Drill — Eric Barlow
The companion drill Eric himself references — pathpal outside the lead leg catches too-left exits. Together with this drill, it defines the full correct path corridor: not too steep and not too shallow.
Anti-Slice Arm Drop Drill — Brent Witcher
Former Korn Ferry Tour player Brent Witcher trains the arms-drop feel that initiates a correct shallowing move — useful for understanding what the right amount of shallowing feels like before overcorrecting past it.
Inside-Out Draw Path — Jason Kuiper
Georgia PGA Teacher of the Year Jason Kuiper uses a two-rod corridor and Trackman to define the exact approach and exit of a 7° in-to-out path — showing precisely what "correct inside-out" looks like measured.
Browse the full drill library: pathpalgolf.com/pages/all-drills
About Eric Barlow
Eric Barlow is a PGA Master Professional and Director of Instruction at Winchester Country Club. He is a Golf Digest Best Teacher in Every State (2022–2027), NEPGA Section Teacher of the Year (2018), Mass Chapter Teacher of the Year (2016), and winner of the New England PGA Stroke Play Series Finals (2025).
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Frequently asked questions
How do I set up the pathpal for the Inside Path Corrector Drill?
Set the pathpal at an angle just slightly above your shaft angle at address — this creates an upper boundary just above your natural hand path through impact. Make swings focused on staying underneath the rod. If your path is too far from the inside and your hands are rising through impact, you'll catch the stick. To clear it, your hands have to stay lower and more on plane, which naturally corrects the excessive inside path.
Why does swinging too far from the inside cause blocks and hooks?
An overly inside-out path typically produces one of two misses depending on face angle: a push or block to the right when the face is square to the path, or a snap hook when the face closes through impact in reaction to the steep in-to-out angle. Both are difficult to predict and control because the path is so far off neutral — golfers with this fault often describe an unpredictable "two-way miss" where they block it right one swing and hook it left the next.
Why do my hands rise through impact when my path is too inside?
When the club approaches from too far inside, the golfer has to raise the hands through impact to avoid the ground — essentially lifting the club through the hitting zone rather than driving it down and through. This is a compensating move: the excessively flat, shallow path creates a low point problem, and the hands rise in real time to solve it. The pathpal rod catches that rising move and forces the swing to address the actual cause rather than the compensation.
Is it possible to shallow the club too much?
Yes — and it's more common than most golfers realize, especially among players who've worked hard on shallowing as a slice correction. When the club gets excessively flat on the downswing, the path moves too far from the inside, the angle of attack becomes too shallow, and the hands have to compensate to find the ball. Eric's drill exists precisely because shallowing is taught so frequently as a slice fix that some golfers overcorrect and create a new, opposite fault. The pathpal gives you an upper boundary that defines "shallow enough without being too shallow."
How does this drill relate to Eric Barlow's Over-the-Top Elimination drill?
The two drills are mirror corrections for opposite path faults. The Over-the-Top Elimination drill places the pathpal outside the lead leg to catch a club that exits too far left — fixing an out-to-in path. This drill places the pathpal just above the address shaft angle to catch hands that rise through impact — fixing an excessively in-to-out, too-shallow path. Together they define the correct corridor from both sides: not too steep, not too shallow. Eric uses the same tool to solve both problems simply by changing the placement.
Ready to find the correct corridor and stay there?
pathpal gives you physical boundaries on both sides of the correct delivery zone — so you can feel the difference between shallow enough and too shallow, rep after rep.
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