A slice doesn't start at impact. It starts on the backswing — when the club gets too far inside and then has no choice but to go over the top on the way down. By the time the club exits left at impact, the fault was decided three feet earlier. Fixing just the exit doesn't fix the takeaway. And fixing just the takeaway doesn't tell you where to go on the follow-through.
Kevin Sprecher's path corridor drill defines the correct zone for the entire swing — backswing, downswing, and follow-through — in one unified setup.
The drill
Kevin Sprecher — GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teachers in America (since 2017), Golf Digest Best Teachers in New York (since 2017), Metropolitan PGA Teacher of the Year (2018), TrackMan Level 2 / K-Vest Level 3 / SAM Level 2 certified, student of Jim McLean, and Director of Instruction at Sleepy Hollow Country Club for 20+ years — builds his in-to-out path training around the concept of corridors. The pathpal creates the physical walls of those corridors. See the full drill page here.
The three-unit configuration:
- Backswing barrier at 65 degrees — placed to prevent an inside takeaway while allowing a small amount of acceptable inside movement
- Ground rod along the feet — the constant alignment reference that anchors both barriers to real target line direction
- Follow-through barrier at 60 degrees — placed to prevent a left exit and train the in-to-out follow-through position
Clear all three references and the swing traveled through the correct corridor from takeaway through impact. Catch any one of them and the specific fault is immediately identified.
Watch the drill
Kevin walks through the full three-unit setup in the video below. Watch on YouTube or play it directly here:
Why it works
Path faults at impact are almost always set up earlier in the swing, and path corrections at impact rarely hold unless the earlier fault is also addressed.
By creating physical boundaries at the backswing and the follow-through simultaneously, the drill trains the entire path arc rather than a single point within it.
The ground rod is the element that distinguishes this setup from most corridor drills. Without a reference line tied to the target, the angled barriers become relative to the golfer's body position rather than absolute path direction — and misalignment can exist even when the barriers are cleared. The ground rod ensures that a clean pass through the corridor means a genuinely correct path to the target, not just a path that avoided the physical obstacles.
Kevin also highlights the drill's particular value for indoor winter practice — the corridor works just as well with slow-motion rehearsal swings as with full shots, making it one of the most efficient indoor path training tools available for golfers in colder climates who need meaningful swing training without ball flight feedback.
Who this is for
- ✓Golfers who slice consistently and want a complete path corridor rather than a single-point fix
- ✓Players working on in-to-out path who need separate feedback for both backswing and follow-through
- ✓Anyone in colder climates who needs an effective indoor swing path training setup
- ✓Golfers coached by instructors trained in TrackMan and swing data who want a physical drill to complement path data
Try it
Build the three-unit corridor — 65 degrees on the backswing side, ground rod along the feet, 60 degrees on the follow-through side — and make 10 slow-motion rehearsal swings before adding a ball. Track which barrier you're catching most consistently: if it's the backswing rod, the takeaway is the fault. If it's the follow-through rod, the exit is the dominant issue. Address the more frequent fault first, then move to full speed once both ends are consistently clear.
For the full setup details and additional coaching notes, visit the In-to-Out Path Corridor Drill page on pathpal.
- 10 slow-motion rehearsal swings — no ball, identify which barrier you're catching more frequently
- Address the dominant fault first — isolated reps through that end of the corridor
- Full-corridor reps at increasing speed — both ends consistently clear before adding a ball
- 5 shots with the corridor removed — the path you trained through the barriers should follow
Related drills
The path corridor concept sits within a broader system of path-correction drills on pathpal. These three complement Kevin's setup from different angles — one focused on the takeaway specifically, one on the transition, and one that flips the correction entirely for better players who hook.
Inside-Out Draw Drill (Wedding China Drill) — Jacob Tilton
Jacob Tilton uses the TrueStrike pad outside the ball to enforce the same inside-out path Kevin's corridor trains — but as a single-point impact barrier rather than a full-swing system. If Kevin's three-unit setup feels complex to start, Jacob's one-piece version is the natural entry point for the same draw correction.
Anti-Slice Arm Drop Drill — Brent Witcher
Brent Witcher uses the pathpal rod as a transition barrier — training the arm-drop-and-weight-shift sequence that produces the shallow, inside-out approach Kevin's follow-through rod is designed to sustain. Where Kevin's corridor defines the correct zone for the full swing, Brent's drill builds the transition move that gets you there.
Hook-to-Fade Dual-Segment Drill — Mark Heartfield
The mirror image of Kevin's corridor — same two-segment pathpal configuration, opposite correction. Where Kevin's setup prevents a left exit to train an in-to-out draw, Mark's setup forces a left exit to train an out-to-in fade. If you've fixed your slice with Kevin's drill and overcorrected into a hook, Mark's setup is the next tool.
About Kevin Sprecher
Kevin Sprecher is a GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teacher in America (since 2017), Golf Digest Best Teacher in New York (since 2017), and Metropolitan PGA Teacher of the Year (2018). He is the Director of Instruction at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, holds TrackMan Level 2, K-Vest Level 3, and SAM Level 2 certifications, and has coached PGA, LPGA, and Korn Ferry Tour professionals. He trained under Jim McLean and has taught at Sleepy Hollow for over 20 years.
Frequently asked questions
Why does fixing the downswing alone not cure a slice?
Because the downswing path is largely determined by what happened in the backswing. When the club rips too far inside on the takeaway, the only available route back to the ball on the downswing is over the top — an outside-in path. Trying to fix the downswing without addressing the takeaway is fighting the consequence rather than the cause. Kevin's corridor places a barrier at the backswing as well as the follow-through precisely because both ends of the swing need to be in the correct zone for the path to hold under real swing conditions.
What angles does Kevin use for the backswing and follow-through barriers?
The backswing barrier is set at 65 degrees — shallow enough to prevent an excessively inside takeaway while allowing a small amount of acceptable inside movement. The follow-through barrier is set at 60 degrees — positioned to catch a club that exits too far left after impact, training the golfer to keep the path working out toward the target rather than cutting across it. The ground rod runs along the feet as a constant alignment reference tying both barriers to the actual target line.
Can this drill be done indoors or on a mat?
Yes — and Kevin specifically highlights this as one of the pathpal's key advantages. Because the pathpal sits on any surface without needing to be staked into turf, the full three-unit corridor setup works on a simulator mat, a driving range mat, or any indoor surface. Kevin uses it regularly with students during the winter months in New York, running slow-motion rehearsal swings that build the path pattern without requiring ball flight feedback.
How is this drill different from just using two alignment sticks on the ground?
Traditional alignment sticks lie flat on the ground and can only reference the path of the club at ground level. Kevin's pathpal barriers are angled upward — set at 65 and 60 degrees — which means they intercept the club shaft and hands at the correct heights during the actual swing, not just at the ball. That vertical dimension is what makes the corridor genuinely functional as a full-swing path trainer rather than just an address alignment reference. The
