Here's something most golfers don't realize about the over-the-top move: you can't feel it while it's happening. The downswing is too fast. But you can see its signature every time — the club exits left, the ball starts left, and the whole thing feels like a swing you were trying to make. Pulls and slices don't lie about your path. The exit zone tells you everything.
Eric Barlow built a drill around exactly that.
Full setup details are on the Over The Top Elimination Barrier Drill page, or watch Eric demonstrate it here:
Watch the Over The Top Elimination Barrier Drill on YouTube →
The drill
Eric Barlow — PGA Master Professional, Golf Digest Best Teacher in Every State (2022–2027), NEPGA Section Teacher of the Year, Mass Chapter Teacher of the Year, and Director of Instruction at Winchester Country Club — uses the pathpal placed just outside the lead leg to create a barrier in the exit zone.
The setup
- Place the pathpal just outside your lead leg
- Make swings avoiding the device as the club comes through the ball
- If the club exits left and catches the pathpal — over-the-top path confirmed
- To clear it, the club must exit right — which requires an inside-out approach
No angle adjustments. No multi-rod configurations. One piece of equipment in one precise location, and the drill runs itself.
Eric Barlow demonstrates the full drill setup. View on YouTube →
Why it works
Most over-the-top drills try to intercept the club during the downswing — catching the steep move before it happens. Eric's approach is different: he lets the swing happen and reads the exit. If the club hits the pathpal, the path was wrong. If it clears, the path was correct. The body adjusts to avoid contact without needing a conscious swing thought, which is exactly how durable motor pattern changes get built.
The body adjusts to avoid contact without needing a conscious swing thought — which is exactly how durable motor pattern changes get built.
The placement outside the lead leg is deliberate. It's not in the way at setup — it only becomes a factor once the club has committed to a path through impact. That means the drill catches the actual fault rather than a setup or backswing compensation.
Why the exit zone matters
The fault
An over-the-top downswing sends the club outside the target line. After impact, it exits hard left — the unmistakable signature of a pull or slice path.
The barrier
The pathpal sits just outside the lead leg, squarely in the exit zone. A leftward exit catches the device. An inside-out path clears it. No ambiguity.
The fix
To avoid the barrier, the body self-corrects instinctively — shallowing the approach and producing a rightward exit without a conscious swing thought.
Who this is for
- ✓ Golfers who consistently pull iron shots left
- ✓ Players whose slices start left before curving further right
- ✓ Anyone who's been told they exit too far left but can't feel the correction
- ✓ Golfers looking for the fastest, lowest-setup path fix available
Try it
Place the pathpal outside your lead leg and make 10 practice swings at half speed, focusing only on clearing the device. Then hit 15 shots at 75% effort. Once you're consistently avoiding the rod, remove it and hit five shots — pay attention to how the exit feels different and watch what the ball does.
- Place pathpal just outside the lead leg in the exit zone
- Make 10 practice swings at half speed — focus only on clearing the device
- Hit 15 shots at 75% effort, maintaining the same exit intention
- Remove the pathpal — hit 5 shots and notice how the exit feels different and what the ball does
Related drills
This drill is the exit-zone layer of Eric Barlow's complete pathpal system at Winchester Country Club. These three drills address the full fault chain — from the swing plane concept, through the backswing root cause, to the downswing slide that often follows:
Also by Eric Barlow. The conceptual parent of this drill — training the backswing up the plane and the downswing under it. The foundational fix for the over-the-top move before adding the exit barrier.
Also by Eric Barlow. A backswing lateral sway often initiates the over-the-top chain — fix the sway going back with a 90° barrier outside the trail leg and the downswing is easier to correct.
Also by Eric Barlow. Lateral hip slide through impact is a common companion fault to the over-the-top path. A 90° barrier outside the lead leg enforces rotation rather than slide — completing the three-drill system.
About Eric Barlow
Frequently asked questions
How do I set up the pathpal for the Over The Top Elimination Barrier Drill?
Place the pathpal just outside your lead leg — in the exit zone where the club travels after impact. No angle setting is required. The device only becomes relevant once the club has committed to a path through the ball. If your path is over-the-top and exiting left, the club catches the rod. To clear it, the club has to exit more to the right, which means the downswing path has to be shallower and more inside-out.
Why does my club exit too far left after impact?
An excessive leftward exit is the natural result of an outside-in swing path. When the club approaches from outside the target line, it has to cross over to the inside after impact — pulling left through the follow-through. Golfers often mistake this for a release problem, but the exit direction is just the club finishing where the path sent it. Fix the path on the downswing and the exit takes care of itself.
Is this drill better for fixing a pull or a slice?
It addresses both, because both stem from the same over-the-top path. For pulls — where the face is square to an out-to-in path — correcting the path immediately straightens the ball flight. For slicers, correcting the path is the first step; once the path is more neutral or inside-out, the open face becomes the isolated variable to address next. Path is always the foundational fix, which is why this drill is the right starting point for either miss.
Why does a physical barrier work better than a swing thought for fixing the over-the-top move?
When a physical barrier blocks the leftward exit zone, the body automatically searches for a path that avoids it. That self-correction almost always produces a shallower, more rightward exit — which means the downswing approached from the inside. The body makes this adjustment instinctively rather than consciously, which is why physical barrier drills are so effective for path changes: they bypass the analytical mind and trigger the motor system to find the correct movement on its own.
How does this drill fit with Eric Barlow's other pathpal drills?
Eric uses three pathpal drills that together address the full fault chain. The "Up It, Under It" Swing Plane Drill teaches the foundational concept — backswing goes up the plane, downswing comes under it. The "Sway Stopper" addresses the backswing root — lateral drift that often initiates over-the-top compensation on the way down. This Exit Barrier drill catches the actual downswing path fault at impact. Practiced in sequence, they cover the complete correction from first movement through the hitting zone.
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