The TrueStrike Outside-In Fade Drill

Place the TrueStrike near the ball in a position that blocks the path of an excessively inside-out downswing — on the inside of the ball's path rather than the outside. On the downswing, the goal is to get the clubhead just outside the hands rather than behind them, allowing you to miss the TrueStrike cleanly. This forces the club to travel more out in front of the body, neutralizing the path and producing a controlled left-to-right ball flight.

An excessive inside-out path typically develops from a few sources: an overly closed clubface at the top of the backswing, a deep inside takeaway, a cupped lead wrist, or lateral extension on the downswing where the hips slide toward the ball rather than rotating. Jacob specifically calls out lateral extension as a compounding factor — when the hips extend toward the ball, the club naturally drops too far behind and approaches from deep inside. The TrueStrike catches the club when this path becomes too severe.

An overly inside-out path with an open face produces a push or block to the right. With a face that closes through impact in reaction to the steep in-to-out angle, it produces a snap hook — the ball starts right and then curves sharply left. Jacob calls this a "two-way miss" problem — the same path fault produces completely opposite ball flights depending on face angle, making it extremely difficult to manage on the course without neutralizing the path first.

These two drills are the pathpal's yin and yang for path correction. The Wedding China Drill places the TrueStrike outside the ball to catch an over-the-top, outside-in path — the most common fault Jacob sees in about 90% of golfers. This drill places the TrueStrike to catch an excessively inside-out path — the less common but equally damaging fault that Jacob estimates affects roughly 10% or more of golfers. Same tool, mirrored placement, opposite corrections.

The clearest signs are consistent push-blocks to the right, occasional snap hooks that seem to come from nowhere, heel strikes or divots that point right of the target, and a ball flight that looks like it starts too far right before curving back. Players who've over-corrected a slice through aggressive shallowing work are also prime candidates for this fault. If you've worked hard on shallowing and now find yourself hitting low blocks and the occasional low hook, your path has likely overcorrected to the other side — and this drill is the fix.