Inside-Out Draw Drill (Wedding China Drill)

Cure Your Slice and Hit a Controlled Draw

Focus: Full Swing

Drill Objective

This drill uses the TrueStrike placed just outside and slightly in front of the ball to serve as an immediate penalty/feedback mechanism. It forces the golfer to swing on a proper inside-to-out path, which is necessary to hit a controlled draw (right-to-left curve for a right-handed golfer).

Set-Up

  1. Place the TrueStrike on the ground.
  2. Position the TrueStrike outside the target line and slightly in front of the golf ball (where an outside-in club path would strike it).
  3. Address the ball with a neutral club face (or slightly angled to match the spine angle at address for a draw).
  4. Optional: Check the club face angle at waist height in the downswing to ensure it is angled consistently with the spine.

Instructions

  1. Focus on making a downswing that keeps the club head behind your hands at waist height (the "slot").
  2. Swing through impact with an inside-to-out path, intentionally missing the TrueStrike placed outside the ball.
  3. A successful swing will avoid the object and produce a slight right-to-left draw.
  4. If you hit the object, your swing is coming "over the top" or too far from the outside.

Benefits

Improved Club Path
Reduce Heel Misses
Preventing Shanks
Consistent chipping
Jacob Tilton
Jacob Tilton
Junior Golf Leader
Ansley Golf Club
  • 2024: Golf Digest Best Young Teachers in America
  • 2023: Georgia PGA Section Champion
  • 2020: Georgia PGA Youth Player Development Award

""There's a million ways to use this""

Jacob Tilton
Jacob Tilton Director of Instruction, Ansley Golf Club

""The reason I like [the pathpal] is because it's super versatile""

Cody Carter
Cody Carter Head of Player Development, Druid Hills Golf Club

""Countless how many applications you can use for it""

Jake Reeves
Jake Reeves Director of Instruction, Fox Den Country club
Drill FAQ

Questions About This Drill

Get clear answers on setup, swing feel, common mistakes, and how to get the most out of this PathPal drill.

Place the TrueStrike just outside and slightly ahead of the ball — in the path that an over-the-top, outside-in swing would travel. The pad acts as the physical obstacle Jacob references in his "wedding china" analogy: if you swing over the top, you hit it. If your path is inside-out, you won't come close. In the downswing, the goal is to feel the clubhead get just behind your hands at waist height — from there, a neutral face matching the spine angle allows you to rotate through and produce a right-to-left draw.

The Wedding China Drill is a classic teaching concept where an instructor places a valuable object — traditionally wedding china, now updated to a cell phone — just outside the ball on the ground. The consequence of swinging over the top is breaking something precious, which powerfully rewires the instinct to come outside-in. Jacob uses the TrueStrike as the modern, damage-free version: the pad provides the same physical feedback without the risk to the club, the training aid, or anyone's personal belongings.

Heel and hosel strikes happen when the clubhead moves too far toward the ball's inner half at impact — usually because the club has approached from outside the target line and the face has been rerouted toward the body. An inside-out path naturally pushes the clubhead away from the body through impact — Jacob specifically notes this drill "forces you to push away," which moves the sweet spot back to the center of the face and away from the hosel. Golfers who shank or consistently hit toward the heel will see immediate improvement with this path correction.

At the waist-high position on the downswing, an inside-out path has the clubhead trailing the hands — meaning if you looked from the target, the hands are slightly closer to the ball than the clubhead. This is the "slot" position that allows the club to approach from the inside and exit right of the target. When the clubhead is in front of or outside the hands at waist high, the path is over the top and outside-in — the recipe for a slice. Jacob's drill trains this waist-high checkpoint as the key reference for whether the downswing is on the correct route.

At the waist-high downswing position, a neutral face angle means the face is roughly matching the angle of your spine — tilted slightly toward the ground rather than pointing at the sky (too closed) or at the target (too open). Jacob uses this checkpoint as a draw-production confirmation: if the clubhead is behind the hands and the face matches the spine angle, you have an inside-out path with a neutral face — the conditions for a controlled draw. A face that's too closed from that position produces a hook; too open produces a push or block.

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Full Video Transcript

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We're back working on club path — specifically getting more inside-to-out.

The Key Downswing Checkpoint

When we talk about inside-out, the goal in the downswing is to get the clubhead just behind the hands at waist height. From that position:

Check your club face — if it's slightly angled matching your spine angle, you're in a neutral position

From there, rotate to impact

You'll have a slight inside-out path on the forward swing

The ball will curve right to left — a draw

The Setup

I'm using the TrueStrike placed just outside the ball. If I swing outside-in or over the top, I'll hit the pad. If my path is inside-out, I won't come close.

[Hits shot] — There's our little baby draw.

The Wedding China Story

Growing up, my instructors called this the Wedding China Drill. They'd put your wedding china on the ground right there — and if you swung outside-in and nailed it, we'd all be in big trouble. These days I call it the Cell Phone Drill. Same concept.

The TrueStrike is perfect because it gives you the same feedback without damaging the golf club, your phone, or anyone's wedding china.

Bonus Fix: Heel and Hosel Strikes

This drill is also excellent if you're suffering from heel or hosel strikes. The inside-out path forces you to push the clubhead away from your body through impact — which moves the contact point away from the hosel and back to the center of the face.

Swing inside-out and you'll get the feedback you need.

Transcript lightly edited for clarity.