Vertical Backswing Drill

Shawn sets one pathpal half at 90 degrees — fully vertical — to act as a physical wall just outside the student's swing arc. A second reference line at approximately 30 degrees marks the correct heel position at address, ensuring the student is set up in the right relationship to the wall before the drill begins. The student's task is simple: make a backswing without hitting the 90-degree wall. Any backswing that goes too flat or too far inside will catch the rod immediately, while a correct "club working up" backswing clears it cleanly.

Younger and smaller golfers often develop a flat, inside backswing because their natural arm strength and body proportions make it easier to swing the club around the body rather than up and over it. The flat swing plane feels powerful because it creates a big arc, but when the club gets too inside on the backswing, it loops even further inside on the downswing — getting "stuck" — which means the club approaches the ball from too far behind and underneath, producing blocks, pushes, and low hooks. Shawn specifically notes the wall is calibrated for the student's size, acknowledging that the correct swing plane is body-proportional rather than one-size-fits-all.

"Club working up" means the club travels on a more vertical arc on the backswing — rising above the address plane rather than sweeping flat and around. For a junior who tends to flatten the plane, this feels dramatically different: the arms lift more, the club feels like it's going straight up rather than behind the body. The 90-degree wall provides immediate, inarguable feedback on when the swing has gone too flat — if the club catches the wall, the plane was too shallow. If it clears the wall, the club is traveling up and over rather than around and inside.

The wall drill is one of the most established fundamentals drills in junior golf instruction precisely because it addresses swing plane at the point in development when habits are still being formed. Shawn's pathpal implementation gives the classic wall drill a portable, angle-adjustable physical reference that can be calibrated to any student's size and setup rather than requiring a literal wall or a fixed barrier at a specific location. For a junior program, the pathpal's 90-degree wall can be used in any bay, on any range, or indoors — making it accessible for every practice session rather than just structured lessons.

Both drills use the pathpal to correct a backswing that goes too far inside — but they address different dimensions of "inside." Matt Tindale's Takeaway Blocker targets horizontal inside movement: the club ripping behind the body on a flat plane. Shawn Koch's Vertical Backswing Drill targets the vertical component: the club staying too low and shallow rather than working up. In many junior golfers, both faults exist simultaneously — the club goes back flat and low and inside. The two drills are complementary: Tindale's corrects the horizontal inside rip; Koch's corrects the vertical shallowness. Together they define the complete correct backswing corridor in both planes.