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Jim Flick Invitational Part 1 -- The Golf Digest Golf Schools

JIM FLICK INVITATIONAL 2016

RACKETBALL & GOLF

Fairways bunkers are often easier than the rough.

EASIER THAN THE ROUGH

A Malaska Golf member commented on how much The M-System Driver Series and especially the Driver Summary helped him.

Mike discusses how the industry promotes the driver, and it is all about distance. Mike isn't going to disagree with that statement; however, there is a skill development process to achieve that. The first part of the process starts with your grip and the Lever System. 

Mike is adamant and disagrees that you start with people focusing on moving their bodies to control the driver! Yes, the body comes into play at some point in time, but there are specific skills you need to develop before you get to that point.

Mike demonstrates the Lever System, swinging effortlessly back and forth, holding the driver with his left hand. Notice how the wrist hinges and unhinges in the swing and how his arm is relaxed. Mike's body nudges him to start the swing, but the arms take off, and the body follows. It is the same when Mike switches to his right hand. Mike places his hands on his chest to show how soft the upper body is when he swings.

If the relationships with the swing hold and your body starts to pick up speed, then you have something. If your grip isn't correct, the Lever System isn't working. If your wrists are tight and you overuse your body, you aren't going to create the speed you need.

A great drill is sitting on a chair or on your knees and making easy swings to try to hit the ball. This drill is excellent for understanding the lever system and realizing that even by taking your lower body out of the equation, you can easily hit the ball and far.

It's all about skill development to create speed with your driver. It's not about clearing your hips and swinging as hard as you can! Mike hits the ball 195 yards in the air to prove that point.

Work on your grip and the Lever system, and then allow your body to move faster.

HOW TO MAX OUT YOUR DRIVER

IFYP: ATHLETIC PERSONALITY

Preparing for a tournament can be tricky. Make sure to utilize the time you have with practice that matters.

PLAYING YOUR WORST SHOT

IFYP: ADJACENCY

The ball goes to the right because the club is coming from the inside, or you are not finishing the swing around to the left.

LOSING THE BALL TO THE RIGHT

A Malaska Golf member wants to know about using your putting grip for chipping and pitching. He mentions Phil Mickelson’s hinge and hold. When he did that, he was hitting pitch shots. Many players, including Mike, will use their putting grip to hit up to 30 yards.

Mike demonstrates using his putting grip, stance, and stroke. He makes a putting stroke, and the ball rolls along the ground. When Mike does the same thing but adds his pitching wedge, the ball gets in the air because he has a lofted face. 

Take the putter away, make your putting stroke, put the ball farther back in your stance, and put your head forward. You don’t want to be catching the ball on the upswing like a putter. Use his method for up to 10 yards. 

For more distance, you need to have more hand action. Add extension and flexion in your wrist and rotation in your body. You are not moving up and down. 

PUTTING GRIP FOR CHIPPING AND PITCHING

The developers of the E6 Technology that is used in many of their Hardware partners. There is no technology better in this industry. Every time I go to the company. They show me new innovations. These keep making the game more enjoyable at home. It has made practice so much easier for me and my family. The graphics packages and the gaming that they offer is incredible. Never thought I would actually play a course that I had played in a US Open and hit the same clubs and feel like I was there. Well, it now exists. And if you are thinking about a home simulator or practice learning center. This is the one to go to first.

TRUGOLF

SET-UP USING THE TOE

On the course, changing lies change your set-up.

CHALLENGING LIES

As you are hitting balls take some time to swing the opposite direction. As you swing you are constantly contracting one side of your body and elongating the other. You need to offset that by swinging and or hitting balls the opposite direction. It also heightens your awareness of how your body is moving. It makes your normal swing much easier to do. And you have more feel for what you are doing. 

REVERSE SWING

The relationship between ball position and when you pivot is pretty much the same from baseball to golf. The difference is when you have to begin to pivot in order to be on time with the club face and the ball.

KEVIN PILLAR - RELEASE POINTS

Mike Malaska helps John understand the importance of having the correct grip.

The correct grip will help create the best speed producers with your wrists. Your left wrist serves as a chopping action, while your right wrist is more like a throwing or slapping motion. If you don't have the correct grip, it will be hard to achieve this.

Mike stresses to John that the club has to be in his fingers. For John to completely understand this concept, Mike brings out his famous sharpie. John gets a quick anatomy lesson on the difference between your fingers and your palms. Mike draws lines on John's hands to illustrate the separation. This fun example hammers home the message.

Mike then places the club along the black line with the club in his fingers. The more the club is in your fingertips, the more you will be able to use your wrists and apply the lever system.

Mike works with John to get the correct grip and shows him that because he has the club in his fingers, it is easier for John's wrist to lever on the backswing.

Mike emphasizes that if you don't have the lever system working with your wrists, it doesn't matter what you are doing with your body; it will not create more speed.

Mike shows John the best way to grip a golf club is to hold the clubhead above his hands which is the best way to align his fingers into the club. Gripping the club already in the setup position tends to move the club up into your palm. Once you have the grip in your fingers, you can drop the club down to set up for the swing.

John then takes some practice swings with his new grip and focuses on levering his wrists on the backswing.

THE RIGHT GRIP FOR SPEED PRODUCERS

Mike illustrates the momentum of the club and the up to under in the golf swing. Mike then finishes by getting Josh to curve the ball left.

PATH CONTROL CURVE LEFT


When good players hit the ball, their swing looks effortless, and the ball goes a long way. How do they do that? The Lever System is the secret and magic to generating a lot of speed and force with your driver. It is important to create 90-degree angles on the backswing, holding the angle on the downswing and letting the arms unhinge into the ball.

On the follow-through, your arms have straightened out, and then the club rehinges because your body stops rotating. You need to learn how to swing the driver back and forth fluidly because your hands have to react to the momentum of the club.

Learning to use the Lever System correctly is the first and most crucial aspect of driver consistency and getting maximum speed.


LEVER SYSTEM - PART 1

A Malaska Golf Member wants to know some drills so they don’t pull their hands in on the swing instead of extending them.Most teachers who see students come into the ball and pull their arms in call this the ‘dreaded chicken wing.’Mike demonstrates how the chicken wing happens. People think that the answer is to straighten your arms on the follow-through. Mike explains this is not the case; your arms are pulling in because they must. People have more hand-eye coordination than they give themselves credit.What happens is that when people swing back, they don’t push their hips back. On the downswing, their body ends up moving closer to the ball. To hit the ball, they resort to pulling in their arms to get the clubface on the ball. Hence, the ‘chicken wing.’&nbsp;Mike explains the fix! When you swing a golf club, the thing that makes your arms straighten out is when your left hip pushes back and away. By doing this, it throws and accelerates your arms forward.When Mike has students who do the ‘chicken wing,’ he gets them to step back from address and try to hit the ball. They usually miss the first one because their arms pull in. When they hit the ball, their arms must straighten out, and the ‘dreaded chicken wing is gone.’The ‘dreaded chicken wing is an effect of people moving closer to the ball. Once you figure out that if you push your left hip back, your arms will straighten out, and the ‘chicken wing is gone.’

THE DREADED CHICKEN WING

Get in your set up position. Put a club across your chest. Rotate your upper body as far as you can with out moving your lower body. Do this on the backswing and on the follow through side. This is a great way to loosen up and it tells you how much you can separate upper from lower body. Then with the same club on your chest. Keep your upper body stable and rotate your lower body with out moving your upper body. Do this on the backswing and on the follow through side. Most players can not separate this action. So when you swing you should not be trying to restrict your lower body. It will cause to much tension and pressure in your lower back.

COMBINING SKILLS - FITNESS

The club creates angles with your body. Learn how to create them and how they improve your swing.

ANGLES CREATED BY YOUR BODY AND THE CLUB - 20181113

Most all sports cross over. Your body is a pattern machine. It does not know if you are playing golf or tennis or baseball. It is just duplicating or learning patterns. Once you learn a pattern it is transferable to other sports. So any sport that you play has application to golf. And if you play golf it has applications and direct crossovers to other sports. So rather than learn something new why not use what you already know. Most of the motions you make in a swing you already know how to do them. You are doing them every day just moving around and being involved in the universe.

ASK MIKE: SPORTS CONNECT

MLM: HOW TO PRACTICE

This Quick Fix Friday looks at the reasons to tee your ball at different heights.

If you aren’t hitting the driver tremendously and want to keep the ball in play, tee the ball lower. Mike hits the ball, fades, and keeps the ball in play. The second shot is higher. You can do a little more with the ball, and it will go farther.

For the last shot with the ball on the highest tee, Mike can hit the ball on the upswing and go for distance. Mike crushes the ball; however, many other things come into play if you lose control of the ball that high.

Choose the tee height that works for you based on your swing. Figure out what you are trying to accomplish on your swing.

THREE DIFFERENT TEE HEIGHTS

Training videos on how to use the Lagshot Wedges.

LAGSHOT: WEDGES

Proper arm rotation maximizes momentum into the ball, while maintaining path. Here is the first step towards getting your arms to rotate properly.

ARM ROTATION

A Malaska Golf Member who plays a lot of executive par 3 courses wants to know if he should still hit down on the ball with his irons.Mike’s response is a definite yes. To demonstrate this, he has a ball teed up high, and when he hits the ball, he is still going to catch the ball slightly on the downswing. Because the ball is on a tee, when he swings down on the ball, the low point of the swing will be slightly forward of the ball. It’s the swing arc. You will have more control of your irons when you come slightly down on the ball because you are compressing the ball on the clubface.When the ball is on a tee, Mike hits it at different points of the clubface to affect the trajectory and the amount of spin on the ball.Unless Mike is trying to hit some special or crazy shot, he will approach hitting off the tee or the ground the same way.Except for a driver, on all his iron shots, he is still hitting slightly down on the ball because the swing arc is bottoming out in front of the ball.

IRONS ON A PAR 3

Use more arm movement and less body movement.

SIDEHILL AND BELOW YOUR FEET

Before adding speed to your driver, you must first have control.

DRIVER EFFICIENCY

Why do most golfers plateau in their socring. Mike and Brendon discuss this common concern.

THE GREAT GOLF PLATEAU

The momentum of the club will create the alignments you want at impact.

FACE CONTROL AND STABILIZATION

Mike works with MLB Hall of Fame Pitcher Goose Gossage.

WHO ARE YOU GOING TO TRICK

If you don't use your imagination, you have no chance when playing at Augusta because the speed of the slopes and angles of the breaks are unreal.  Keep that in mind for the Masters.

THE IMPORTANCE OF IMAGINATION WHEN PLAYING AT AUGUSTA

When you swing the club by pivoting the arms, the proper sequence happens. Here's how to avoid a common mistake.

PIVOT THE ARMS, NOT THE CHEST

Using alignment sticks to make a quadrant to set up will help you hit the ball straight and not aim to the right.

HOW NOT TO AIM RIGHT

A mental approach to yourself and your game.

HOW TO SEE YOURSELF

When doing the Chair Drill, the hand action is the same for the driver, 7-iron, 5-iron, and wedge.

CHAIR DRILL:DOES IT APPLY IN ALL SWINGS

Using a tempo you are comfortable with across all of your swings is very important. This is how to use tempo to your advantage.

TEMPO IN THE GOLF SWING

Identify the cause to fix the chicken wing.

THE CHICKEN WING

Your eyes are an essential part of the game. Developing the correct vision and seeing the right things is critical to hitting good shots.

Most players and teachers don't even talk about the eyes. Your eyes perceive something, giving your brain a picture, then your body reacts. Your brain must understand the picture that it sees. Because you are playing to the side of the ball and not on top, many things happen. It is called parallax. Training your eyes to see the line and path begins with putting and chipping.

Mike demonstrates by making chip shots using alignment sticks, aiming the face of the club down the path. His eyes turn and track down the line. Setting up, pointing your eyes parallel to your target line, and rotating your head down the track is crucial.

Use alignment sticks with putting and chipping to get used to seeing what it looks like to be set up correctly and the exact path your ball must follow to get into the hole. It doesn't look the same as it does when standing behind it. Train your eyes to see the line and where to hit the ball.

CORRECT VISION

Golf is about mastering every skill. Controlling path is one of the most powerful skill sin the game.

CONTROLLING PATH INTRODUCTION

Dynamic loft is where the club is and how much loft is in the clubface when you hit the ball at impact.

CHANGING DYNAMIC LOFT

There are two shots that comprise 80% of your short game. Here they are.

THE TWO SHOTS YOU NEED

Your grip determines what the ball is going to do. Practice using different grips to get a feel for what your hands need to do.

HOW GRIP AFFECTS YOUR SWING

Your set-up should match the slope of the ground.

BASIC SETUP

Fixing problems in the downswing by fixing the backswing.

DOUG JACKSON

Mike Malaska encourages beginner Sandy James to start putting pressure on her game and to get the ball in the hole with as few putts as possible. Sandy started out putting while learning the etiquette of the game. She then moved on to chipping and hitting second shots. 

When people ask Mike when they will be ready to play a game, he tells them as soon as they can putt.

Sandy was concerned about keeping pace with other players. Mike tells her it is ok not to keep score and that it is ok to pick up the ball to continue. It is not about the score or the pace at first; it is about having fun.

As Sandy gets more confident with her game and starts keeping score, she will want to play more and stay in the game.

ENTRY-LEVEL COACHING SUMMARY

Mike takes another look at Kory’s grip. Because it's still not strong enough, he makes the adjustments using baseball analogies to get the point across.

GRIP REVISITED

To create maximum speed and control the lever system needs to work properly. By the time your lead arm gets parallel to the ground on the backswing. You need a 90 degree angle between the lead arm and the club shaft. That same relationship needs to happen on the follow through by the time your trail arm gets parallel to the ground on the finish. Your hands need to also work in a manner that minimizes the face rotation relative to the swing arch. This makes power and consistency very attainable.

L TO L

When you play, there is a gap between your clubs. Learn how to close that gap with the right clubs.