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Elite Content

The M5 Coaching Series by Mike Malaska emphasizes refining practice routines through the use of obstacles, exaggeration, speed adjustments, and managing time between shots. These tools provide immediate feedback, enhance muscle memory, and develop a swing that holds up under various conditions. By integrating these methods, golfers can move beyond random practice and achieve purposeful progress.
Obstacles like swim noodles and water bottles help golfers correct swing paths and promote immediate feedback. Exaggeration in practice is encouraged to push swings to the extreme opposite of current faults, making it easier to achieve the desired changes. Incorporating speed adjustments ensures control while gradually building power. Slowing down with longer clubs, such as drivers, allows for better feel and control before increasing speed.
Time between shots mirrors real game conditions and reveals tendencies, enabling golfers to understand and address their common misses. This practice approach teaches consistency under varied circumstances, preparing players for better on-course performance. By following these methods, golfers can turn practice into a focused, efficient process that leads to measurable improvements.

M5 Coaching Series-Obstacles, Exaggeration, More Speed, And Time Between Shots

Posture might not be flashy, but it is one of the most important parts of your golf swing. Without the right posture, your body cannot move the way it is designed to. In Day 6, Mike Malaska breaks down exactly how to build your posture from the ground up&mdash;so you can move with power, balance, and consistency. You will learn how posture is built from your hip sockets, not your back or knees. Mike shows you how to start in a neutral standing position and then hinge from the hips, keeping your feet quiet and your weight balanced across your toes, heels, and the balls of your feet. From there, he explains the slight tilt needed to create a strong, athletic posture that works across your putting, chipping, and full swing. This is not just a setup drill. This is your entire swing foundation. Mike shares how even using your shadow can help you build body awareness and maintain posture throughout the motion. If your posture is off, your body will make compensations. But if it is correct, everything becomes easier.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn About Posture: How posture starts with balance&mdash;not tension Why your bend should come from the hips, not the knees or back How to combine hip hinge with slight tilt for athletic setup Why posture stays consistent across putting, chipping, and full swing How to use your shadow to train posture visually
Mike emphasizes that this is something you train every day. Get into a routine where your posture is the first thing you check. Set your feet, hinge from the hips, add a slight tilt, and drop your arms naturally. If your posture changes, your swing changes. Make posture part of your pre-shot routine for life.
Key Takeaway: Posture is the foundation of movement. Hinge from the hips, balance your weight, and stay consistent. Your body can only move as well as your setup allows.

Day 6-Posture in the Golf Swing

The one concept that everyone should learn from Joe Nichols, Mike Malaska’s mentor, is the lever system.

Joe would make his students practice the Looping The Club Drill. You would push the handle of the club down on the backswing, and the clubhead would go up and make a circle on the downswing and the follow-through. The club would go up, under, hit, and around and back. It was like making a figure 8.

Joe Nichols was big on the handle of the club and wanted you to feel like, as you took the club away, you pushed the handle down. This would make the clubhead go up and not behind you, as most people do. 

The weight of the clubhead would go up and down and into the ball. Again, you make a slight loop with the club relative to your hands.

If there is any drill you should learn from Joe Nichols, it is the Looping The Club Drill, which works on the lever system.

JOE NICHOLS LOOPING THE CLUB

Malaska Golf Certified Coach Matt Baker, based in the United Kingdom, is answering a member question.A Malaska Golf Member has a question about the Arm Drop video and how it doesn’t get the club parallel to the path on the way down or to the ground. However, when Mike does it, it does.Matt agrees with the member, and he explains that the golf swing is a dynamic motion and there are lots of other things moving as well. The arm drop is just a feel. Matt demonstrates when you take the club back to the top of the swing and you let your arms drop, the club is still behind your hands. What you want to do is learn to have a separation between the arms and the body. You want the club to just fall down. During this motion, other things are happening as well, because the golf swing is a dynamic action. Your body is moving and pushing away from the ball from the clubhead through the shot.Also, at the same time, you are directing momentum on the way down, famously called the ‘Malaska Move’ or tipping the club. Matt demonstrates this move. As he starts the club down, you will see that Matt is ‘tipping’ the club out or forward on the downswing. If Matt had a steering wheel, it would feel like he was turning the wheel to the left.Matt reiterates that as you are changing the direction of the club, you are changing the momentum of the club. Matt’s favorite drill is the 3 Corners Drill. This drill helps you with ‘tipping the club’ out in front of you. When Matt practices the 3 Corners Drill, he feels like he gets everything out in front of him, and the club just swishes through on the swing and takes off.Matt agrees with the member that if you do drop your arms, the club will still stay behind your hands, because of momentum. What you must do is offset that momentum and change that path. This all happens in transition. Performing the 3 Corners Drill and working on changing momentum will transform your golf game.

Master The Arm Drop

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

M-System Max

The M-System is a 5-tier instructional plan designed to simplify the game and build your skills for every type of swing. It doesn&rsquo;t matter if you&rsquo;re just starting out or if you have been playing for years at a high level. We&rsquo;ll go step-by-step through every aspect of the sport from basic setup to advanced theory and swing drills. Each video explores a new aspect of the game to give you a greater understanding of what&rsquo;s happening when your club hits the ball. Every level increases its focus as you increase your ability. I promise you, golf is not overly difficult. You just have to unlock the game that works best for you. And this is exactly what The M-System is designed to do.

M-System

Place a chair so that the seat of the chair touches the back or your upper leg very close to your gluteus. Then make a backswing when you start the downswing move force up to your lead leg then sit down in the chair. Then as your arms go through the ball then stand up. So you sit down to stand up. This is necessary to create a downward force that you can use to create a lot of force into the club. If you do not load down you will never hit the ball very far.

SIT DOWN CHAIR DRILL

Most all sports crossover. 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.

Sports Connect

Hi, my name is Matt Baker, and I'm a Malaska Golf Certified Coach based here in the UK. This is a great question from Mike Witkowski, asking: When should you hinge the wrist? Is it at the start of the swing or at the top of the swing?That's a really good question because, as with many things in golf, there are so many different variations on this, especially if you watch tournament players.Our recommendation is to start hinging the wrist as soon as possible—almost immediately. The way I like to feel it is by imagining that I'm pushing the handle down while pulling the clubhead up. This really helps get the club swinging on the correct path.And that's the key feeling—you definitely don't want to hinge only at the top. You don’t want that sudden "snap" motion. Some coaches teach that, but in my experience, it can cause a rebound effect, and I don’t like that. I’ve tried it, and it didn’t work well for me. So, setting the wrists early is crucial.The feeling you want is that, as you take the club back, the handle is being pushed down and the clubhead is going up. Ideally, the full wrist set might happen around the halfway point of your backswing, then you complete the swing and follow through.So, the key takeaway is to hinge the wrists as soon as you can. Focus on the feeling of "handle down, clubhead up." Say it to yourself: "handle down, clubhead up"—and swing through. It will help you complete the swing consistently every time.It’s a gradual motion as you're swinging back—gradually pushing the handle down and lifting the clubhead up. It’s not a snap motion, but a smooth, continuous movement.I hope this helps answer your question, and good luck with it!

When To Hinge The Wrists

(Let Gravity, Momentum, and Force Drop the Club Into the Ball) If you want to hit solid shots without forcing the club down, you need to rethink your swing plane. In Day 19, Mike Malaska challenges one of golf&rsquo;s most misleading instructions: &ldquo;hit down on the ball.&rdquo; Instead, you&rsquo;ll learn that it&rsquo;s momentum, gravity, and centripetal force&mdash;not effort&mdash;that deliver the club to the ball. When your wrists are relaxed and your swing motion is fluid, the club drops into perfect contact without you having to force it. Mike introduces the idea of swinging on an &ldquo;elevated plane,&rdquo; where the feel is that your club moves level to the ground&mdash;but because of the forces in play, it naturally descends into the ball. This lesson ties back to your L-to-L training and teaches you how to blend smooth shoulder rotation with wrist freedom for effortless impact. You&rsquo;ll also see how tour players use this elevated motion to stay loose, athletic, and consistent.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn About Swinging on an Elevated Plane: &bull; Why &ldquo;hitting down&rdquo; is a harmful swing thought &bull; How relaxed wrists allow the club to drop into the ball naturally &bull; Why the swing should feel level, not steep&mdash;especially with irons &bull; How L-to-L motion and shoulder rotation work together to maintain flow &bull; The difference between position-based thinking and feel-based motion This drill is perfect for creating a free, connected swing. Forget tension. Forget holding angles. Once you understand how elevated motion creates compression, you&rsquo;ll start striking the ball with less effort&mdash;and more confidence.
Key Takeaway: Don&rsquo;t force the club down. Let it fall. When your wrists are relaxed and your swing flows on an elevated plane, momentum does the work&mdash;and solid contact becomes automatic.

Day 19-Swing on an Elevated Plane

Golfers everywhere chase the same things: solid contact, effortless power, and consistent results. But for most players, those goals stay just out of reach&mdash;because they&rsquo;ve never been taught the one move that ties it all together. That move is called the line of compression. It&rsquo;s not a trendy tip or swing theory&mdash;it&rsquo;s the core motion that creates real ball-striking consistency. It&rsquo;s what allows the club to strike the ball solidly, compress it against the ground, and send it on a true, penetrating flight. The best players in the world have it. Most amateurs don&rsquo;t. In fact, many golfers practice for years without ever learning how to create it. In this opening lesson of the 21-day series, Mike Malaska breaks it down. He shows you how to feel it by aligning your right arm with the shaft and using simple training tools like a putting track or a tee gate. Your goal is to roll the line on the golf ball smoothly while striking the center of the clubface without clipping the toe or heel. This daily calibration drill ensures that every shot you hit is built from the same solid foundation.
What You'll Learn About Compression in the Golf Swing: How to create the line of compression with a connected, powerful motion Why solid contact starts with center-face strikes How to roll the ball cleanly with no wobble How this motion applies to every shot&mdash;from putts to sand shots
Train the Feel If you&rsquo;re struggling to connect the motion, grab a tennis racket or a baseball bat and swing it. These larger tools exaggerate the feel of compression and make it easier to sense how your hands, arms, and body should work together.

Day 1-Line of Compression

(Build a Better Swing from the Ground Up with Mike Malaska&rsquo;s Proven Process) What if you could rebuild your entire golf swing in just three weeks&mdash;step by step, with a system that actually works? 21 Days to Your Best Golf Swing isn&rsquo;t just a lesson plan&mdash;it&rsquo;s a structured transformation. Led by Hall of Fame coach Mike Malaska, this series guides you through the exact process he&rsquo;s used to help thousands of players break bad habits, simplify their motion, and gain total control of their swing. Each day introduces one key concept or drill that builds on the last, so you're never overwhelmed&mdash;and never left guessing. You&rsquo;ll train your hands, feet, body, and mind to work together as one. This is how the swing becomes repeatable, powerful, and built to last. Each day targets a key component of the swing: from grip, face control, and balance&hellip; to footwork, momentum, and impact. You&rsquo;ll learn how the body and club work together, how to generate effortless speed, and how to train smarter&mdash;not harder. Whether you&rsquo;re a weekend golfer or a serious player, this series will reshape your game from the ground up.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn Over 21 Days: Why your grip is your swing&mdash;and how to fix it How to feel and control the clubface without guessing How to train with L-to-L motion for speed and consistency Why your feet and lower body control swing path and power The truth about impact&mdash;and how to make it automatic How to stop early extension and maintain posture naturally How to separate Practice from Play for real improvement And how to build a long-term process to Master, Maximize, and Maintain your swing
Key Takeaway: Real improvement doesn&rsquo;t come from isolated tips. It comes from following a proven process that simplifies your swing and builds your instincts over time. 21 Days to Your Best Golf Swing is that process. Train one day at a time, and you&rsquo;ll never go back to guessing on the course again.

21 Days to Your Best Golf Swing

Understanding basic swing concepts is the number one key skill in a golf swing. It is universal across all sports. How the trail arm lines up with the club, racket, Bat or stick is the same. The value of this skill is monumental in achieving maximum control and force into the ball. That is what creates your potential ball speed. In golf it starts with the putter but works on chipping pitching and with the driver. It should be the first and most important skill in the golf swing. Most every thing should be built of this task.

SWING CONCEPTS - OVERVIEW

M-System Elite

A Malaska Golf Member has a question about the rotation of the left arm in the swing.

Mike demonstrates this action and takes his left arm back on the backswing. His arm slightly rotates and continually internally rotates to the transition point (top of your swing.) When you come down, your left arm externally rotates down to the ball.

The Malaska Golf Member wants to know, if your left arm continually rotates throughout the swing, how do you stop it from rotating too much?

Momentum is the answer! Mike explains when you swing down, and your arm starts to rotate the club out in front of you, there is so much force in the club pulling your arm. If you get the club in the correct arc and let the club go, the momentum of the club will monitor how much the club rotates.

The momentum of the club rotates the arm along with the force of the club. You don’t have to force your arm to rotate; this motion happens automatically.

Players feel pressure in the chest when they swing down. That is your left arm externally rotating on the downswing. This is how you pressure your chest. You don’t do this by spinning your body. You start the swing, and you ride the momentum throughout the swing.

LEFT ARM ROTATION AT IMPACT

How your body moves is an important part of the swing. It is also a big speed and control producer (if it works correctly). However, if it is trained incorrectly it can make it almost impossible to reach your speed and control potential. It can also potentially create patterns that can lead to injury.

Ask Malaska Golf-Body Motion

The latest additions to the Ask Malaska Golf Collection.

Ask Malaska Golf-What's New

Distance control is one of the most overlooked but most important skills in golf. You can read the green perfectly, line up the putt exactly right, and still miss if your speed is off. That&rsquo;s why Day 2 of this series is focused on helping you control distance by improving face control and center contact. Most golfers think they need a different stroke for every length of putt, but the real solution begins with delivering the putter square, striking the center of the face, and developing feel over time. In this lesson, Mike Malaska shows how to train speed and accuracy using drills that provide instant feedback. He starts with a simple face control drill using a box. A straight roll means your face was square. A twist to the left or right means the face was closed or open. Then, he teaches a progressive distance ladder drill to develop touch across short, medium, and longer putts. You will also learn how to apply this on uphill, downhill, or flat surfaces, so your stroke adapts to real-world conditions. Mike also reminds you that each day in this program is not a tip&mdash;it is a training session. Don&rsquo;t just roll a few balls and move on. Spend time. Build the skill. This is how real player&rsquo;s practice.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn About Distance Control in Putting: How face angle affects roll, even on short putts Why center-face contact is essential for speed control How to use a box or board to check face alignment How to build feel with the distance ladder drill Why practicing on different slopes helps you adapt under pressure
This session is about feel, precision, and building habits that last. Once you control the face and find center contact, speed control becomes repeatable.
Key Takeaway: Speed control is the foundation of great putting. Face control and center contact give you that speed. Practice with feedback and commit to the work.

Day 2-Control Distance in Putting

Renowned 2024 Golf Digest Legend of Golf Instruction Mike Malaska has crafted the M-System Lite, which stems from the world&rsquo;s premier golf swing process, the M-System.
Mike has distilled the M-System's main concepts into 5 concise, impactful, game-changing videos designed to simplify and improve your game quickly.
Mike understands that many people may not have the time or commitment to invest in or commit to a lengthy training program like the full M-System, and the M-System Lite is the answer.
With just 5 videos, you&rsquo;ll witness remarkable improvements in your swing and see your score drop dramatically on the course.
The M-System Lite starts with an overall introduction video from Mike. Then, videos on M1: Line of Compression, M2: The Lever System, M3: How the Body Works, M4: Combining Skills, and M5: Practice. This all aligns with the original M-System M1-M5, and these are the most important concepts to understand from the M-System.
The M-System Lite is a fast track to a better golf swing, and mastering these 5 videos will undoubtedly pay off in lower scores and increased confidence.
Once you have mastered the M-System Lite, you can continue your golfing journey and augment it with the full M-System.

M-System Lite

Milo discusses fundamentals that start off every lesson, and every practice session. These include grip, posture and ball position.

Lesson With Milo Lines

This conversation with Eric Cogorno about hip movement in the full swing is one of the most important concepts I think every golfer must understand. The idea of turning vs. rotating is key to building a solid foundation for your swing. 

FULL SWING HIP MOVEMENT WITH ERIC COGORNO

A Malaska Golf Member has a question about a video that Ashley Malaska Moss did on the L to L Drill.Mike Malaska explains that many of the drills are slight exaggerations. When you do the L to L, you move from the ‘L’ on the backswing to ‘L’ on the follow-through and hold that position. However, if your body stops, the momentum of the club swinging through will cause the club to turn or flip over.Mike demonstrates from straight-on, where you can see the rotation in his arms. This is what they were asking about.When Mike does the L to L, he doesn’t swing hard and holds the ‘L’ on both sides. That way, his arms are stopping, and he is able to do the drill.If he goes to full speed while doing the L to L, then some rotation in the arms will happen. The momentum of the club will take over as it swings through on the follow-through.Again, drills are exaggerations. Mike actually likes to see people do the L to L drill while loosely holding the club in their fingers. Mike explains that this is so that you can feel the momentum and weight of the club, making your wrists hinge, unhinge, and rehinge. This is better than trying to hold the club too tight and start hanging on the club with your shoulders. Drills like the ‘Look Cool’ drill help you create the momentum of the club.Start holding the club loosely, then add a little structure and tension until you find the correct pressure when doing the L to L. That’s how you build it.Remember, the L to L is a slight exaggeration. Some things wouldn’t happen in full swing. Mike also notes that because your body stops, your wrists will rehinge earlier than they would in full swing.The L to L is there for a reason and is a slight exaggeration, but if you master it, it will pay big dividends.

L to L is an Exaggeration

Transition is a very important aspect of your swing. Learn how the change of directions works.

THE SWING, STEP, AND HIT DRILL

The main Malaska Collections are just the start of what we have planned for Malaska Golf. Here in Malaska Originals, we highlight our curated video series with more to come on the horizon.

Malaska Golf Originals

Most golfers struggle with chipping because they try to help the ball into the air. They flip their wrists, lean back, or slow down through impact. But that is not how good players&rsquo; chip. As Mike Malaska explains, the ball gets in the air because of the loft on the club, not because you try to lift it. And the motion you need is one you already have. It is your putting stroke. Day 3 is about applying the same movement you have been working on&mdash;center contact, face control, and body connection&mdash;to your chip shots. The difference comes in your setup. By placing the ball slightly back in your stance and shifting pressure toward your lead side, you create a downward angle that helps you catch the ball first and brush the turf after. Mike shows you how to keep everything else the same. The hands, the right arm on the shaft, the motion&mdash;none of that changes. This is chipping built from your putting foundation. In this lesson, you will learn how to train proper contact with the dot drill and how to get immediate feedback using a sand-line drill. These simple tools show you exactly where your club is landing and help you feel the difference between a solid chip and a mis-hit.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn About Chipping: How to use your putting motion for clean chip shots Why ball position and setup create launch&mdash;not wrist action How to use a dot on the face and the ball to train center contact Why you should hit the ball first and brush the ground second How a sand-line drill gives instant feedback on strike quality
Mike emphasizes that this is where you begin building your full swing. The mechanics remain the same. The setup changes. You are not inventing a new motion&mdash;you are adapting what you already know and learning how to control the bottom of the arc.
Key Takeaway: Chipping is putting with a lofted club and a new setup. The ball gets in the air because of the face. Catch it first, then brush the ground. Keep the motion simple and trust what you have trained.

Day 3-Off Green Putting

M-System Lite M3: How the body works. This video focuses on this, especially the pelvis, which is an integral part of your golf swing.Mike is holding a cardboard cutout of a pelvis to illustrate how the hip sockets work. A black circle in the center (the center of your pelvis) and two others on either side represent the hip sockets.Understanding how the hip sockets move is critical to understanding how the rest of your body works. The pelvis is the stability and base for the upper body, and your lower body tells the pelvis what to do. Once you understand how the hips and pelvis work, the drills in M3 will make a lot of sense. Mike explains that, at this point, you already have most of the golf swing established.The M-System M3 goes in-depth about the pelvis and includes drills and exercises. This is important because people don’t use the pelvis correctly.Mike takes the cutout representation of the pelvis and places it on the ground behind a golf ball. Mike explains how the pelvis moves and works in relation to setting up to the ball. He notes that the goal is for the center of your pelvis not to move closer to the ball. You want to be farther away from the ball when you hit it.Most people get into trouble when they try not to sway; they kick their knee and stabilize their right hip, but their hip socket doesn’t move.Your pelvis moves closer to the ball on the backswing. Then, you try to push off your right foot again, and your body gets closer to the ball.Mike explains that the Tour Player’s left hip socket moves slightly laterally while the right hip socket moves back. They don’t move their hips much at all. In fact, their hips work away from the ball when they swing, accelerating the club out to the ball. It is important to feel how the hips work this way instead of moving closer to the ball.Next, Mike has a drill to demonstrate how this force feels and how you do that with a golf club. This is a great drill to feel how this force moves and how you offset forces with your golf swing. Mike has a couple of exercise bands with handles on one end. Javier stands on the cord ends while Mike holds onto the handles. The exercise bands are crisscrossed. This exercise is like the cable cross at the gym.Mike demonstrates how pulling the handles back and forth mimics the golf swing and how the pelvis, hips, and feet work. Note the pulling action, which moves your body away from the ball. The force pulling at Mike is the same force a golf club does.Next, Mike takes his driver out to replicate the same motion and hit the ball. Now, you are starting to feel how you are moving force in your feet. Your feet are an important aspect of your swing, and you should focus on that. The feet will tell your pelvis and body what to do.

M-System Lite M3-How The Body Works

A Malaska Golf Member has a question about grip and whether it is the same when using wedges all the way up to the driver.Mike responds that some of it is and some of it isn’t. When Mike grips the club, he makes sure that it is in his fingers, and when he closes his hands, he has the maximum amount of lever potential. This allows his wrists to hinge the way they are supposed to.Mike says, on all your full shots, yes. However, when Mike takes a wedge out, instead of his club being in his fingers, it’s a little more on a diagonal in his hand.Mike does this because he doesn’t want his wrists to hinge as much. The club is now a lot shallower, and you don’t want a lot of up-and-down in the swing. You want to keep it shallower to control the angle of approach and the flight of the ball.Again, Mike does change his grip, adjusting the position of the club in his hand a little bit to accommodate the up-and-down motion of his wrists.You don’t want to do that with the driver. The driver is in your fingers because when you swing back, you want to be able to lever your wrists and get the maximum amount of speed out of his hands and the lever system.

Different Types of Grip

The driver and putter are the two most important clubs in the bag. With the driver, it is essential to hit the ball a decent distance and control where it goes off the tee. It is crucial to get started the right way. You can't play the game if you can't hit your driver well. It won't put you in a position to chip or putt the ball because you are out of play all the time. Learning to hit the driver well is paramount to playing the game. Hitting a driver well is the most enjoyable part; everyone likes to see how far the ball goes. The problem is that what people perceive will make the ball go farther and what makes the driver move fast is incorrect. What people attempt to do with tension and effort to make the club move faster actually slows the club down. When you put everything together, you can have fun with how the driver works, how those forces work, hitting the ball farther, and controlling the golf ball. When you go through The M-System Driver series, you will learn different parts of what you are trying to do to get the right feel of swinging the driver. If you get out of sequence and one part doesn't work, and you try to make the ball go far or create more speed, then you are creating speed the wrong way. This is harder to control the clubface and to be able to have fun. Getting off the tee successfully and getting the ball in play can make the driver the most important club in the bag.

Driver

Chipping is just off green putting. The ball gets in the air because of the loft in the face. Set up with your weight or force slightly on your lead foot. This changes the angel of approach to the ball. You are catching the ball on the face then brushing the ground. The loft of the face gets the ball in the air. Put a dot on the face on the fourth grove from the leading edge. The back of the ball and this dot connect. You use the same line of compression that you did in putting.

CHIPPING THE BALL IN THE AIR

Once you have a proper grip then it becomes how your hands control the face. To learn this you need to hit different shots. How your hands manipulate the face is what makes the ball curve. You need to curve the ball to the left, to the right, and be able to hit it straight. Practicing these curves until you can make them happen on command is a basic skill and task. It is very important that you have this control before you move too much speed. You are only as good as your ability to control the curve on the ball or the face.

Face Control

Sammy Slice tends to slice the ball 40 yards. This Quick Fix Friday is to fix this.

There are two ways to do that.

First, set the clubface more closed because when Sammy swings his driver, the clubface is open.

The other solution is to change your grip. Turn your left hand clockwise and turn your right hand counterclockwise.

Practice this grip on the range and decide what nuances you need to make so that the ball goes straight.

Take this new “Fix” and go out and play.

Sammy Slice How to Hit the Driver Straight

Flop shots from the bunker with focus on release.

BUNKER FLOP SHOT AND RELEASE

How to check and re-set your vesibular system -- the balance center in your inner ear.

BALANCE EXERCISES

Now that we know where Impact Position is, let's train our swing from here.  This will give you a strong sense of how to get to the ball.

IMPACT - PART II

Malaska Golf Certified Coach Matt Baker based in the United Kingdom is answering a member question.We've got a question here from Richard Solman, who is talking about parallax and how it's really helped his game and improved his ability to visualize alignment. This is a fundamental aspect of improving your golf game because getting alignment right is crucial. There's an old saying: "What you see, your brain receives, and then your body reacts." What you're seeing at address is often different from what's actually happening or what's correct, and it's important to understand that.Parallax refers to the difference in perception when you're standing behind the ball, aligning yourself towards your target. You can even practice this in a net. When I address the ball, my eyes have a different perception of where my start point is. Where my start line is crucial, and when I look at the target from here, it might appear far left of where my actual target line is due to parallax. However, I know that everything is aligned squarely toward my target.It's very important to get this correct and to work on it. Using alignment aids like lines or sticks down the fairway will help you get a better visual of what you're aiming for. If I'm standing over the ball and perceive the target as left of where I intend to start the ball, my body will naturally react to that perception. I'll end up swinging to the left, thinking I'm correcting the aim, but that's why it's essential to practice alignment.Some people like to use a marker; for example, I can use the end of my stick. Others might use a spot in front of them. However, when I'm standing here and looking at it, it might seem way off to the right, like it's hitting the side of the net, when it’s right online. That's parallax, and it's crucial to work on this so your body reacts correctly at address.Focus on your start point, and your body will react by starting the ball on the right line. Mastering parallax and alignment is essential; it's the basic 101 of alignment that every golfer needs to learn.

Parallax: Key To Accurate Shots

The M4 Coaching Series by Mike Malaska delves into the critical concept of offsetting forces, focusing on how the hips and body movements interact with the club to create effortless power, consistency, and stability. This session emphasizes that by properly pushing against the forces generated by the club, golfers can achieve straighter arms, better alignment, and a swing free of unnecessary tension.
A key takeaway is the importance of hip motion during the swing. Instead of moving level, the hips must tilt and rotate back and up during the backswing, and down and in during the downswing. This natural arc of motion minimizes pressure on the lower back while promoting stability and speed. Relaxed arms and wrists, combined with these offsetting forces, allow the club&rsquo;s momentum to straighten the arms naturally, avoiding forced or tension-filled movements.
Through slow, deliberate practice, golfers can feel how their hips, shoulders, and feet coordinate to offset the club&rsquo;s force effectively. This balance of internal (body) and external (club) forces creates a dynamic yet stable swing. By maintaining proper angles and avoiding misaligned rotations, players can unlock both power and efficiency while reducing the risk of injury.

M4 Coaching Series-Offsetting Forces And Hips

The pivot or rotation of the body has to be in sync with the club motion. The key with pitching is as the club moves through impact your lead leg pushes your lead hip socket farther away from the ball than it was at address. Also your trail shoulder moves level not down through impact. Timing these three motions. The swinging of the club. The movement of the lead hip and how the trail shoulder works. All in harmony is one of the main tasks in all swings.

PIVOT

A Malaska Golf Member has a question about forward press, where at setup, you push your hips a little open and then swing back.Mike has studied the history of golf, which started in the 1800s, the original teachers and what they did, and numerous videos. Mike was on a quest to find out what happened to his swing after he finished playing professionally.&nbsp;Mike has studied from the beginning what these guys learned and how the swing developed based on equipment and all the different variables.Mike returned to the member's question about forward press. He said about 90% of golfers up until 1982 had a slight forward press. The reason for this is that they wanted to start the swing with some sort of ‘kick start.’Then someone decided you shouldn’t forward press after getting into the setup position. The new thought was to bounce or take a deep breath to start your swing. According to Mike, this was from someone who wasn’t even a golfer.This new setup didn’t even get you into an athletic motion; it just froze you up.Dr. Kwon, a prominent biomechanist, says when you set up to the ball, you should go left to go right to go left. This concept Mike has been preaching for years.&nbsp;Mike demonstrates the motion. Mike uses the analogy of other sports to reinforce this idea. In basketball, if you are guarding someone and they move right, then you have to go left first to go right, and the opposite is true if they go left. This is how sports work.Back to golf, Mike says if you want your backswing to go to the right, you have to go left to go right. Doing this gets the sequence moving and gets you where you aren’t static.What Mike does is he has a little left to right to go left in his swing. When he does this, it times his swing, and he is not starting from a static position.Having a slight kickstart, like Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Bobby Jones, or Ben Hogan, is probably a good thing. Mike thinks it’s crazy that we stopped doing this, and now everyone is putting it into their swings.Mike is a big proponent of this because it triggers the motion athletically.

Trigger Your Backswing

This Ask Mike comes to us from John DeFrancisco. By the way, Matt Baker, hello! Matt does a lot of great work. He’s over in England, and he’d be here today, except the flight was a little too long. So, hey Matt, how are you doing?This question is one that gets asked a lot. It tends to annoy me a little, which is great because I like being annoyed—it gives me a chance to be annoying back! The question is about the Look Cool Drill and how the clubface actually works through the ball. I’m going to take this one because I hear it so often, and it’s about exaggerations and putting circles together.All right, let’s get into it. You guys are going to have to move so I can demonstrate. The Look Cool Drill looks like this.When I’m doing the Look Cool Drill, if you watch the clubface, the face goes from here, comes down to there, and then moves up to here and over there. Through this movement, the face is rotating more than it would in my normal swing because my body isn’t moving. But this little action here—the clubface—is doing exactly what it should. It’s here, here, there, and there.The difference is that the handle of the club isn’t moving very far, so it looks like there’s a lot more face rotation. But if I take this same action and start moving my body—like in my full golf swing—the face does exactly what you want to see. When I take my body out of it and just swing my arm, you’ll see the handle pivoting, which makes it look like the face is twisting faster. However, the face is staying close to a 90-degree angle to my swing arc.The biggest issue I see with the Look Cool Drill and the L-to-L Drill is that people don’t fully understand the wrist movements. For example, when you go from here, your left wrist is flat. Now, if I use only my left arm and move to the other side, what does my left wrist do? It cups.When you add the right hand, on the backswing, your right wrist is in extension, and as you go through the swing, it moves into flexion. During the backswing with the Look Cool Drill, the left wrist is flat, and the right wrist is bent. At impact, and then as you follow through, the roles switch—the right wrist flattens, and the left wrist bends.When you do this with one hand, sometimes there’s more rotation than you want. If I overdo it, yes, the face rotates too much. The goal of the Look Cool Drill is to let the weight of the club drop and pivot naturally. See what I’m doing here?This doesn’t require strength—I’m only holding the club with two fingers. The idea is to let the club’s momentum do the work. As the club pivots, the face naturally moves through the arc. If I let it flip too much, the face closes. But the goal is to feel how loose your wrists need to be and how the club’s weight creates the pivot.If I do this with my left hand and let it flip back, the face might close, but that’s an exaggeration to help feel how much the club’s weight contributes to the swing. The drill teaches you how to relax the wrists and let the lever system work effectively.As simple as this looks, most students struggle to do it correctly when starting. They can’t figure it out because they’re too tense. This motion—this pivoting action—is the same as throwing a ball, serving in tennis, or any similar movement.The Look Cool Drill is all about using the weight of the club to train your hands, relax your wrists, and get the lever system working naturally.

Swing Better With The Look Cool Drill

A Malaska Golf member wants to know how to get a stock shot.Mike stands on the range, hitting multiple shots, and watches what curves are easiest for him. That is usually a draw.That’s the shot he sees, the one he has played most of his career, and the one Mike goes to when he is under pressure.Some days, Mike hits the ball solid, and it fades a little, so that will be the shot he starts with.The Member has an issue hitting a fade and ends up pull-hooking the ball. He wants to know how to hit his driver without pull hooking it.Mike demonstrates a pull hook with an oversized club. He explains that the only way to pull hook is if the club is closed relative to the path.It happens because you are turning your hand and wrist over. If your grip is correct, the motion with your hand is more of a throwing action, so your hand won’t turn over. Then you won’t pull hook!Phil Blackmar, an ex-PGA and Champions Tour player, helped Mike find a go-to shot: a slight fade. At the time, Mike was going to the Senior Tour School and competing that year. Mike needed a shot that he could be aggressive with and knew the outcome of.They decided on a shot where Mike could hit the ball as hard as he wanted without turning the face down.Every time Mike hit his driver, the ball would always fade because he wasn’t twisting his right hand. Mike demonstrates the hand action that makes the ball fade.If you want to get aggressive with your shots, ensure your grip is correct and work your hand through impact like a throwing motion.If you do this, you won’t turn the club down and pull hook the ball. Practice this with small, short shots and then gradually add speed. Do this, and you won’t pull hook!

Be aggressive and Not Hook

Billy Fitzgerald, a Malaska-certified coach, addresses a question from Malaska Golf Member about the "left-right-left" movement in the golf swing—starting with pressure on the left side, shifting to the right, and then back to the left. This movement is a technique for generating momentum, and Billy notes it’s a question he receives often.Billy explains that this movement helps restore a sense of athleticism in the swing. In many sports, shifting weight to the opposite side before moving adds power by creating something to push off from. This left-right-left sequence not only enhances athleticism but also improves timing and rhythm while preventing a static start.One of the most common challenges he hears from golfers is difficulty initiating the swing. Billy explains that the left-right-left motion helps start the swing by signaling to the body that it’s time to go. He suggests that it’s a great addition to any pre-shot routine, helping break up the feeling of stiffness.To illustrate the concept, Billy references Vijay Singh, a golfer known for his smooth rhythm. Singh’s technique included a slight knee kick that would initiate a leftward shift, then back to the right, and finally left again in the swing—a consistent and powerful rhythm, regardless of the club he was using.Billy demonstrates his own routine with a balance board to practice shifting weight. He encourages students to place initial pressure on the left, then move right and return left in the swing. He notes that this slight movement brings rhythm to the swing, allowing him to initiate it smoothly, stay athletic, and easily pull the trigger at impact.

Power Up With Left-Right-Left

Matt Baker, a Malaska Certified Coach, is subbing for Mike this week. A Malaska Golf member who has a strong grip is struggling with what happens with the left wrist post-impact. He also wants a little more clarification on this.

The member says that with a weaker grip, he can get the feel and visualization. Matt says you do the same thing whether you have a weak or neutral, strong grip.

The first thing you must remember is that with a strong grip, you will be more stable with the clubface, and the club will be more stable through impact.

Matt demonstrates the hand action and says that the hands go into extension, and the wrist bends back on itself through impact. Matt illustrates his left arm rotating after he has hit the ball; his left arm folds, and the left wrist goes through extension. Matt says that when he does this, his left palm is facing the target on the follow-through. This facilitates the throwing action through the shot.

This is as easy as it should be! Matt uses a frisbee to illustrate this when he is teaching. Matt picks up a frisbee and shows the hand action of the left wrist. You wouldn’t want to roll your wrist in this throwing motion. The frisbee would flop to the ground.

Throwing a frisbee is the same feeling you want when you swing a club past impact. This is the same throwing motion of the hands and left wrist.

Matt summarizes this as he swings through and hits the shot, palm facing down; as his left arm folds up and rotates, his left wrist bends back on itself into extension.

Left Wrist Through Impact

Throw the Sand, Don&rsquo;t Hit the Ball (Learn the Simple, Repeatable Way to Get Out Every Time) Bunker shots don&rsquo;t have to be scary. In this bonus lesson, Mike Malaska simplifies the entire concept: you&rsquo;re not hitting the ball&mdash;you&rsquo;re throwing the sand. Everything you&rsquo;ve learned over the past 21 days&mdash;body motion, arm structure, face control&mdash;still applies here. But instead of striking the ball directly, you use the sand to lift it out. By learning to stay on your lead side, swing through the sand, and direct it toward your target, you gain immediate control over a shot that frustrates most golfers. The best part? The feel and technique you develop here translate directly from your full swing foundation. Mike breaks down the setup, motion, and mindset required to become consistent in the bunker. You&rsquo;ll learn that where the clubface points doesn&rsquo;t matter nearly as much as where you throw the sand. This tip alone will change how you approach every greenside bunker. Plus, Mike demonstrates how staying on your left side and trusting your motion will keep you from falling back or digging too deep.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn About Bunker Play: Why bunker shots are all about throwing sand, not hitting the ball How to set up on your left side and stay there throughout the swing Why your target is the sand&mdash;not the ball How face setup and swing direction control your sand (and ball) trajectory How to train consistently with simple visual cues like a line in the sand
Key Takeaway: Stand on your left side, hit behind the ball, and throw the sand toward your target. If you can move the sand where you want it to go, the ball will follow&mdash;every time.

Bonus Video 1-Bunker Play

The lever system is essential for generating speed, consistency, and ease in the golf swing. This system relies on relaxed wrists, proper grip, and synchronized body movements to maximize efficiency and power. Mike Malaska introduces drills like the "club toss" to help players achieve the correct grip and looseness, enabling the club to move effortlessly.
Key to this technique is the ability to maintain independence between the arms and the shoulders. This separation allows golfers to accelerate their arms freely, creating speed without unnecessary effort. Practicing this independence, combined with a relaxed grip and proper lever mechanics, enhances swing fluidity and consistency.
By focusing on the lever system, golfers unlock one of the major components of swing speed and control. The drills and techniques in this lesson guide players in developing efficient, powerful swings with less effort, resulting in better distance, accuracy, and overall performance.

M2 Coaching Series-The Lever System

Wrist action stays at a 90 degree angle of your swing arc.

WRIST ACTION

ENJOY THE GAME MORE Golf is not a complicated sport when you really think about it. Mike, or one of our certified instructors will answer your question with the M-Sytem learning process at the core to every response. It&rsquo;s been played the same way for hundreds of years. Our goal is to give you a better understanding of why things happen the way they do. So, ask us anything. If one of our videos raises a question, post your question in the comments section beneath it. Every week or so we will be exploring the most common questions, and we post our video responses right here for everyone in the Malaska Golf community to see.

Ask Malaska Golf

The M5 Coaching Series highlights the importance of dynamic movement and balance in your golf swing, dispelling the myth that feet should remain static during play. Mike Malaska encourages golfers to embrace movement, just like in other sports such as baseball, tennis, and bowling, where footwork plays a critical role in fluidity and power. Practicing with a step-back, step-forward motion can help develop better body mechanics and improve swing transitions.
Dynamic balance allows your feet to naturally adjust within your shoes, facilitating proper force distribution and maintaining stability throughout the swing. Overly static feet can lead to an over-reliance on the upper body, resulting in inefficient motion and poor control. Instead, golfers should learn to minimize unnecessary foot movement while still allowing for natural dynamics to support the swing.
Mike emphasizes that watching professional golfers reveals the importance of foot movement in achieving balance and power. By incorporating dynamic footwork into practice sessions, players can achieve smoother transitions, better timing, and greater consistency in their swing.

M5 Coaching Series-Use Your Feet And Dynamic Balance

M4 emphasizes blending the body&rsquo;s movement with the lever system to create a cohesive and repeatable swing. Key concepts such as change of direction, ground forces, and offsetting forces are explored in depth. Golfers refine their ball position, alignment, and posture, ensuring static and dynamic consistency for long-term improvement.

M4 Coaching Series

Certified Coaches

A Malaska Golf Member has a question about Moe Norman and Ben Hogan. Mike has had the opportunity to see them both hit golf balls.

Back in the 80s, Moe Norman hit balls for Mike at the finals of the Tour School. He hit balls for 45 minutes, and Mike was amazed
at how good Moe could hit it. Mike was also able to see Ben Hogan hit balls for about 15 minutes, and that experience was unbelievable.

The Member's question is about hand action. Did they both have the same hand action and lever system? They did not.

Moe had the club more in the palm of his hand as he had big grips on his clubs. He flattened or bowed his left wrist when he took the club away. Then, as he turned into the ball, he hit it and released the club on the follow-through. Moe didn't twist his forearm. Mike demonstrates how Moe sets up and hits the ball.

Hogan had a much weaker grip, and as he took the ball away, he would have a little cup in his left wrist. He wanted the clubface to be on the swing plane with his right palm facing out. Moe Norman's right palm was facing down. Because of this, Norman had much less face rotation in the club than Hogan did.

When Hogan took the club back, he had a lot of rotation in his forearms, palms facing up, and then he rotated his forearms really hard through the ball. This looked a lot looser in his wrists.

Now, Mike demonstrates Ben Hogan's swing.
Mike tried to imitate that same swing for a long time early in his career. Mike had difficulty timing the rotation of the forearms for that style of swing. The benefit of this swing style was that it helped Hogan not to hook the ball. Hogan wanted a hand action, an application that felt like he had two right arms. He wanted to be able to rotate his forearms as hard as he could and not hit a pull hook. This will work for you, but it isn't easy to time the clubface.

The two swings were very different, but where they were similar was if you stopped them both at impact. This is the most important position in the game, and there are many ways to get there. Moe Norman and Ben Hogan were very different but also very proficient in their golf swings.

Ben Hogan and Moe Norman

Pepe Cortez, a PGA Golf Professional since 1995, has been helping students become better golfers for over 26 years in the Seattle area. Pepe fell in love with the game as a young boy playing golf with his father and went on to play competitively at junior, high school, and collegiate levels. After graduating from the University of Oregon, he went to work at Sahalee Country Club under the Director of Golf, Rick Acton. He taught there for 26 years and is now teaching at Snoqualmie Ridge Golf Club. His approach with his students is grounded in the foundational teaching of Jim Flick and Mike Malaska, who both helped him improve his own game. But it was Mike&rsquo;s mentorship over the past two decades that solidified Pepe&rsquo;s understanding of the golf swing and fueled his passion for teaching. Pepe is proud to be a Malaska Golf Certified Instructor and is excited to help you reach your full potential as a golfer. You&rsquo;ll better understand how the golf swing works and how the body works through the swing.

Malaska Certified-Pepe Cortez

Place a chair behind you with the back of the chair at a 45 degree angle to the target line. Then set up to the ball with your lead hip touching the chair. Then as you swing back make your trail hip touch the chair. Then as you start back to the ball move force up to your lead leg and start pushing the chair back away from the ball or target line as you swing into and through the ball.

CHAIR DRILL

Joe hated a "floating right elbow." See what he wanted you to feel and learn how pivoting your right elbow will automatically steer your hands and arms.

PIVOT YOUR RIGHT ELBOW

Take the club and turn it around. Hold the club head end. Swing the club back and forth. Try to feel the weight of the club as it swings and the arch it is in. Then turn the club around hold the grip end and do the same thing. It will be much easier to feel the force in the club as it swings. And the arch it is in. Next do the same thing but let the weight and force in the club make your wrists hinge unhinge and rehinge.

WEIGHT OF THE CLUBHEAD

The lever system is one of, if not the biggest speed producer in the golf swing. If you do not have a solid understanding of the main components: Grip, Face control, Lever System, Arm Path and Club Head Path, you will fight the swing forever. These are simple but most of the time they are over looked. This could be the main reason you are struggling with the game. It really is simple if done in the correct sequence of learning.

M2-The Lever System

M1 introduces the fundamentals of the golf swing, focusing on concepts such as the line of compression, grip, and body mechanics. Through drills and techniques, players develop consistency in setup, short-game skills, and full-swing mechanics. By incorporating elements like trajectory control and athletic patterns from other sports, M1 establishes a strong foundation for swing development.

M1 Coaching Series

First set up without a club. Make a backswing. Let your shoulders turn then just let your arms drop without moving your shoulders. Once you can do that then as your arms drop let your shoulders follow your arms. Then take your club and copy the same routine. Set up in a closed stance. That gets your trail hip out of the way. It makes it easy to turn. Then let your arms just drop and then as the club swings down let your arms pull your shoulders into impact.

ARM DROP WITHOUT TENSION

The lever system is one of if not the biggest speed producer and critical skill to learn. It starts with the proper grip.Then it is how do you get the club to accelerate. How do the hands work, what is the correct path of the arms. Being able to create the correct lever system, the L to L. And finally how do you get the club into the correct arch so that it is very stable through the ball. These are the basic tasks that should drive your swing. With out them it is hard if not impossible to reach your distance and control potential.

THE LEVER SYSTEM - REVIEW

In this on-course Player Lesson, Mike Malaska works with golfer Kenneth Garcia to improve the quality of his strike and overall ball contact. Like many players, Kenneth is making solid swings but struggling with inconsistent contact, sometimes hitting behind the ball and sometimes catching it thin.
Mike begins with the foundation of all good ball striking: the grip. By adjusting Kenneth&rsquo;s lead hand position and placing the club more securely in the fingers, Mike helps him create better face control and a more stable connection to the club.
From there, Mike explains the three essential impact skills every golfer must learn: face control, path control, and angle of approach. While most golfers focus on face and path, Mike explains that controlling where the club bottoms out, the low point of the swing, is often the real key to consistent contact.
Through simple practice swings and visual feedback drills, Kenneth learns how to train the club to brush the ground in front of the ball. Mike demonstrates how great players monitor where the club contacts the ground and use that information to improve their strike.
This lesson introduces the critical relationship between grip, strike, and swing arc. By improving his setup and learning to control where the club meets the ground, Kenneth begins building the foundation for consistent ball-then-turf contact, the hallmark of solid golf shots.

Kenneth Garcia-Player Lesson Series

IMPROVE EVERY DAY Whether you&rsquo;re a Tour Pro or a weekend player, there&rsquo;s always room for improvement. The more you understand about the forces at work in the golf swing, the better you&rsquo;ll be able to control the club face and strike the ball. When I&rsquo;m on the range or on the course as a coach, I do my best to explain these natural forces in a way that reveals the &ldquo;a-ha moment&rdquo; for players. It doesn&rsquo;t matter what your handicap is, seeing how other golfers are applying their understanding to improve will ultimately help you fine tune your swing as well. I&rsquo;m also going to share firsthand experiences at some of the world&rsquo;s finest courses, so you&rsquo;ll know what to expect when you visit and play. This is what the Player Lessons section is all about.

Player Lessons

Your body learns through patterns. Learn how to start feeling and developing the right movements.

HOW YOUR BODY WORKS

SET-UP USING THE TOE

Thank you for being a part of Malaska Golf and for continuing as a member. What we have for you here is some incredible insight from the greatest player in the history of golf. Jack Nicklaus was kind enough to allow Phil Blackmar and me to interview him, and we talked extensively about what he did at Augusta&mdash;how he approached the course and how he managed to win so many Masters.
What you're going to find here, as he walks through different shots and situations, is a wealth of knowledge that will help your game. It&rsquo;ll also help you see the course differently&mdash;both Augusta and the courses you play&mdash;and use the same thinking and strategies that made Jack better to make you better.
Because at the end of the day, it's about understanding yourself and how to play the game. Jack was the best at that&mdash;and he's going to help you with your game. So make sure you stay tuned and watch. We've got over an hour of content from our interview with Jack, covering every part of the game&mdash;how he learned, how he plays, and how he thinks.
It's really incredible. There's an unbelievable amount of information in here, and much of it I&rsquo;ve never even heard Jack share before. A lot of it he&rsquo;s never really talked about publicly. So it&rsquo;s going to be fascinating for you to hear&mdash;and even more important, to apply to your own game.
Now, let&rsquo;s take a specific example. I always like the 12th hole at Augusta.
The 12th at Augusta is a hole where, when the pin is on the back right&mdash;which it was during the final round when Tiger last won&mdash;the green sits at an angle, left to right and slightly away from you. If you bring a draw into that green, you're going into the short side every time, and you're bringing the water into play.
For some reason&mdash;and I don't really know why&mdash;the wind always seems to affect that shot more when it&rsquo;s going out to the right. It&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ve learned over the years. I actually hit it in the water on 12 during the second round of my very first year at Augusta.
But since then? I&rsquo;ve never hit it in the water again. Even at age 60. I learned why. And I saw the same thing happen in 2019 when Tiger won. I watched Koepka, Poulter, Molinari&mdash;all of them dump it in the water. Every single one of those shots was coming in left-to-right, with the wrong shape and angle.
At that point, Tiger hadn&rsquo;t yet won the tournament. But then I watched him step up and hit this perfect little left-to-right cut&mdash;just over the left center of the bunker&mdash;right into the middle of the green.
I said to myself, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s turning it over. He remembers how to finish.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s exactly what I did in &lsquo;86. I remembered how to finish. I drew on what I had done before and applied it to the situation. And I knew he would do the same thing. And he did. He won the tournament. And I give him a ton of credit for that. He was terrific.
Now look&mdash;everyone plays a shot differently. On 11 at Augusta, you're out in the fairway, and you obviously don&rsquo;t want to hit the ball in the water. Some guys play a cut off the water. Some play it way out to the right and draw it back in. Some just aim for the right side of the green.
Who's to say what&rsquo;s right? There's going to be a right way for you. And there was a right way for me.
For me, I never liked cutting it on that hole. I didn&rsquo;t want to aim over the water. I didn&rsquo;t want to risk not being long enough. I always aimed at the front right of the green. I didn&rsquo;t mind having a sidehill lie, because I knew I couldn&rsquo;t hook it too far. That angle let me eliminate the trouble and simplify the shot.
To play well at Augusta, there are about six shots you really need to watch out for&mdash;or you&rsquo;ll be on your way home early.
1. &nbsp;Your tee shot on 2 2. &nbsp;Your second shot on 11 3. &nbsp;Your tee shot on 12 4. &nbsp;Your tee shot and second shot on 13 5. &nbsp;Your second shot on 15
Those are the key shots at Augusta that can get you into trouble. If you can play those holes smart, control what you're doing, and avoid big mistakes, then the rest of the golf course is manageable. Well, not easy&mdash;but manageable. And if you can do that, you&rsquo;ll give yourself a real chance to be there at the end of the day. That&rsquo;s how I figured out how to play Augusta.
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Masters Secrets With Jack Nicklaus

Now Mike Malaska wants retired MLB pitcher Garrett Richards to swing a longer club, a 7-iron. Mike adjusts Garrett's grip and says he should see three knuckles on his left hand. Mike can see four knuckles. Mike puts his thumb on the side of the shaft, and his right hand comes in to complete his grip. Mike uses a Sharpie to draw on Garrett’s glove to show him how everything lines up.Garrett’s first shot is mishit off the hosel, but his next shot is much better. Mike starts laughing because he is amazed by Garrett's hand speed. This is because of baseball.Mike still isn’t completely happy with Garrett’s grip because his left hand isn’t as strong as he wants it to be. He also wants to work on small shots so Garrett can get a feel for how to control the clubface and hit different shots with his new grip.To illustrate this, Mike takes the club to hit different shots. When he makes his backswing, he challenges Garrett to call different shots for Mike to hit. He calls a high, low, fade, and a draw. Mike tells him to call any shot to make, even combo them. This exercise is to teach Garrett that it is important to control the clubface. Mike believes it will be easy for Garrett to do so because of his experience as a pitcher and his ability to control baseball with his fingers. Mike wants him to make that comparison from baseball to golf.Mike takes the clubhead in his right hand and shows him how he uses the pressure of his hand to control the clubface: low, high, curve it left or to the right. Then he shows him how it moves in his left hand and then with both hands.Mike explained to Garrett that he had time in the backswing to make small adjustments with his hands to hit different shots. Mike compared this to making slight corrections when throwing a baseball, which Garrett could easily do. Mike put the clubface in Garrett’s hand and showed him all the different shots he could make.From now on, when Garrett grips the golf club handle, he is essentially holding the clubface.Garrett sets up to the ball, and Mike is going to get him to practice curving it. Mike emphasizes that the Tour Players are savants with their hands and can make the clubface do anything. Once Garrett can do this, his game will get really good.Mike gets Garrett to hit different shots and to make different adjustments to how he hits the ball. If he hits it straight, then program that feeling, and if he curves it, then do the same thing. As you practice correctly, it’s all about programming your hands and the clubface to hit shots.&nbsp;Garrett wants to know how it works with left-handed pitchers. Mike says he can still work with them as their right hand is still pretty good. They can feel it in either hand as long as their grip is on correctly.&nbsp;Mike tells Garrett that most hockey players show up to golf where they slap-shot it from the left and play golf from the right or the reverse.With the strong grip, Garrett hits them straight, but now Mike still wants him to hit a curve. Mike encourages him to use his right index finger and try to throw a slider to curve the ball. Garrett hooks the ball. Now Mike wants him to use his finger to throw a curve ball with his middle finger. He hits a fade. Mike emphasizes that you have to curve the ball a lot before you start curving it a little. Now Mike wants Garrett to pressure the club like he is throwing a fastball, and he hits it straight.This makes a lot of sense to Garrett, who notes that when he doesn’t do it right, he can feel it. He knows what the ball is going to do when he hits it based on the pressure he applies to his fingers.Now Mike wants Garret to hit some low shots. Garrett launched the ball at about 17 degrees, perfect for a 7-iron. The ball was compressed well and had the right angle of approach. That’s what he wants to feel at impact with a 7-iron. Mike says that Garrett currently hits the ball too high, but this shot was perfect.Garrett says that when he hits the ball high, it feels like he is dropping his backside (in baseball terminology). Mike explains that golfers talk about ‘covering it’ and not getting stuck behind the ball and flipping it.Mike gets Garrett to hit some shots but wants him to flight the ball down with less speed. Garret makes a couple of shots. Mike wants to work with Garrett on wedge shots and make sure his grip is on correctly. If it isn’t, then he is dead with his swing. Mike goes back to the baseball swing and says that the left hand is a chopping action, and the right hand is a throwing action. There is no twisting motion at all. The swing on the follow-through is just like hitting baseball.

Garrett Richards-How to Control the Clubface

In this second video of the Player Lesson series, Mike Malaska works with Jimmy Pearcy to tackle a key issue hindering his swing: excessive grip tension. Jimmy, eager to improve both power and consistency, discovers how his tight grip is restricting his speed and efficiency, preventing him from reaching his full potential on the course.The session begins with Jimmy warming up by hitting a few shots, allowing Mike to observe his natural swing. Jimmy shares details about his practice setup at home, which includes a mat, a net, and a Flightscope Mevo in his garage. Mike praises this setup, explaining that practicing indoors can be highly effective. Without the distraction of watching ball flight, players can focus solely on improving their swing mechanics and striking the ball solidly. Mike encourages Jimmy to take advantage of his setup, emphasizing that consistent, purposeful practice is more important than frequent visits to the driving range.As Mike studies Jimmy’s swing, he identifies a critical issue: Jimmy is overly reliant on his shoulders, while his wrists and arms contribute very little to the motion. This lack of engagement from the wrists and arms limits Jimmy’s ability to generate speed, forcing him to work harder and achieve less distance. Mike explains that the majority of speed in a golf swing—84%, according to biomechanical research—comes from the lever system in the wrists and arms. By gripping the club too tightly and not allowing this lever system to function, Jimmy is sacrificing a significant amount of potential power.To illustrate the concept, Mike uses an analogy from tennis. He explains how a tennis serve relies on a relaxed grip and the natural snapping motion of the wrist to generate speed. By contrast, a tight grip and stiff motion result in a loss of power. Mike demonstrates the similarities between a tennis serve and a golf swing, highlighting the importance of allowing the club to release naturally through impact.Jimmy begins practicing with a looser grip, following Mike’s guidance to feel the lever system in his wrists and arms. As he does, he immediately notices a difference—his swing feels freer, more fluid, and more powerful. Mike reinforces the idea that relaxation is key to generating speed in any sport, whether it’s hitting a baseball, serving a tennis ball, or swinging a golf club.Mike also emphasizes that the amount of grip pressure required varies depending on the situation. For example, a forehand in tennis may require slightly more tension due to the ball’s momentum, while a serve relies on maximum looseness for speed. In golf, maintaining a light grip during the swing allows the club to move naturally, enabling the player to generate power without overexerting.By the end of the session, Jimmy gains a new understanding of how to loosen his grip and effectively engage his wrists and hands in his swing. He learns that speed and power come from allowing the club to work in harmony with the body, rather than trying to control it through force. With this knowledge, Jimmy is better equipped to improve his swing speed, consistency, and overall performance on the course.This lesson marks an important step in Jimmy’s journey to becoming a more efficient and confident golfer. By addressing the root cause of his tension and introducing practical solutions, Mike sets Jimmy on a path to unlock greater power and control in his game.

Grip Tension Kills Speed

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

M-System Lite M4: Combining Skills. This video is about putting the golf swing together.&nbsp;Mike has a practice station set up on a tee box. Now that you are combining skills, focusing on one thing at a time before combining drills is important.First, you want the Lever System to work. This starts with the ‘L to L.’ Make swings and get a feel for how the hands, wrists, and Lever System work.Next is the Step-Back Drill. The biggest problem in golf is that people tend to have early extension in their golf swing. Mike explains that golf is the only sport where you don’t move your feet. To teach you to move correctly, Mike uses this drill to get your hips moving.Mike has two balls on tees set up in front of each other. He sets his club in front of the first ball. As he swings back, Mike steps back his left foot, then his right foot, and hits the ball on the second tee. This drill teaches you to get your hips out of the way as you step back. It is impossible to get up into the ball when you do this. The key takeaway is that it teaches you to move away from the ball.The most important thing that ties everything together is Impact Position. Mike sets up with his driver and then demonstrates the impact position. He toggles back and forth from Setup to Impact Position. Set up to the ball, move to your impact position, and just make small hits. This drill helps you feel where you need to get to.Mike is putting this together in full swing and copying his impact position. The impact position ties everything together and is the most important position to understand.Once you understand what the task of the impact position looks and feels like, your golf swing will start to eliminate anything irrelevant to impact. This is a better way to think about your golf swing than focusing on different positions in the backswing.Mike reiterates that impact drives everything you do. This topic is discussed in M1, Line of Compression. M1 to M4 ties everything together and is task-oriented. Do your tasks correctly, and you will see incredible results in your golf game.

M-System Lite M4-Combining Skills

If you just sit in a chair and take the club set it on your trail shoulder with your arms relaxed. The handle of the club is pointed straight away from you. Then just direct the momentum of the club out away from you and let the arms and wrists react. There is no of very little rotation in your body. The handle will pivot. The club head will accelerate. The lead arm will straighten then fold up. Understanding and being able to do this is what your swing really feels like. IF you add body pivot to this action you will gain a tremendous amount of club head speed.

THROW THE CLUB DRILL

The M3 Coaching Series by Mike Malaska explores the connection between shoulder action and hip movement, highlighting their importance in creating a functional and repeatable golf swing. This segment focuses on how the shoulders and hips must work in harmony to reduce strain on the spine and improve overall swing efficiency.
A key takeaway is the importance of maintaining proper alignment between shoulders and hips, which should move parallel to one another while respecting the spine's natural mechanics. Misalignment, such as tilting shoulders too steeply or keeping hips level, can create unnecessary stress on the back and lead to injury. Mike introduces drills to help golfers develop proper motion, including the slap drill, which trains the shoulders and hips to move cohesively.
The video emphasizes the role of the feet as guides for hip and knee movement. Correct footwork, such as rolling the feet inward rather than outward, ensures that the hips tilt and rotate effectively, facilitating powerful and consistent swings. By practicing these patterns, golfers can protect their backs while improving their performance.
The M3 Coaching Series delivers a practical approach to understanding and improving shoulder and hip coordination, providing golfers with tools to build a swing that is both effective and safe.

M3 Coaching Series-Shoulder Action And Hips

When you set up to the ball what your eyes see as the start line is way off. You need to set sticks up so you have a target line and a stick about 6 to 10 feet in front of your target line stick. Directly on the target line. So when you set up to the ball. You then actually see the correct start line to make the ball go at the flag or destination. Being able to understand this picture is a big part of trusting the correct path into the ball. With out the sticks you would never really trust the correct start line. This is a big reason players aim right and come over the top to hit the ball.

TARGET LINE & PARALLAX

The final video in the M-System Lite series is M5: Practice. Now that you have combined M1 through M4, it’s time to practice correctly.Mike explains that when you are going to practice or even go out to play, the first thing you should do is get loosened up. He uses a pair of stretch cords to do multiple exercises and stretches. He loosens his shoulders, does curls, and exercises to work on bending and rotation. Making sure that you are loose before you practice will help your swing be more consistent, and you will have less chance of injury.&nbsp;Mike has a practice station set up on a fairway. He emphasizes the importance of setting one up when you are practicing. You need to be consistent with setting one up to get better. He has an alignment stick for the target line, a reflective stick for where he wants the ball to start, another stick to line up shoulders, eyes, hips, and maybe your feet, and the last stick for ball position.Mike sets up to the ball the same way every time, with whatever club he is using. Mike must have the same visual picture and target. Now, Mike swings and watches the ball flight relative to the target. The ball was right at the hole, so that was the feeling that he was looking for.Mike talks about training aids or objects to help with your swing. For instance, if you are swinging ‘over the top,’ then a good way to help you swing back to the correct path is using a head cover. Mike places a head cover, lined up to the side of the ball. If Mike swings from the inside, he will miss the head cover and hit the ball. If, of course, he swings over the top, he will naturally hit the head cover. This is a great way to test the path of your swing and give you immediate feedback.The next important thing to practice is face control and path control. Mike makes a practice swing, curving the ball to the left, then he will curve the ball to the rightand hit the ball low and then high. This is all about face control.Next, Mike focuses on path control. He wants to hit the ball so that it starts on the right side of the reflective alignment stick. Mike must make sure that he comes down from the inside on his swing to curve the ball to the right of the stick. This is path control. Then, Mike will curve the ball to the left, training his arms to swing on the correct path. Now, you put face control and path control together.Mike has set up the practice station on a course because when he is on the range, this is what Mike visualizes. When Mike is on a range, he sees a fairway or a hole that he is hitting at. Most people on the range are just randomly looking out at the range. Think about a shot you will make out on the course. Set up and hit the ball; picture that fairway or green. This is a great way to set up and visualize different shots you can make in different situations. When Mike was young, he practiced this way because the golf course he belonged to didn’t have a range. Mike would practice for many hours with an alignment stick on the ground. He was lucky to use the golf course as his practice area.The key learning here is to set up on the range like you really play and put time between shots. Putting time between shots while you practice is more like how you play in a round of golf. You don’t hit shots continuously, one after another. Make a good shot, wait a minute, and then try to duplicate it. If you can, great, and if you don’t, then think about your miss and how to correct it.If you practice this way, it will pay off tremendously, rather than just hitting random balls and hoping you get better.

M-System Lite M5-Practice

The shaft fits diagonally in your fingers and the heel pad folds on top of the grip. The thumb is slightly to the side and here's why.

LEFT HAND PART II

The golf swing is one fluid motion. Once you can identify what your impact position looks like, practice making small swings.

LOWER BODY AND THE LEFT HIP

To loosen up and strengthen your fingers hands arms and shoulders. Start with the golfers grip. This strengthens the fingers and hands that you use for golf. Then do flex and extension of the wrists. This loosens up the wrists for the swing. Now take your elbow up and over your head with your arm bent to stretch your triceps. The next is to connect your fingers in front of you with your palms facing the ground. Now raise your arms up and over your head. This loosens your shoulder sockets. The last is the swimmers stretch. All swimmers do this just before a race. They loosen their shoulders and swing their arms around their bodies. It loosens up the shoulders to prepare for the race. Same in golf.

THE LEVER SYSTEM - FITNESS

A Malaska Golf Member has a question about the Malaska Move.Mike says the funny thing is that he had nothing to do with it. It was a move that Joe Nichols taught Mike, and several other coaches talked about it.Mike shows the Malaska Move, where you start down on your swing, and the club works back out in front of you rather than going out in front of your body.The Member’s question is if he does the Malaska Move, will it make his hands tip over the top and go over in the follow-through? Mike explains that won’t necessarily happen. When the club is on the downswing, when you change directions, the handle comes down, and the club will go out.The momentum of the club will be in the right arc as you turn into the ball. You don’t have to catch it up.A lot of the twisting of the clubface happens because the club is too back and out. Mike demonstrates this. You have to either twist your body hard or catch the club up with your hands.If you do the Malaska Move, where the arms and handle come down, with the club going out, you can just turn on the ball, and the clubface will run into the ball. There is no twisting of your forearms because the momentum of the club is out in front of you, and everything stays together as you hit the ball.It is all about directing momentum. It feels one way. It does something different.

The Malaska Move

The golf swing is like a tug of war. You are constantly offsetting the force of the club. As it starts to swing back you are pushing forward. Once the club changes directions you are again constantly pushing away from it. So your body becomes and offsetting and stabilizing force for the club. As the club swings through impact you are pushing back and away from it. The same happens throughout the follow through. This is something you do daily. Once you understand it the swing starts to time itself.

TUG OF WAR

To get into impact. Take your posture and set up. Then move just a little bit of weight or force into your lead leg. As you are doing that push your lead hip back away from the target line. This will pull your trail hip forward. It will drop your trail shoulder and your trail arm will now be no the shaft plane. Once you feel that portion. Then go back to address and do it again. Keep duplicating the process of set up and impact. The more you understand that feeling the easier it will be to develop your swing.

Impact

Jack Nicklaus shares Augusta insights to help you play smarter and finish stronger.

Golf Talk-Masters Secrets With Jack Nicklaus

The M5 Coaching Series by Mike Malaska introduces a focused, deliberate approach to practicing on the range. Emphasizing the importance of control and consistency over speed, this video guides golfers on building effective habits for long-term improvement. By utilizing structured setups, deliberate motions, and visual cues, players can train their hands, clubface, and body to work in harmony.
Mike stresses the importance of starting with small, controlled motions, such as waggling the club to train hand and wrist movements. This foundational action ensures the clubface maintains proper alignment and avoids twisting during the swing. Gradual progression from chip shots to full swings helps establish consistency while reinforcing proper mechanics. Visual aids like alignment sticks and target markers create clear paths for the club and ball, improving accuracy and feedback.
Consistent routines, including grip, posture, ball position, and swing patterns, are vital for reliable outcomes. Mike highlights that random practice leads to inconsistent results, while disciplined, repetitive practice develops muscle memory and dependable performance. By focusing on precision and gradually adding speed, golfers can make lasting improvements in their swing and ball striking.

M5 Coaching Series-Practice On The Range

A Malaska Golf Member has a question about feeling relative to where his hands are pointed. This is a really good question, as Mike always says, ‘Your hands control the golf swing.’ If you can control what your hands do, then there is a good chance the clubface will work.Now, if you aren’t connected to what your hands are doing or your grip, you are trying to do everything with your hips. Your hips don’t control the face.The Member’s comment is that as he is working on grip, line of compression, and impact, he feels like his left palm at impact is facing down and more into him, as opposed to facing out and up.Mike talks about what hurt him in golf. He had had his grip changed, and as he came into the ball, he had to bow his wrists.Mike got pretty good at this until he broke his wrist and tore a tendon. This was Mike compromising that joint.Now, instead of facing down, Mike’s palm is facing toward his leg. Mike said that what the member is feeling with his palm is a really good thing.If your grip is correct, it is a chopping action with your left hand and wrist. Your palm will be facing in if you do it this way. As you swing through, your arms straighten, and the release action is up. You don’t twist or rotate the club as you swing through. There is a big difference.If you use the grip Mike talks about, your joints line up, you hit the ball, and your hands work. It’s a good feeling to have your palm facing down and toward you, then toward the sky.

Hands Control the Golf Swing

From set up. Your force or weight is even in your feet. Your toes are quiet. As you go to impact. Force goes to the heel of your lead foot. Your toes on that foot lift. On your trail foot. As you come into impact the force in your trail foot goes first to the inside of your trail foot, then towards the ball off your foot. This will make your toes start to grab. Your feet or how you pressure the ground makes your body move.

FORCE IN YOUR FEET

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

Building your skills from chipping to full swing.

THE FIRST SKILL - CHIPPING

Hi, and welcome to another Ask Mike. I’m Matt Baker, a Malaska Golf Certified Coach, and this week, we have a question from a gentleman named Lance Yednock. He's been working on transition, really liking it, and starting to feel some power while doing so. That’s great news because that’s what the M-System is all about.Lance’s question is about something Mike often talks about—working on transitioning earlier. Lance mentions that when he tries this, he tends to go a little quick from the top and comes over the top, as he puts it. His question is whether you can work on transitioning earlier in a way that keeps the shoulders turned and works into the downswing.Well, yes, there are two ways to approach this. The first method, which we talk about a lot at Malaska, involves throwing a ball. This simplifies the concept and removes much of the technical jargon. Throwing a ball is a natural movement, and as the arm goes back, the body instinctively starts moving forward. So, as I go back, I’m not pausing or holding anything; my body begins to move forward. This creates a natural transitional movement. When throwing a ball, this happens instinctively.The same principle applies here. As you take the club back and reach about the midway point, your lower half is already starting to move forward. This creates a moment where the lower body transitions forward, and a differential is created. As the club moves back, the hips start moving forward, creating a difference between the hip turn and the shoulder turn. This increases the angle, creating what I call a differential. It’s an athletic movement that happens naturally when done correctly.The second method is similar to what Lance describes. Tour players often approach this by focusing on holding their shoulders back as they swing back, then starting the downswing. One way to practice this is by holding the golf club behind your shoulders. Swing back and hold the shoulders in place with your left (gloved) hand while starting the transition earlier with your lower body. This exercise helps create that differential while reinforcing the proper sequencing of the swing.Both methods are correct. The key is starting the transition early. Working on this movement allows the hands and arms to drop naturally into place, creating speed and power. As you transition, focus on creating the differential between the shoulders and hips. This will help produce the “snap” in the swing.To summarize, transitioning early is vital for generating speed and power. Whether you approach it by throwing a ball or practicing with the shoulders held back, the goal remains the same: create a smooth, athletic movement that enhances your swing. I recommend trying both methods and finding what feels most natural for you.

Transition Timing Secrets

A Malaska Golf Member who is left-handed has a question about the right thumb. When he swings a club, his right thumb is sore, and he wants to know why. If you are right-handed, then your left thumb will often be sore. Mike explains that your right thumb is one of the biggest killers in golf. Mike uses an analogy of other sports to describe where the thumb is on a baseball bat, tennis racket, ping-pong paddle, and hockey stick. Mike says that the thumb is never on the top of the club because it puts a lot of pressure on it.The tendency in golf is when you put the thumb on top, and in this instance, we are talking about the member’s right hand when he puts his thumb on the back of the shaft, the right thumb should act like a stabilizer as he swings to top of the backswing. As you come down through the ball, if Mike didn’t have his left hand on (as a left-hander), his thumb would float on the club. It wouldn’t be pushing on the club. What happens when you swing down, the right thumb on a left-handed player or the left thumb on a right-handed player, is that your thumb is pushing into the shaft. This slows your wrist down and makes it tight. All the force gets pushed into your thumb instead of your wrist releasing with no pressure on your thumb. This is where the thumb kills you.First, make some swings like a baseball player and take your thumb off the handle. Mike sets up and hits the ball. Because his thumb is off, there is no pressure on the shaft.Now Mike grips the handle again, but this time, he just places his thumb there. He isn’t going to push; Mike is just going to set it there and cover it with his back hand. The goal is to keep the tension out of the thumb.Again, the thumb is there for stability on the backswing and follow-through, and there is no pressure on it.

Trouble With Your Right Thumb

Grip is the first and possibly the most important skill or task. How your hands are on the club determine what you are going to have to do to square the face. Your lead hand goes on how you're arm hangs. This is so when the momentum of the club pulls on your arm the grip squares the face. This is also a strong hit position for that lead arm. Your trail arm goes on with your palm as a mirror image of the face. This arm is to push the shaft and accelerate the club head not twist the face. If your grip is correct then squaring the face becomes much easier.

LEVER SYSTEM GRIP

The M-System Coaching Series by Mike Malaska provides a structured and progressive approach to mastering the golf swing. Spanning five series, M1 through M5, the program emphasizes foundational principles, body mechanics, and effective practice techniques to help golfers of all skill levels achieve consistency, power, and enjoyment in their game.
M1 introduces the fundamentals of the golf swing, focusing on concepts such as the line of compression, grip, and body mechanics. Through drills and techniques, players develop consistency in setup, short-game skills, and full-swing mechanics. By incorporating elements like trajectory control and athletic patterns from other sports, M1 establishes a strong foundation for swing development.
M2 builds on this foundation by teaching golfers to master the lever system, refine their grip, and develop face control. Central to the series is the interplay of hands, wrists, and arms, which drives both distance and accuracy. Using natural athletic instincts, players learn to create fluid and powerful swings while minimizing strain.
M3 shifts focus to body mechanics, teaching players how to harness the body&rsquo;s power while maintaining safety and efficiency. With an emphasis on offsetting forces and proper alignment of the pelvis, hips, and shoulders, golfers learn to engage ground forces and reduce injury risk. Functional movement patterns and exaggerated drills like the chair drill highlight the importance of integrating the body and club.
M4 emphasizes blending the body&rsquo;s movement with the lever system to create a cohesive and repeatable swing. Key concepts such as change of direction, ground forces, and offsetting forces are explored in depth. Golfers refine their ball position, alignment, and posture, ensuring static and dynamic consistency for long-term improvement.

M-System Coaching 

Hi, my name is Matt Baker, and I'm a Malaska Golf Certified Coach based in the UK. This is a great question from Russ John. His question is whether you should hold the angle in the right wrist at impact or throughout the swing.The answer is no, you shouldn’t forcibly hold that angle. Doing so creates tension and can cause you to lose speed and power by dragging the handle through impact. Instead, you want your wrist to hinge and unhinge naturally, with proper timing.At impact, there should still be a slight flex in the right wrist, but after hitting the ball, the momentum of the club will cause the right arm to extend and form a straight line, followed by the wrist hinging up. This slight wrist flex at impact is due to correct use of the club's momentum, and it's all about timing the hinge and unhinge properly.A key tip is to practice the pivot drill, which helps time everything correctly. Some golfers tend to stop their hips, releasing the wrists too early. By tying the swing to proper body movement—pushing the hips back and away from the target—you can create the right release at the right time for a solid, compressed shot.Instead of focusing on holding the angle, work on pushing the left hip back and through. Practice with smaller shots to get the feel, ensuring the wrists hinge, unhinge, and rehinge, along with the proper hip movement. This will help you strike the ball cleanly and generate more distance.

Don't Hold The Angle At Impact

Practice working on swinging the club with the trail arm. This drill helps you keep your shoulders level, not slide your body, stop the up and down motion in your wrists, and get your hips out of the way as you pivot through the ball.

TRAIL (RIGHT) ARM DRILL

Hi, my name is Matt Baker, and I'm a Malaska Golf Certified Coach based in the UK. Today's question comes from a gentleman named Mark Hughes. I know Mark—he’s from Wales—and he’s been working on the four-step drill. His question is: when he performs the drill with a driver, it works well, but when he uses an iron, he tends to hit the ball out to the right. He’s checked his grip and says it’s okay. So, he wants to know what might be causing this issue.First, let’s recap the four-step drill before addressing the problem. The four-step drill is designed to help build a good backswing and establish a sense of where the club should be in time and space at the end of the backswing, ready for transition into the downswing.To perform the drill, take your address position over the golf ball. Lift the golf club and rest it on your right (trail) shoulder while maintaining your golf posture. Turn your body by pushing your right hip back and feeling pressure shift to your right heel. This gets you to the end of your backswing position. Push your arms away to achieve the correct top-of-backswing position, then swing through and hit the ball. This sequence—address, step one, step two, step three, step four—is excellent for building consistency and understanding proper club positioning.Now, let’s diagnose what might be going wrong. The first thing we always check as golf professionals is the grip. A poor grip often causes the clubface to stay open, leading to shots that veer to the right. If the grip is too weak (hands positioned incorrectly on the club), the clubface can remain open during the swing. Mark has confirmed his grip is fine, so let’s explore other possibilities.One common issue we see is the left wrist position at the top of the backswing. Sometimes, when performing the four-step drill, golfers create a "cupping" motion in the back of the left wrist. This happens when the wrist hinges upward, leaving the clubface pointing downwards (toe of the club pointing toward the ground) at the top of the swing. This cupping often results in an open clubface through impact, causing shots to go right.To fix this, aim to keep the left wrist flat or slightly bowed at the top of the swing. This keeps the clubface square or slightly closed. Focus on your left wrist position as you swing back. Avoid hinging your wrist excessively upward, and work on achieving a flat wrist at the top, ensuring the clubface is at a more neutral angle. From the front view, the left wrist should align with the forearm, and the clubface should be angled rather than pointing straight down.If the grip and wrist position aren’t the issues, another possibility could be improper hand rotation through the swing. However, nine times out of ten, the problem lies in the cupped wrist. Practice focusing on your left wrist position during the drill, and this should help you immensely.Let me know how it goes!

The Four-Step Swing Fix

Understanding these basic swing concepts is pivotal to having a great golf game. Line of compression is the relationship of trail forearm to club shaft. Second is set up, now roll the ball. Then add both hands. The next step is off green putting. Set up change and angle of approach changes. Pitching first with one arm to feel arm and shoulder action. Then add trajectory control. Finally add two hands and the pivot of the body. Club trail arm, trail shoulder and lead hip sync out with each other.

SWING CONCEPTS - REVIEW

The most important swing you&rsquo;ll ever make might not involve a golf ball. In Day 8, Mike Malaska introduces a foundational drill using a baseball bat and a tree&mdash;or even just a stick and a tire. Why? Because the basic motion of hittingis something your body already understands. As a child, you learned to throw, catch, and hit. Golf becomes easier when you reconnect with that athletic instinct. Mike shows how this baseball-to-golf drill teaches you to flatten the lead wrist, push with the trail hand, and sequence your motion without overthinking. By practicing this swing into a solid object&mdash;like a tire&mdash;you develop natural speed, rhythm, and body rotation. You also learn how to strike through the ball without flipping, twisting, or steering. This is more than a drill. It&rsquo;s the athletic blueprint behind every great swing. You can practice it anywhere, and it builds automatic feel for how your body should move to generate real power.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn About Swing Pattern Training: &bull; How the baseball swing pattern mirrors a powerful golf swing &bull; Why your trail hand must push and your lead wrist must flatten &bull; How to feel proper sequencing and release without hitting balls &bull; Why this drill eliminates the need for conscious face control &bull; How to use a bat, stick, or molded grip to groove motion at home This is a motion your body already knows. You&rsquo;re not inventing something new&mdash;you&rsquo;re remembering something natural. Mike recommends doing this drill weekly, even daily, to reinforce your swing pattern and develop feel that carries onto the course.
Key Takeaway: Athletes don&rsquo;t think positions. They feel motion. Reconnect with the baseball-to-golf swing pattern to build real speed, natural release, and consistent contact&mdash;without relying on timing.