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In putting and in all swings you want your trail arm to line up with the shaft and push the shaft through the ball. You do not want any twisting in your forearm. If you put the club in your lead hand again as you swing your arm is in line with the shaft and your lead wrist does not twist. It can flex and extend but should not twist. Practice these independently and together. 

RIGHT ARM - LEAD ARM ONLY

Throwing a ball creates proper body motion and sequence.

BALL TOSS

Hi, my name is Matt Baker, and I'm a Malaska Golf Certified Coach based in the UK. Today’s question comes from Lisa Barton, who has been playing golf for about 20 years. She mentioned that she’s struggling with her arms separating from her chest during the swing. Despite working with many golf professionals and trying various techniques, she hasn’t found a solution.This issue shouldn’t be too hard to fix, but it’s important to understand it visually. The problem is likely caused by rolling the club away during the backswing, which pushes the handle of the club further from the body, resulting in the arms separating from the chest. To fix this, we need to change the perception of the swing.A helpful drill involves using an alignment rod or a club. Line it up so that it’s in line with the butt end of the club. Visually, this will help you trace the hand and the club’s movement along the rod. As you swing, focus on pushing the handle down and setting the wrist gradually while keeping the club head outside your hands. This technique will keep the arms connected and prevent the club head from going behind you.Joe Nichols referred to this as the "three corners drill." The idea is simple: the eyes see, the brain receives, and the body reacts. Push the handle down and hit that corner, and the rest of the swing should fall into place. It’s a great visual drill to help keep your arm connected without rolling the arm excessively.

FIX ARM SEPARATION

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

Mike Malaska works us through a drill that focuses on driver face control. He likes to refer to the driver as a placement club.

Mike places four balls on tees to hit different shots. He hits a hook, fade, and a low shot while getting control of the face. Mike hits the ball, making the ball curve to the left, and then takes other shots. This drill aims to get a feel of how to control the clubface and find what curve works for you.

You need to find a curve shot you can do comfortably. Making the correct curve can really open up the golf course if you play the correct fade. Many players play with fade and other draws. Mike is more comfortable playing the draw when he is under pressure. It is how Tom Watson played. There isn't a right or wrong way; it's whatever gives you the most control.

Mike once asked Jack Nicklaus, if you are playing a par 4 dogleg to the left, are you going to hit a draw around the corner or a fade? Jack replied that most of the time, he hits fades. Mike then said that if it is a dogleg left, aren't you supposed to hook it? Jack replied with his words of wisdom that he was trying to get the ball from point A to point B in the air and not rolling on the ground. The moral of the story is to play what works best for you and the shot that you have the best face control.

Practice on the range. Start by swinging slow and getting control of the clubface. Then hit big curves, big hooks, and big slices. Hit it low, hit it high, so you start to learn control and get your hands to control the clubface. That will pay big dividends when you go out to play.

FACE CONTROL

This Mulligan Monday can be done on the range or at home. Begin by putting your weight on your left foot and then put your right hand in front of you.

Then take your right arm back and make swings. As you swing down into the ball, your left leg must push the left hip out of the way.

Pushing your left hip back moves your right hip and your shoulders forward, which brings your arm forward.

The key is to feel that overall motion of swinging back with your arm and swinging back to impact. It is important to move your left hip out of the way.

Program this sequence into every swing you make.

RIGHT ARM LEFT HIP ACTION

It is imperative to grip the club primarily in your fingers and not in the palm of your hand. Mastering your grip is paramount to having the most leverage and strength in your hands.

GRIP IN YOUR FINGERS

When it comes to playing the game and understanding the mind, Mike’s good friend Phil Blackmar is probably one of the best in the world, in his opinion.

Mike was recently talking with Phil about hitting the ball solid and what works for Mike is that he focuses on just that concept. Making sure he hits the ball solid; Mike tends to hit the ball better rather than just thinking about making swings.

This comes down to athleticism, and it’s essential to hit the ball solid. Practice hitting the ball solid and putting the clubface on the ball. You can also practice different stances and takeaways but hit the ball solid.

When you start working on making the clubface hit the ball solid, your body starts making corrections as you swing because your body is focused on making your hands run the club into the ball. Then your athleticism takes over.

Like when you play tennis, when the ball bounces, your body reacts athletically to hit the ball. When you start hitting multiple golf balls your body athletically gets into position.

Practice hitting multiple balls solid. This is a great drill to train your mind and focus on hitting the ball solid with the clubface. It will start to eliminate things that aren’t relevant to your swing, like how your swing looks.

Putting the clubface on the ball is a crucial part of practicing.

HITTING THE BALL SOLID WITH ATHLETICISM

Joe Nichols viewed the shoulders as a pulley system when it came towards the beginning of the backswing.  He ingeniously linked the hips, the hands, and the clubhead lever system so that it was impossible to get the clubhead behind you.  This is part 1 of Joe's backswing.

PULLEY SYSTEM - BACKSWING - PART 1

Dedicate sufficient working on what you need. This sounds obvious, but it will maximize your practice.

MAXIMIZE YOUR PRACTICE

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

WADE MILEY

A Malaska Golf Member comments about starting with small skills and building them daily.

Mike believes this is the key to golf. Malaska Golf has the M-System that gives you a step-by-step process, and you should learn those steps. It is best to start that same way every time you practice. The Tour Players have the same routine.

If you can't do the small skills, you assume they will show up when you make a bigger swing.
They won't. Then, it becomes compensation after compensation to find the flaws in your big swing when it's actually in your basic skills.

Mike likes to make small shots with just one hand, swap to the other, and then use both hands. If you can't do these basic skills, trying to make big swings may not work.

Those little swings teach you to line the club up with the shaft and push it through the ball. This is called the line of compression, and once you feel that, it will show up in all your shots. The same relationship you make for the small swing shows up in the big swing.

Master the small skills and get a practice routine. Your swing will get so much better.

MASTERING BASIC SKILLS

How you play under pressure is very important. Learn how clubs are fitted to help you under pressure.

FITTING WEDGES TO TACKLE CRITICAL SHOTS

It is imperative to have your left leg push your left hip out of the way at impact position.

IMPACT POSITION

How to find a light grip pressure using a pre-shot routine on the course.

ON THE COURSE

Using the club face to pick the ball up off the ground requires face control. Learn how to gain control.

PICKING THE BALL UP OFF THE GROUND

Mike's gives Nocy, his guitar teacher, a golf lesson - and Nocy returns the favor.

NOCY KARKOUR

The ground is a very important factor of your game. How the club interacts with the turf will decide how your swing performs.

CLUB AND TURF INTERACTION

Practice needs to be very organized to get the most out of it. First make sure that you set up a practice station. Then have training aids that you can use to give feed back. That can be sticks or swim noodles or water bottles. Use sticks to train your perception of start line. Then practice like you play. Put time between shots. Do not be in a big hurray to just hit a lot of balls. Hit balls with a purpose not just for exercise.

HOW TO PRACTICE - REVIEW

Developing the skills for the short games are the same skills and or tasks that you use in the full swing. This is the basis for the full swing. Small swing success before big swing success. Plus your short game is where about 50 to 60 % of your scoring comes from. It is the area that you can make the most improvement the fastest and the biggest impact on your score.

SKILL PATHWAYS: SHORT GAME

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

So, the way the members play it, this is their third hole, or sometimes their 10th, 11th, or 12th hole. For us, it was the third hole, and I had just gone birdie-birdie and hit a perfect tee shot. This is where I told my caddie—and this is where you have to be careful about getting ahead of yourself—I'd played with these guys for two and a half holes.On this particular par 5, I had driven it about 20 or 30 yards past both of them. I could reach the green with an iron. I told my caddie, “Mark, these guys can’t beat me.” Now, that’s a nice thought, but I was only three holes into the round, and you’ve got to be really careful about getting ahead of yourself.The ball’s in good shape here, but I hit a tree, and I’m a long way out. The ball is sitting down in the rough, as you can see. Now, I could take an iron, but the problem with an iron is that it catches the grass, and the ball probably won’t come out cleanly.So I’m going to take this 7-wood, choke down on it, and hit a low bullet cut out of here. That club will get me just to the front edge of the green or just short. You can use this club, even if you're 150 yards away in this kind of rough, because it cuts through the grass much easier. A 7-wood or 9-wood out of the rough is ten times better than an iron because the grass catches the iron’s head, but it can’t catch the whole head of the wood, so it goes through the grass better. If you're playing a course with this type of rough, a 7- or 9-wood is invaluable for getting the ball up on the green or close.In the Open on this hole, a par 5, the only bad tee shot I hit was a pulled drive that caught the trees and kicked over. I took the wrong club—a 5-wood—and had to slice it 50 to 60 yards. I aimed it almost at another green and hit a really high cut, landing it on the front left part of the green.Just like that! I got it up over the trees, sliced it about 50 yards, and ended up on the front right part of the green. That was a turning point for me. If I had missed and hit a tree, who knows what would have happened. It probably wasn’t the best shot, but looking back at my career, that shot, given the conditions, was one of the best I’ve ever hit.This shot probably won me the tournament, mostly because of the momentum swing it created, which happens in every round. You look at this hole, a 180-yard par 3, with the pin in the very back right corner. There’s a big cliff on the right, and I got up here, and given how I was playing and how I was hitting it, I aimed at the right edge of the bunker. I hit it right at that edge, and it drew into the back right pin placement, about six feet from the hole. I made birdie and regained a two-shot lead.I’ve come back here many times, especially after I improved my swing, but I never had a consistent shot until now. Standing here today, I think about how comfortable you have to be to aim at that bunker and hook it into that back right pin placement. I wasn’t even thinking about losing it into the canyon because every shot I hit that day was solid with a little draw. I aimed at the bunker, drew it, and if it drew too much, it would land in the middle of the green.I hit a 6-iron back then, and today I’m using a little more club, but I’m going to aim at the bunker and try to hit the same shot. Wow, I hit the same shot. It’s interesting—here I am at 70 years old, and I’ve gone back to how I used to hit it as a kid. I had a lot of confidence. I stood up, aimed at the bunker, and hooked it into the back right pin placement.Again, this is about knowing what shot you can hit. When I stood here during the Open, I had no fear of that canyon. People have asked me countless times, “What shot did you hit? Where did you aim?” I simply aimed at the bunker and hooked it in there. “What if it didn’t hook?” Well, every shot I hit solid drew 5 to 10 yards, so I had such a consistent ball flight that I could count on it.Most people would aim at the middle of the green and try to cut it back into the back right pin placement, but I’ve never been able to do that. Even though in theory that’s the right shot, you have to hit the shot you’re comfortable with. That’s what I was doing at the time—hitting it solid, playing my game, and hitting my shots. It was good enough to beat some tour players and shoot incredible scores here as an amateur.Why did I change? I didn’t fully understand my swing, and I was trying to get better. That’s the scary part—when you start saying, “Let’s get better” just for the sake of it. This is about shooting a score and controlling the ball, and I had control back then.I’ve got 78 yards to the pin now, and I’m using my 58-degree wedge, which I normally hit about 80 or 90 yards. But since the pin is at the front, I have to carry it on and stop it quickly. So, I’m going to take a little loft off, hit it lower, and get a lot of spin on it.There we go, about three feet. Actually, that shot I just hit, compared to when I won, is one I didn’t have in my arsenal back then. Now, it’s all about those shots inside 100 yards, using a 58- or 60-degree wedge, flighting it down with a little draw or fade, so it hits, spins, and stops. These are the kinds of shots that make a big difference in your game.Yes, you want to work on your full swing, but controlling the face and trajectory inside 100 yards—those are the fun shots to hit. To me, that shot is more enjoyable than hitting a full driver."Birdie on the first, or birdie on the sixth."

STRATEGIC SHOT-MAKING

Set up a number of sticks. One is on your target line. The others are spaced apart to create gates to hit the ball between. As you practice make the same backswing but then change the path of your arms on the down swing to make the ball go through the intended gate. Start by making swings that start the ball way to the right. If you are a right handed player. Then gradually change the gate to make the swing path be less from the inside. This is teaching you path control with your arms. 

PATH DRILL GATES

MLM: HOW TO GRIP

SWINGING WITH A HEAVY CLUB

The task is to direct momentum for every club.

DIRECTING MOMENTUM

Setting up a practice station is very important relative to becoming consistent. First get four sticks. The first one you set down aimed at your target. The second stick goes on the ground parallel to the first stick and about one foot to the left of the first stick on a right handed player. The third stick is standing up in the ground about 6 feet infront of the first stick that you placed on the ground for your target line. The last stick goes down at a 90 degree angle to the second stick. It establishes your ball position. 

PRACTICE STATION

This Mulligan Monday teaches you that your putting stroke will help with your chips around the green.

Mike is set up about 10 feet off the green with a putter and a wedge. He takes his putter, makes a putting stroke, and rolls the ball onto the green.

Mike then grabs his wedge, positions it in front of the putter, and holds them together. Mike sets up again and makes the same putting stroke, but because the wedge has a lofted face, the ball gets in the air this time.

This is a great drill to make the transition from putting to chipping. You can feel your putting stroke while chipping. The only difference is that the ball is a little back in your stance, and your weight is also a little forward when chipping. You are also trying to catch the ball on the downswing. 

With putting, you are hitting the ball on the upswing. Other than that, chipping is your putting grip and putting stroke.

CHIP LIKE YOU PUTT

When you watch top athletes in other sports, they warm up first. They don’t go right into their activity, they stretch their body up. Do this in golf and you’ll be able to hit it better.

WARM UP FIRST

Adjust your grip to make the ball curve differently by setting the clubface more closed if you tend to slice the ball.

FIX YOUR TENDENCIES

Mike and Milo both use modified baseball swings in golf.

BASEBALL AND THE GOLF SWING

Once you have your elbow working correctly, add a shoulder lift.  This is the second part to building a solid shoulder rotation.

SHOULDER LIFT

Matt Baker, a Malaska Certified Coach, is subbing for Mike this week. A Malaska Golf Member has a question about playing in wet, soggy conditions, especially in the UK, where there is a lot of wet weather. This question also happens to be Matt’s question to Mike!

Mike’s first answer to Matt was to move. All kidding aside, Mike told Matt that he needed to change his angle of attack to be more shallow with the club.
Matt mentioned some great golfers who played in the UK would shallow the club nicely into the ball. This will have a dramatic effect on how you strike the ball.
If you come down too steep, you will catch the ball fat. The key is to practice swinging the club nice and shallow.

Working on the arm action loop will help you strike the ball better. You won’t hit those muddy lies if your swing is shallower.

WET SOGGY FAIRWAYS

Brian Gott stresses the importance of getting fit for the right putter. Learn how to use it and stick with it. There are many options, such as putters with different lengths, head styles, and grips. Visit a local club fitter and make sure you get fit for the right putter that works the best for you to help your game. 

On Day 1, Brian covers putting setup, stance, and grip. At setup, you want to have a good shoulder width stance, push back at the waist and let your arms hang down. When you set up, most people’s arms hang at different lengths, so the most important aspect is putter length in relation to your arm length. 

There are many ways to grip a club, and a lot of it is a personal preference. Ensure your putter shaft moves up with the forearms in your setup. Brian also uses a mirror and a chalk line to help visualize. You can also use tees to accomplish this. When you set up to the ball, ensure your shoulders and hips are square. Use the mirror to look down and see where our eyes are. They don’t necessarily have to be over the ball. Good posture and visualizing the line straight to the hole will improve your putting.

DAY 1 SETUP

Picking a secondary target can be value for parallax, but there is still a visual context you have to understand, because it doesn't look right even with a secondary target.

PARALLAX AND THE USE OF A SECONDARY TARGET

Fewer than 2 or 3 people I have worked with have had a correct grip. A correct grip is one that fits you and your body. Everything in golf is done with your hands so having a correct grip is critical.

INTRODUCTION TO GRIP

In golf for most shots you want the back of the ball to hit the center of the face. So place a dot on the club face. Four groves up from the  lowest grove and in the center of the face. Now put a dot on the back of the ball. The game is to connect the dots. This visual is critical to the Task your brain believes the game is. It is not to get the ball in the air. It gets in the air because of the loft in the face. Then hit some practice shots starting with one arm. Place the dot on the face on the back of the ball. Then make a small swing and connect the two dots. 

DOT ON THE FACE DRILL

Mike continues to help Austin understand how his right foot, leg, and hip impact his swing. Getting your body working together helps your add stability to your swing.

CONNECT YOUR HANDS TO YOUR FEET

Your wrist plays a hige factor in trajectory. Learn how to get your wrist working the right way.

TRAJECTORY CONTROL

Malaska Golf Certified Coach Matt Baker reviews the M-System M2: Arm Action Loop Drill.

Matt uses the M-System daily. It is one of his favorite drills. He also uses the drill with his clients online or in person. The Arm Action Loop Drill is focused on the golfer who tends to swing from the outside in, or “come over the top,” as it is called.

There are misconceptions about shallowing the club. Some golfers will shallow the club shaft down instead of shallowing the arms. The arms work on a different path going down as they do going up.

Matt likes to make the sports connection with tennis. He is holding a tennis racket in his hand to demonstrate this drill. When you bring the tennis racket back, it always starts high, and then your hands and arms loop under. This motion is an “up to under,” and the hands work in a slight loop. This drill helps Matt shallow the golf club down on the right path. Tennis is a great sport to feel this.

Matt illustrates this looping motion with the tennis racket, then holds the racket with the golf club to recreate the same swing.

Now you can see the tennis racket looping or shallowing with the golf club. When Matt or his clients feel confident with this drill, he has them do it with just the club. It is ok to exaggerate this loop action first and then dial it back down.

Matt concludes that you will begin to strike the ball well when you learn this drill.

MATT BAKER M2: ARM ACTION LOOP

Brian Gott, Malaska Golf Certified Coach is answering members questions. This question comes from a Malaska Golf member, who asks about using different clubs to achieve various distances.There are two ways to approach this: you can either maintain the same swing and change clubs to get different distances, or you can adjust the length of your swing—either longer or shorter—to vary the distance. The second approach is more challenging because it requires a lot of touch and practice. So, I recommend getting out on the range and learning how far each of your clubs carries. Remember, we’re focusing on carry distance, not total distance. Practice hitting different distances with each club.For instance, my pitching wedge goes about 155 yards on a full swing. If I want to hit that same 150 yards with an 8-iron, I’d use a half to three-quarter swing, which gives me the same distance with a shorter swing.To improve, pick a target and try hitting it with different clubs using various swing lengths—full, 80%, 60%, 70%. I often teach my students the clock system, where when your lead arm is parallel to the ground (around 9 o’clock), you see how far you can hit the ball with three different clubs.It’s easier to control one swing with different clubs, which is why you have a variety of clubs in your bag. Avoid taking too much off a club like a pitching wedge, as this can lead to chunking or blading the shot. You want good acceleration at the bottom of your swing, so shorten the swing slightly and change clubs to control distance.The key is to get out there, pick a target, and practice hitting different clubs at various distances. You’ll become a better player and have more tools at your disposal on the course.

MASTER CLUB DISTANCE

THE REAL CAUSE OF LAG

Mike received the 2011 PGA National Teacher of the Year award in large part due to his involvement with Fitness, Health, Human Development and helping to create a program called The Swing Game for the PGA. He learned a lot about fitness, the human body, and how it works while developing The Swing Game (a program designed to help kids age kindergarten to 12th grade develop all around athletic skills). In this new Fitness 101 Series, Mike taps into that knowledge and expertise of how fitness applies to the game of golf.

FITNESS 101

Mike discusses a lesson he gave where the member was having problems with hitting behind the ball.

The member on the backswing would return to their right side, and their whole upper body would shift to the top of the swing and stop. Then on the downswing, the member couldn’t get to their right side fast enough and would hit behind the ball.

Mike’s solution was the Left Right Left Drill. This exercise is an important drill because it’s the sequence of a golf swing.

You put weight on your left foot, then force on your right foot, back to your left foot, and then swing from the top transition point. Remember you are already to the left foot at the transition point, so your swing circle moves forward to catch the ball and then the ground.

The problem was when the industry said to swing to the stop and stand on your left foot. Then once you are there and stable, swing forward.
The problem with this is that you are so out of sequence, and it’s hard to get to your left side. You would end up being behind the ball or leaning forward too much to hit the ball.

Practice this drill by swinging the club forward to the left, then right, and back to the left. Your arms will swing and accelerate from the transition point through the ball.

STOP HITTING BEHIND THE BALL

Making the ball roll its line is a great way to practice making the ball go straight.

MAKING THE BALL ROLL ITS LINE

The lower body turns without invading the space.

TURN WITHOUT INVADING THE SPACE

Hear Mike speak candidly on his experience with Joe, what he's learned looking back, and why Joe's wisdom matters.

WHY JOE'S WISDOM MATTERS

The body plays an important role in evrey sport. The golf swing utilizes your body when it works correctly.

LOWER BODY

Being willing to exaggerate is the key to quick changes in your swing. It is very difficult if not impossible to make small changes. You can not feel the difference. So if you want change make big exaggerations. Then do less and less of the exaggeration. If you take the club to much to the inside and come over the top. What is the opposite. To take the club out side to much and come way to much from the inside. If you can do the opposite you will be amazed how quickly you can make changes. Do not be in a rush be patient and have fun with the process. 