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Mike Malaska, 2011 PGA National Teacher of the Year, was recently honored by Golf Digest and elevated, along with a few golf instructors, to 2024 Legends of Golf Instruction. Mike has won numerous awards and accolades over the years, and this one from Golf Digest is a crowning achievement by his peers.Mike has taught hundreds of thousands over his 50-year career and has worked on many golf swings.Mike is excited to present a golf training aid by Pure Swing Products, the Precision Impact Swing Golf Trainer. Mike is passionate about golf training aids that give people immediate feedback to help them with the game. When he finds that training aid, Mike likes to get involved and help promote the product.Mike is at FireRock Country Club in Fountain Hills, Arizona, to put the swing trainer to the test and review the product.In 2016, Mike developed a world-class swing process called the M-System. This was a culmination of his entire life's work of understanding the golf swing process. Along the way, Mike has worked with Jack Nicklaus, Jim Flick, and Joe Nichols. This mentoring, coaching, and experience have been pivotal in developing the M-System. In the M-System, Mike talks about how your hands work because they are your only connection to the club and the face. This is where this swing trainer comes into play.It is a shortcut to the learning curve relative to that M-System. Once you have this on and you know what you're trying to do with it, the Precision Impact Swing Golf Trainer will automatically give you immediate feedback as to whether your hands and wrists are hinging at the right angle in relation to your golf swing.&nbsp;The swing trainer will make you do things correctly, and that's a big deal. This is a great device that gives you correct and immediate feedback to ensure that you are practicing the right way. You want to make sure you aren't practicing the wrong way and wasting your time.What is excellent about the Precision Impact Swing Golf Trainer is that it can help you not only with putting but also with chipping, pitching, full swing, and even your driver.In the M-System, specifically M1, Mike talks about line of compression. So, how will this help you with line and compression? Mike demonstrates this by grabbing his putter with the Precision Impact on. He holds the putter straight out in front of him. The Precision Impact lines up with the putter shaft. Now you have a perfect line. When you hit a putt, you have a little forward press. As Mike moves his wrist forward, you can hear the Precision Impact click into place. Now, it is set to the right amount of forward press he needs to putt the ball. When he putts, it holds, and his right arm pushes the putter shaft right through the ball.

PRECISION IMPACT

Head movement is the subject of this Skill Pathway. Your head doesn't remain still, so how and why does it move, and what keeps it still? 

One of the biggest problems for players, especially amateurs, is how their heads move. The movement happens because they are trying to shift their weight.

Forces, not weight shift, are what causes your head to move. When you swing into your right heel, then into your left heel, and your left leg pushes back, your head moves as your body tilts. It is not because you are just moving it back and forth.

Mike stands on one foot and swings to demonstrate how his head doesn't move much as he pivots on one hip. He doesn't push off on his right foot when he changes direction and starts down.

It is vital to understand that you are not trying to shift your weight; you are trying to move force. Practice hitting on one foot to experience what it feels like to hit down into the ground instead of off the ground.

Correctly moving your body will make your head more stationary and not move around as much.

IT’S NOT ABOUT WEIGHT SHIFT

Learning to prepare for a tournament is a skill. There are certain things to focus on to maximize your potential to perform. If you follow these skills you will find yourself getting the most out of your game in the events you play in. If you just take on a tournament like any other round your chances of really being successful go way down.

SKILL PATHWAYS: TOURNAMENT PLAY

Bowling teaches motion, independence and spin

BOWLING AND GOLF

Mike discusses how during the backswing, you do not want to create tension in your hip socket. You want your trail hip to move away from the target line and for your trail leg to straighten out just a little.

RESTRICT YOUR HIPS & COIL

MICHAEL GARDEN

Understanding how to practice is a basic skill. If you understand the steps and the reason for each one, and if you are consistent with them, your game will continue to improve. If you practice incorrectly or do not develop the basic skills that proper practice builds then your swing and your progress become limited.

ASK MIKE: PRACTICE

Greg Cesario uses data and his knowledge of the golf swing to fit every player with the perfect club.

WEDGE FITTING WITH GREG CESARIO AT THE KINGDOM

Your short game is one of the most important aspects of your swing. Learn how to get consistent with what you already know.

SHORT GAME IN TOURNAMENT PLAY

Mike places the exercise bands over his ankles. He then crosses over the band with his left foot, so the band is under his instep. Then he lifts his right foot back off the ground. Make sure your knees stay together. This exercise aims to bring your heel up to the back of your leg.

Repeat this with your other foot and bring your left heel up the back of your left leg. This exercise strengthens your hamstrings.

Mike does these band exercises every day, and every time he goes out to play golf.

FITNESS BANDS LIFTING YOUR HEEL OFF THE GROUND

Set up like you are going to hit a ball with no club. Take your lead arm back into your backswing.You will fell your trail scapula retract. Leave your lead arm at the setup position. Then once you get your trail arm back then slap the hand of your lead arm. Notice how your trail arm is below your lead arm not above. Then from there leave your trail arm in the impact position and move your lead arm around and up into the finish. To do this your lead scapula will need to retract across your rib cage. This gives a great feel for how your shoulders and your scapulas or shoulder blades work.

SLAP DRILL

Joe would encourage you to determine path by "setting the shoulders." While keeping your hands and everything else the same, modify path by adjusting your shoulders.

SETTING THE SHOULDERS

A Malaska Golf member noticed that Mike Malaska’s grip in a video on YouTube from five years ago appeared to be weaker than it is now. Mike concedes that is probably true. His grip changed from his natural baseball style grip, where he first started throughout his professional career, but is back to where he first began. His grip also appears weaker than it is because Mike pushes his hands forward at setup so that the club shaft is in line with his hands and arms. 

Mike then discusses how to make the golf swing work. He uses an oversized golf club to illustrate this. The clubface is still square to the ball on the backswing, and your wrists are starting to hinge. At the top of the swing, or as Mike likes to refer to it, the transition point, your left arm rotates, tipping the club out on the downswing. Your club returns to a 90-degree position of the swing arc, pushing your left leg out, and the clubface runs into the ball. The clubface stays the same on the follow-through side while your wrist rehinge. 

Mike describes the hand action in his golf swing at impact. The left hand is like a chopping action, and the right hand is a throwing motion. The stronger Mike is in his grip, the more he can feel this motion because it’s not about twisting your hands at impact.

HAND ACTION WITH STRONGER GRIP

Mike Malaska continues to work with Javier on the Levering Drill and explains why this drill will help Javier’s swing. Javier needs to get the circle of the club working with the circle of his body.

The next step for Javier is to work on his follow-through. For this, Mike grabs an iron and swings it loosely in circles. Mike wants Javier to feel how the club drops to the ground, breaking upwards when he swings. This is the Look Cool drill.

Mike shows Javier this motion in detail. Mike swings the club with one hand and illustrates how the clubface doesn’t flip, and the toe of the club releases upward. The toe of the club also never passes the heel of the club.

Mike demonstrates this upward feeling by making a swing with one hand. This is how you should release the club with your right hand and not around you. Mike gets Javier to swing the club and feel the upward feeling. Javier then puts this swing to the test.

THE CLUB RELEASES UP

As you progress in golf, having a solid L to L is critical for helping stabilize your speed.

L-TO-L

This series of videos documents a player lesson between retired MLB pitcher Garrett Richards and golf instructor Mike Malaska. The overarching theme is the connection between the mechanics of pitching in baseball and the golf swing. Mike Malaska, drawing from his own experience as a former baseball player, emphasizes the similarities between the two sports and aims to leverage Garrett's existing hand-eye coordination from baseball to improve his golf game.In the first video, Mike introduces Garrett and highlights the similarities in movement patterns between baseball and golf swings. He assesses Garrett's swing, identifies areas for improvement, and discusses how Garrett's experience as a professional athlete can be harnessed to enhance his golf performance.The subsequent videos delve deeper into specific aspects of the golf swing, starting with grip alignment and how it relates to baseball and golf swings. Mike emphasizes the importance of correct grip alignment and demonstrates how Garrett's natural instincts from baseball can be utilized to improve his golf grip.As the lessons progress, Mike focuses on eliminating unnecessary wrist rotation and guiding Garrett to develop a more efficient swing motion reminiscent of a baseball swing. He emphasizes the role of hand and finger pressure in controlling the clubface and demonstrates how Garrett can manipulate the clubface to achieve different shot shapes.Throughout the series, Mike provides analogies and exercises that relate golf swing mechanics to baseball pitching, making the concepts more relatable and easier for Garrett to understand and implement. By the end of the series, Garrett shows significant improvement in his swing mechanics and shot control, demonstrating how the principles of pitching and golf are interconnected.There is a natural sports connection between baseball and golf.

GARRETT RICHARDS EX-MLB PITCHER

Learn how bounce has changed in the golf industry and what will help your swing.

THE MISCONCEPTION ABOUT BOUNCE

Mike works with player Michael Bergbauer to prioritize swing changes that need to be made.

PRIORITIZING SWING CHANGES

Mike looks at the fundamentals of chipping. What to focus on and how to practice.

CHIPPING OVERVIEW

Joe's backswing helped set up the body to move the club effectively and naturally.  Hear how you can use this in your swing.

JOE'S BACKSWING

JACK NICKLAUS ACADEMIES PARTNER VIDEO

I spent a lot of time as a kid at Nibley. Learn how I got to add elements to the course.

THE EIGHTH GREEN AT NIBLEY

GOING TO SCHOOL

Your do-over this week and Malaska Golf Mulligan Monday is about improving face control. 

Hold a wedge or similar club and drop the ball onto the clubface. Practice bouncing the ball continuously on the clubface without dropping the ball. Hold a golf club in the other hand and hit the ball over to that club. Practice going back and forth. 

This drill is excellent for hand-eye coordination and is really going to help you connect with the clubface.

MORE FACE CONTROL

Choking down on your grip almost to the end creates a counterbalance, making it easier to control the club. This will help you hit the ball farther.

CHOKE DOWN ON THE GRIP

The ladder drill is a great exercise to learn to gage distances while chipping.

DISTANCE CONTROL

When your toes move, your body knows it is unbalanced. Practice your natural standing position.

POSTURE

"Golf is an interesting sport because when you talk to the golfers, they have all these positions they are trying to hit. The most important (or even the only) position that matters is the position of the club at impact.

Why should we use impact as our primary position? In my opinion, we've been teaching the game of golf incorrectly. We have taught from address (setup) to transition (top) to impact. I believe we should have been teaching from impact to transition (top), and back down to address (setup). When we use impact as our starting point and work from impact back, we can start to identify what impact feels like. When I ask golfers to show me where they think they are at impact, the vast majority of them twist their bodies. This is because they have this perception that impact requires a twisting motion of the body.

What is impact position? If you don't understand what impact is, you probably won't have much success in this game. When I set up to the ball and go to my impact position, my lead leg (left) moves the lead hip (left) out of the way. The lead shoulder (left) raises a bit and my trailing shoulder (right) drops. This causes my trailing arm (right) to drop and align directly behind the shaft and now my lead arm (left) is above my trailing arm (right).

What does impact feel like? This drill helps you identify the proper position at impact. Once you can look in a mirror and identify what impact should look like, then you can make some small swings and train yourself on what impact should feel like. As you perform this drill, your swing will get better and it may even change dramatically just because you have a better understanding of impact. By using the Full Swing Impact Drill you will come away with a proper understanding of what impact should look like and also what impact actually feels like."

IMPACT DRILL - FULL SWING

Rotating your forearm will open the face.

TAKE-AWAY AND ROTATION

Kory Budinger joins Mike Malaska at Superstition Mountain for a one-on-one lesson.

HOW TO PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE CLUB

Once your shoulders are working properly, swing level as though you are moving the club along a table.  This will ensure an uncomplicated face rotation, avoiding hooks and slices.

LEVELING YOUR CLUB

Rescues make it easier to hit the ball in the air.

RESCUES VS IRONS

In this lesson with Billy Fitzgerald, the focus is on refining the backswing by addressing the hand and wrist positioning at the start. The student explains that their normal backswing tends to go straight back, with a higher arm position and less wrist engagement. Mike emphasizes the importance of setting the wrists early, allowing the swing to flow naturally without having to adjust mid-swing. By engaging the hands and wrists at the beginning, the golfer can simplify the overall motion.Mike explains that improper wrist and arm movement can misalign the body, leading to issues later in the swing. When the club moves in one direction and the body tries to offset that momentum, it can cause the golfer to get stuck. The goal is to set the wrists and arms correctly from the start so that the golfer can turn and swing smoothly without needing to compensate for misalignment.The lesson continues by focusing on the timing of the transition. If the wrists and arms are set early, the golfer can change direction at the right time, allowing the club to shallow naturally. Mike explains that changing direction too late forces compensations from the upper body, which can lead to inconsistent shots, especially under pressure. Proper setup and timing prevent these compensations and ensure a smoother, more consistent swing.Mike also highlights the opposite movements in the backswing and downswing. In the backswing, the handle moves outward while the club moves back. In the downswing, the handle comes in, and the club moves out. Understanding this opposition helps the golfer better coordinate the two parts of the swing, leading to improved consistency and control.Finally, Mike touches on the importance of grip. Many golfers open the face and cup their left wrist, which needs correction. A proper grip, with the hands working together, immediately improves swing mechanics. He clarifies that a slightly closed face isn’t necessarily a problem if the clubface is aligned with the spine angle at the top of the swing, emphasizing the importance of proper rotation for achieving a square clubface.

MASTER BACKSWING AND DOWNSWING

What are the common misconceptions for golf students.

BIGGEST MISCONCEPTIONS

Start by teeing balls up. Set up with the same grip and face alignment, Make the first ball curve to the left. Then make the ball curve to the right. Lastly make the ball go straight. Once you have this down. Then you go to path. Start by making your arms reroute so that the ball starts way to the right. Then make the path be less and less to the right. Until you find your ideal path. Then combine path and face to get the shot you want.

CONTROLLING CURVE & PATH

Speed comes with control. Practice getting comfortable with the shots you are good at.

FINDING A SHOT YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH

Set up five balls. Find a tempo that works for you and maintain it. While maintaining that tempo hit the first ball no specific target or distance. Maybe 10 feet. Then the next ball roll the line but make the ball to 13 feet or past the first ball. Then hit another ball and make it go 16 feet of past the second ball. Now come Back and hit the third fourth ball between the first and second ball. Then hit the fifth ball between the second and third ball. Repeat the drill up hill and side hill.

PUTTING CHALLENGE

The&nbsp;Ashley Huizing Player Lesson Series&nbsp;with Mike Malaska is a comprehensive journey into improving golf mechanics, tailored for players of all levels. Across four detailed lessons, Mike addresses the critical aspects of the swing, emphasizing practical adjustments, personalized techniques, and simplifying complex concepts.In the&nbsp;first lesson, Mike explores two contrasting approaches to golf and debunks myths perpetuated by professional legends. He critiques the impracticality of replicating Ben Hogan’s intricate swing method for the average player, stressing the importance of balance, control, and adaptability over rigid adherence to elite techniques. This sets the foundation for Ashley to develop a consistent and reliable swing that suits her individual strengths.In the&nbsp;second lesson, the focus shifts to Ashley's swing mechanics, particularly hip movement, hand coordination, and sequencing. Mike introduces drills that emphasize proper hip rotation to avoid early extension and reduce strain. By syncing the hips, arms, and club, Ashley begins to build a smoother, more powerful swing. This lesson highlights how small adjustments can create a solid foundation for overall swing improvement.The&nbsp;third lesson&nbsp;dives into refining Ashley’s short game with chip shot drills designed to improve hand-club coordination and swing efficiency. Mike simplifies the mechanics, teaching Ashley to maintain a square clubface and promote natural motion through small, controlled swings. These drills build muscle memory, minimize over-rotation, and create a more consistent short game.Finally, in the&nbsp;fourth lesson, Mike introduces Ashley to grip refinement and advanced swing adjustments. He emphasizes proper club placement within the fingers and demonstrates how a correct grip improves control and power. Mike also redefines the concept of "release," focusing on directing club momentum forward rather than relying on wrist unhinging. With these refinements, Ashley achieves better alignment, reducing compensatory movements and increasing accuracy and power.

ASHLEY HUIZING-PLAYER LESSON

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

THE CLUB UNLOADS AWAY FROM YOU

Understanding the relationship between your club face and your right wrist is key to helping players at all levels find their swing. When you know the angles in your swing and what creates them, you'll be more consistent and straight.

RIGHT ARM. RIGHT WRIST

Here is a review of methods and techniques you can try practicing in your short game.

TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE YOUR SHORT GAME

Hitting a base ball is an exact duplicate of hitting a golf ball. With only a couple of small exceptions. One when you hit a baseball it is infront of your lead foot by about 6 inches. In golf the ball is more in the center of your body. The ball is also lower than in baseball. But the transition of the body and how your lead leg stops the forward motion and then becomes a stablizer before it pushes back and away from the forward motion of the bat. That is what one causes acceleration and tow keeps your head looking like it stays still or moves backwards through impact. The other difference is that the shaft of the club is not the bat. The bat is the face of the golf club. 

CROSSOVER SPORTS

Pivoting the club is about the lever system and how it works with and without your body.

PIVOTING THE CLUB

Joe Nichols, one of Mike Malaska’s mentors who helped him throughout his career, always said that if you are putting inside of 10 feet, assume the put is dead straight. 

Follow this philosophy unless the green dictates otherwise. Make the ball break out of the hole and not into it. When you get up over the put and question it, just play it straight. Because if you hit it straight and straight at the hole, it should go in. So, assume straight inside of 10 feet, unless there is something that tells you otherwise.

PUTTING INSIDE OF 10 FT

Before you start to swing, your grip must be correct.

GETTING YOUR GRIP RIGHT

The ability to see the correct line and start the ball down the line is critical in putting. Practicing on a chalk line to learn how to start the ball down your intended line is a basic skill. Once you can do that. Then it is how well do you see line when the line is not there.

SEEING THE CORRECT TARGET LINE

“Golf’s Biggest Secret is the Swing You Cannot See” Unleash the M.A.G.I.C. in your golf swing. I talk a lot about the natural forces at play in your swing – Momentum, Acceleration, Gravity, Inertia, and Centripetal Force. These natural factors make the golf swing work. Even though you cannot see them. You can feel them. You can develop them and learn to control them to get greater distance and consistency without putting more stress on your body. Golf is a human development game – one of the best ones out there. Let’s get started and see what it can bring out in you. Add 15-Years to Your Game!

INVISIBLE SWING

Old teaching taught forearm rotation. Modern teaching allows the wrists to release in the way they do for every other sport.