Manage Account

Manage Subscription

Discover

The latest additions to the Ask Malaska Golf Collection.

Ask Malaska Golf-What's New

Your hands control the clubface. If your hand action is off, your swing will always rely on compensations. Day 5 is where everything begins to come together&mdash;grip, motion, and clubface control. In this lesson, Mike Malaska shows you how your hands should move through the swing so you can flatten the lead wrist, cup the trail wrist, and square the face without twisting. You will learn how the lead hand works like a chop, and the trail hand pushes and releases. Mike explains how the wrists interact at setup, backswing, impact, and finish&mdash;switching roles as the swing transitions. This is not about flipping or scooping. It is about building structure and consistency. You will also learn how to rehearse this movement slowly and deliberately without even hitting a ball.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn About Hand Action: How the lead and trail hands move throughout the swing Why flattening and cupping matter more than rotation or twist How to feel the hand action at home with slow practice Where the wrists should be at setup, top, impact, and follow-through How this hand sequence squares the face without manipulation
Mike emphasizes that you do not need to hit balls to improve this. In fact, most of this is best practiced at home in slow motion. These small details will become automatic with time. The more you train your hands to work correctly, the less you will rely on timing or compensations in your swing.
Key Takeaway: Great ball striking comes from great hand action. Practice flattening the lead wrist and cupping the trail wrist through the swing. That is what squares the face and unlocks control.

Day 5-Hand Action in the Golf Swing

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

(Master Face Control with One-Handed Swings) This is where your range routine should begin&mdash;every time. Day 10 focuses on face control and how your hands influence the clubface from takeaway to impact. Mike Malaska teaches a simple but powerful one-handed drill that he&rsquo;s used since childhood to develop feel, precision, and trajectory control. The concept is simple: train one hand at a time to control the clubface&mdash;and you&rsquo;ll start every practice session with purpose. In this video, Mike shows how hitting short pitches with your trail hand only teaches the club to work correctly through impact. Then he switches to lead hand only to develop strength and face awareness. You&rsquo;ll learn how the hands influence the club&rsquo;s path, face angle, and shot height&mdash;all without flipping or twisting. Mike explains how small changes in hand position affect trajectory and control, helping you train touch and accuracy from the very first swing of your day. This is not just a warm-up&mdash;it&rsquo;s the foundation for everything else that follows.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn About Face Control and Hand Training: How to train the clubface to stay square through impact Why starting your session with one-handed swings improves consistency How to control trajectory based on wrist and knuckle position How lead and trail hands work differently through the swing Why this drill is the first thing Mike does&mdash;every day Mike emphasizes that this isn&rsquo;t just a drill&mdash;it&rsquo;s your daily checkpoint. These short swings train your hands to square the face, control height, and develop feel. Whether you&rsquo;re warming up or rebuilding your motion, start with this drill.
Key Takeaway: Train your hands before you train your swing. Start every practice session with short one-handed shots to teach your hands how to control the clubface. Better face control equals better golf, simple as that.

Day 10-Train Your Hands at the Range

The Focus of the Month can be inspired by a number of things. It might come from something a tour player is doing &mdash; maybe someone who&rsquo;s winning right now &mdash; and there&rsquo;s something in their swing that&rsquo;s really valuable. Sometimes I&rsquo;ll look at that and say, &ldquo;Okay, here&rsquo;s what you can take from this&hellip; and here&rsquo;s what you shouldn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
 It could also be based on a swing technique or something that&rsquo;s trending in the golf world. I've been through a lot of these patterns, so I can say, &ldquo;I see how this could help, but here&rsquo;s the part that actually makes sense &mdash; the part that&rsquo;s really going to help your game.&rdquo;
 Sometimes it&rsquo;s about the time of year. Where are we in the season? What should your Focus of the Month be right now based on that?
 Now here&rsquo;s the great part: Every single Focus of the Month connects back to content on Malaska Golf. Everything I have you work on will be found in one of the Malaska Golf videos. There&rsquo;s nothing random here &mdash; it&rsquo;s all inside the site. And in the process, you&rsquo;ll learn how to use the site more effectively, how to learn more efficiently.
 That&rsquo;s really what I&rsquo;m hoping it does. It gets you thinking. It brings up questions. And the answers? They&rsquo;re in the site &mdash; or inside the M-System. This approach is powerful because it keeps you engaged. It gives you small, targeted things to focus on &mdash; and you start to see results. You might think, Why did that small adjustment improve my game so much? And when you want to understand why &mdash; the answer is right there in the M-System.

Focus of the Month (May, 25)

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

Very few golf shots are hit from a perfectly flat lie. On the course, you are constantly facing subtle slopes&mdash;sidehill, uphill, downhill&mdash;and if you don&rsquo;t adjust your setup, your contact will suffer. In Day 7, Mike Malaska explains exactly how to make clean, consistent contact from any lie by adjusting your posture and upper body to match the slope beneath your feet. You will learn why setup and ball position must change based on how the ground affects your body&rsquo;s angle. Mike shows how to handle sidehill lies (ball above or below your feet), uphill lies, and downhill lies. In each case, your job is to tilt and adjust your body so that your spine angle matches the slope, which keeps your swing arc and club path connected to the ball. You will also learn how each lie affects ball flight and clubface angle. Ball above your feet? It tends to go left. Ball below? It tends to fade. Downhill reduces loft. Uphill adds it. Mike emphasizes the importance of taking practice swings to find where your club naturally bottoms out&mdash;then adjusting your ball position accordingly.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn About Uneven Lies: Why your upper body must match the slope of the ground How ball position, posture, and knee flex change lie to lie How each slope affects clubface angle and ball flight Why you should take practice swings to check contact point How to build comfort with uneven lies using wedges around the green
This is not something you fix mid-swing. You must prepare for it during setup. Mike recommends spending an entire day just practicing uneven lies with wedges and short shots. The more you do it, the more natural it becomes&mdash;so when you get on the course, you adjust instinctively.
Key Takeaway: The ground will always change. Your setup has to change with it. Match your body to the slope, adjust your expectations, and take practice swings to find the right contact point.

Day 7-How to Handle Uneven Lies

(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

The M-System Bunkers series is all about throwing sand. The concept is hitting and throwing sand. You are not trying to hit the ball. Next, Mike explains the idea that the ball goes where the sand goes. The clubface works with the sand differently. Where the clubface is aimed isn&rsquo;t where the ball will go. Mike covers hand action, which is more of a level swing than an up-down action because you are trying to hit down and throw the sand. Lastly, Mike talks about setup and how you need to be stable and control your swing circle. Distance, control of swing, uneven lies, how you set up, and how to use the club are other topics Mike covers in The M-System Bunker Series.

Bunkers

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

(Learn to Curve the Ball On Purpose) Day 11 is all about mastering the most important part of the golf swing: the clubface. Mike Malaska explains why your ability to control the face has a greater impact on ball flight than your swing path. You&rsquo;ll learn how to manipulate loft, curve direction, and trajectory&mdash;all with simple hand movements and awareness of how the clubface sits in your grip. Mike introduces a powerful visual cue: marking the face with a small dot four grooves up. That dot becomes your reference point. Every time you set up, your brain begins to associate &ldquo;that dot hitting the back of the ball&rdquo; as your task. This subconscious cue helps train proper face aim and consistency through impact. Using both hands separately and together, you&rsquo;ll explore how to hit it high, low, left, right&mdash;and how subtle grip changes affect those outcomes. You&rsquo;ll also understand why starting with a 7-iron (instead of a high-loft wedge) helps you see spin more clearly. This is not about wild swings. These are controlled, deliberate movements to teach you what the face is doing&mdash;so you can learn to control the ball on purpose. What You&rsquo;ll Learn About Face Control: &bull; How to use grip position to manipulate the clubface direction &bull; Why a small visual cue helps train the subconscious to deliver the face &bull; How to hit draws, fades, high shots, low shots&mdash;on demand &bull; Why even short swings can teach you advanced control &bull; How face angle, not swing path, determines ball flight in most cases Key Takeaway: Every shot starts with the face. If you can learn to control where the face points and how much loft it delivers, you&rsquo;ll control your ball flight. This is the next level of development&mdash;learning to shape shots with purpose.

Day 11-Face Control

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

Joe Nichols is someone you may not have heard about, but is someone you should know.  His knowledge for improving your game is unparalleled and has influenced Mike's teaching and understanding of the golf swing.  Find out more in this video.

INTRODUCTION TO JOE NICHOLS

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 exactly what the line of compression is, how to build it, and why it changes everything about your swing&mdash;from your short game to your full swing. You&rsquo;ll also discover how to feel compression using simple tools like a tennis racket or putting track, and how this one motion becomes your anchor across every club in your bag.
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 to use a tennis racket or bat to feel compression How this motion applies to every shot&mdash;from putts to sand shots
This lesson also includes a bonus section on bunker play, showing how the same movement applies in the sand. Mike simplifies it: you're not hitting the ball&mdash;you're throwing the sand. Stay on your left side, hit behind the ball, and let the ball ride the sand out.

Day 1-Line of Compression

Elite Content

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

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 

The Malaska method of teaching is very different from most teachers. Practice getting a feel for what your hips need to do at impact.

Live Lessons

In this episode of Ask Malaska Golf, Mike Malaska explores a swing concept that many modern players overlook: feeling the weight of the clubhead. The question comes from member Ralph, who asked whether great players actually feel the clubhead during the swing. To help answer, Mike brings in Certified Malaska Golf Coach Billy Fitzgerald from Chicago, and what follows is a lesson in momentum, awareness, and natural motion. Mike explains that legendary instructors like Ernest Jones, Manuel de la Torre, and Bob Toski all taught with one key principle in mind &mdash; that feel and momentum are more reliable than mechanical positions. These teachers believed that by understanding how the clubhead moves, and allowing that weight to work for you, your swing becomes more repeatable and efficient. In a simple drill, Billy swings the club handle-first, training his hands to sense momentum. Then, with the club turned around, he lets the clubhead hinge, unhinge, and rehinge his wrists naturally. The club is doing the work &mdash; and Billy is guiding it, not forcing it. Mike shows how this feel-based pattern eliminates tension, improves timing, and ultimately helps players strike the ball more solidly. When you grip too tightly or fight the club&rsquo;s motion, you lose speed and control. This isn&rsquo;t about forcing a position &mdash; it&rsquo;s about learning how to feel and trust the swing.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn in This Video: &bull; Why feeling the weight of the clubhead improves contact and rhythm &bull; How momentum, not muscle, controls wrist action and tempo &bull; Why legends like Toski and de la Torre trusted feel over science &bull; A simple drill to train awareness and swing flow &ldquo;The weight in the clubhead hinges your wrist, unhinges your wrist, and rehinges your wrist. That&rsquo;s what creates the swing &mdash; not you forcing it.&rdquo; &mdash; Mike Malaska
Key Takeaway: Let the clubhead do the work. When you stay relaxed and let the weight of the club swing freely, your wrists react naturally &mdash; hinging and unhinging with rhythm and control. This motion, rooted in the M-System, teaches you how to feel the swing instead of forcing it, resulting in better contact, more speed, and a freer, more athletic swing.

Let The Club Do The Work

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

Welcome to Malaska Golf: Your Journey Starts Here. Across our three welcome videos&mdash;Core, Plus, and Elite&mdash;Mike Malaska introduces you to a complete, step-by-step system designed to transform your golf game from the ground up.
Whether you&rsquo;re just starting with the fundamentals in Core, diving deeper with Plus through Sports Connect and Skill Pathways, or unlocking the full depth of coaching in Elite with tools like Swing Check, the 21-Day Practice Plan, and insights from legends like Jack Nicklaus, this series guides you every step of the way.
You&rsquo;ll learn not just what to work on, but why it matters, how it all fits together, and how to take control of your game for lasting improvement.
Welcome to Malaska Golf&mdash;Maximize, Maintain, Master. Your best golf starts now.

Welcome to Core

A Malaska Golf Member asks about DGF or Death Grip Syndrome. All this means is that golfers grip the golf club too tightly.

Mike explains that gripping the club too tightly is a misunderstanding of the motion of the club and how it works.

Mike demonstrates the "Look Cool" Drill, swinging the club with one hand. Notice how relaxed his wrists are as the club drops through the swing. They are just reacting to the weight of the club. This is also important to feel how your wrists hinge, unhinge and rehinge.

The next aspect Mike discusses is tension. Once you feel the hinging of the wrists, then your grip needs to be correct. When the lever and weight of the club make your wrists hinge and unhinge, it squares the clubface.

If your grip is wrong, you don't have tension, and you let the weight of the club go, making the face wide open at impact. You will slice the ball. Then you think the way to solve this issue is to catch the face up, and end up getting tighter and tighter because you are anticipating this problem.

Tightness and tension exist when you don't use the club's momentum, your grip is off, and the club doesn't square itself.