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(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

A great way to hit your driver well is to drop your right foot back which allows you to open your hips.

STRIPE THE DRIVER

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

The basic concepts and or tasks and skills that you take on determine how your body builds the patterns for the swing. It is critical that you have a good understanding of exactly what you are trying to do and what are the ways to develop them. Your body if given a correct task will eliminate anything and most everything not relevant to the task. That is why the base concept and or tasks are correct.

Ask Malaska Golf-Swing Concepts

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

(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

Counterbalancing helps reduce the natural movement in the clubhead that inevitably happens while swinging golf clubs. This movement can't be stopped but can be controlled with counterbalancing. You can do this when getting fitted for your putter. 

A club fitter will have you try a putter, and then they can add different weighted sticks inside the top of the club shaft. The purpose is to find an ideal putter weight for you and counterbalance that weight with the weighted sticks in the shaft. 

With the right counterbalance, you will find that your speed control gets significantly better. Counterbalancing offers more stability. The more weight you have in the top of your shaft, the more it will bring you to the center balance of the club. This changes the feel of the club. The extra weight offers more control over the clubs. 

It also allows the momentum of the clubhead to do different things a lot easier. There are, in fact, many players that counterbalance all of their clubs. Jack Nicklaus used lead tape to wrap on the inside of the shaft. Adding more weight to the top of the shaft allows you to pivot the club better when you swing the club. This counterbalance makes that easier to do. 

Mike suggests that the value of counterbalancing comes down to how it feels. It can create a sensation that makes you hit the ball better. Many players counterbalance their putters; some also do their irons and drivers. Mike puts lead tape on the end of his drivers but not on his irons. 

COUNTERBALANCING YOUR CLUBS

M-System Max

To control path and face. First set up with the putter more in the palm of your hands. Then line your trail forearm up with the putter. Now push your hips back. Set the putter behind the ball. Make a stroke with either just your trail hand and or with both hands. The task is to roll the line. If the line is not rolling place four tees forming a box around the putter head. With about 6 inches front to back in the tees. You should be able to swing the putter head through the tees and not hit any of them. If you do and the ball is still wobbling then it is a face issue. You can also use a putting track for this skill.

CONTROLLING GRIP, PATH, AND FACE

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

If your grip is wrong, your swing will always be limited&mdash;no matter how much you practice. That&rsquo;s why Day 4 of this series is dedicated to one thing: understanding and mastering the three essential golf grips. Mike Malaska explains how each grip serves a different purpose depending on the shot you&rsquo;re hitting, and how your hands need to adjust between putting, pitching, and full swing. You will learn why the putting grip sits deep in the palms to reduce motion, why the pitching grip allows for precise control of your wrist angles, and why the full swing grip belongs in your fingers to allow proper wrist hinge and maximum speed. Mike breaks down each one, shows how to find the correct position for your hands and fingers, and explains how grip influences wrist action, clubface control, and power. This lesson is not about theory. It is about feel. You will learn how to spot the differences between the three grips and train the sensitivity needed to switch between them confidently. Mike also shares a powerful reminder&mdash;even tour players like Scottie Scheffler check their grip daily to maintain consistency.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn About the Three Grips: How putting, pitching, and full swing grips differ in hand position and purpose Why the full swing grip belongs in your fingers for leverage and speed Why putting and pitching grips sit higher in the palm for stability and control How your grip directly affects your wrist function and angle of approach Why daily grip work is essential&mdash;even if you think your grip is fine
Mike emphasizes that the grip is not something you check once and forget. It is something you build feel for and revisit constantly. A small change in your thumb or hand placement can have a big effect on your contact, trajectory, and distance. This is not just a setup detail&mdash;it is a swing fundamental.
Key Takeaway: Your grip controls your swing. Train all three&mdash;putting, pitching, and full swing&mdash;and know why each one matters. The way your hands connect to the club determines what your body can do with it.

Day 4-The Three Grips in Golf

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

This is M1. The M-SYSTEM is a complete training system for your whole game. Start with M1. Learn the fundamentals, advance through M5. Then start learning about individual skills specific to Driving, Bunkers, Short Game, Putting, Chipping and Irons. Welcome to Malaska Golf.

M1-Swing Concepts

(Control the Low Point to Strike Every Shot Clean) If you want to improve your contact, especially with irons and fairway woods, you must learn to control your angle of approach. In this Bonus lesson, Mike Malaska shows you one of the simplest but most effective drills in golf: draw a line in the sand, place a ball just behind it, and train your swing to brush the sand (or turf) in front of the line. This teaches you where your club is truly bottoming out&mdash;an essential skill for compressing the ball, avoiding fat shots, and striking cleanly from any lie. Mike has spent thousands of hours on this one drill, and it applies to nearly every shot in your game. By learning to control your low point, you gain consistency in your swing path and confidence through impact. Whether you&rsquo;re working on full swings, fairway bunker shots, or dialing in your irons, this drill builds precision into your swing&mdash;without needing to hit a single ball.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn in This Lesson: &bull; Why controlling your low point is critical for solid contact &bull; How to use a simple line-in-the-sand drill to improve swing consistency &bull; What causes fat shots, thin shots, and poor bunker play &bull; How angle of approach affects both full swings and fairway bunker shots &bull; Why tour players excel by mastering this basic but essential skill
Key Takeaway: You can&rsquo;t strike the ball cleanly if you don&rsquo;t know where your club bottoms out. Use this drill often. No ball required&mdash;just awareness. Draw a line. Swing through it. Control your angle of approach and start making the kind of consistent, crisp contact that lowers your scores.

Bonus Video 2-Master Your Angle of Approach

Certified Coaches

Austin Graham, a Southern Californian native now residing in Ohio, is in Phoenix to work with Mike Malaska. Austin is eager to work on his wedge game, as he is experiencing confusion with his transition in the golf swing. He has too much lateral movement in his swing and wants Mike to help him with that. In this six-part series, Mike evaluates what is going on with Austin&rsquo;s golf swing and addresses the lateral movement that is happening in Austin&rsquo;s golf swing. Mike introduces Austin to the ROTEXMotion Floor Models to help with the movement of his hips and minimize the lateral movement of his body. Austin has an aha moment with this fitness device.

Austin Graham- Player Lesson

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

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

IN THE CLUBHOUSE WITH FRIENDS, PLAYERS AND LEGENDS Sometimes the best part of the game is talking about the game. Find out what&rsquo;s really going on inside players&rsquo; heads. Hear the stories that become legends firsthand. Get a better understanding of the mental side of the game, the highs and lows. Explore what players and instructors think about how the game is taught, practiced and played. This is how I end every day at the course. Now, it&rsquo;s here for you to enjoy as well. These are the clubhouse conversations that keep the game going long after the sun has set and the clubs have been put away.

Golf Talk

Mike Malaska has another Player lesson with PGA Teaching Pro Billy Fitzgerald from Chicago, Illinois. This is a 4-part lesson where Mike works with Billy&rsquo;s hips to get them back and out of the way in his swing. Mike also focuses on the importance of impact position, how the right foot rotates, and how to move the club around with your hands.

Billy Fitzgerald- Working The Hips

The third bridge exercise is the forward bridge. Start on your hands and knees with your toes turned inward and elbows on the ground. 

Push your hips up and form a v-shaped bridge and hold. If you can do this, try lifting one leg at a time. Make sure your hips are stable. This exercise also stretches your calves. You can roll your hips from side to side as well.

FORWARD BRIDGES

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

Elite Content

The latest additions to the Ask Malaska Golf Collection.

Ask Malaska Golf-What's New

Making "out to under" swing change with wrist hinge drill.

THE WRIST HINGE DRILL

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

Lower Body

In this lesson, John Lang works with Mike Malaska to address the challenges of playing golf after losing vision in his right eye due to a stroke. As a former right-eye-dominant golfer, John must adapt his swing and develop new techniques to maintain his performance despite issues with depth perception and spatial awareness. The lesson focuses on helping John modify his head positioning, adjust his approach to the game, and utilize targeted drills to build consistency and confidence.The session begins with John explaining how his vision loss has affected his ability to gauge depth and follow the ball, particularly under certain sunlight conditions. With peripheral vision playing a more critical role, he now relies entirely on his left eye to track the ball. Mike highlights that this adjustment requires a change in head positioning during the swing to ensure the dominant eye stays focused on the ball. Drawing on the example of Jack Nicklaus, who is colorblind and relies on feel rather than sight to track the ball, Mike advises John to slightly offset his head to maintain focus. This simple yet essential adjustment is crucial for overcoming the limitations caused by his vision loss.The conversation transitions to the M-System and its extensive library of drills. John expresses his appreciation for the system but notes that the library’s wealth of information can feel overwhelming. Mike emphasizes the importance of the drills, sharing a story from his teaching experience in Japan, where golfers focused on seven basic drills to address their weaknesses. Over 11 weeks, the group made significant improvements by mastering each drill without directly working on their swings. Mike encourages John to approach the library in the same way: selecting a drill, identifying challenges, and working through them to strengthen specific aspects of his swing.To wrap up the lesson, Mike observes John hitting a few shots. John shares that a previous suggestion to drop his back foot has been particularly helpful in stabilizing his swing. He also mentions focusing on the mental and psychological aspects of his game, paying close attention to how his hands and body work together during practice. Mike praises this approach and encourages him to continue refining his fundamentals, reinforcing that targeted adjustments and deliberate practice will help him adapt and improve.

Master Your Swing After Vision Loss

So what does the body really do in the swing. How do you incorporate it. What are its basic tasks that synchronize the swing. And finally how do you practice how it moves. Once you understand its roll it becomes much easier to maximize its use in your game. Instead of well intended having it just get in your way and create a lot of compensations.

HOW THE BODY WORKS - OVERVIEW

Milo answers the most common question: how to hit far

HOW TO HIT FAR

A Malaska Golf Member has an observation about the downswing. He notices that when you change directions, the handle comes down before you twist.Mike Malaska says that this is ideal. One of the worst things you can do is immediately twist your body before the club starts down as you start down on your swing. People struggle with this in the golf swing.A great drill to learn how to feel the arms drop is to set up to the ball with your right foot back, let your arms drop, and run the club into the ball. Your shoulders need to be relaxed in order to do this.When it comes to your full swing, Mike demonstrates the reason the arms drop. Mike starts his back swing; his shoulders are turned, his wrists are hinged, and his club goes up. When he starts to change direction, Mike’s pelvis starts to move a little laterally, and when this happens, his spine angle tilts. When this happens, the shoulders tilt, and your arms will drop. It is what your lower body is doing that makes your arms drop.Again, you want your arms to drop. Many Tour Players move the club handle away and down, and then everything twists into the ball together. One of the worst things you can do is have your body outrun the club. You want your body and clubface to stay together.

How and Why Your Arms Drop

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

Hi, my name is Matt Baker, and I'm a Malaska Golf Certified Coach based here in the UK. Today&rsquo;s question comes from Peter Zhu, who commented on a video he watched about hand action. In the video, Peter referred to what he saw as "chopping and slapping."
This action involves the left hand working in a chopping motion, and if your grip is correct, this is the natural movement. The left hand works in this chopping action, while the right hand works in a slapping or throwing motion. Essentially, the left wrist chops, and the right wrist slaps. From down the line, you&rsquo;ll see the left wrist moves in a chopping motion, and the right hand follows in a slapping motion.
This concept, as Peter described, was one of my "aha" moments when learning from Mike. Why? Because this motion reduces excessive clubface rotation. For years, golfers were taught the &ldquo;palms opposing&rdquo; grip, which often caused the hands and forearms to roll excessively. However, in other sports, like baseball or when hitting something like a tree with a stick, the hands naturally move differently. The left-hand chops, and the right-hand slaps.
This natural motion simplifies things significantly. It reduces clubface rotation, making it much easier to control the club through impact. For example, I use a glove with an alignment stick attached to demonstrate this motion. When you perform the correct hand movements, you&rsquo;ll notice very little forearm rotation. In contrast, excessive rolling motions are much harder to time consistently.
Once you learn this chopping and slapping motion, golf becomes far easier. It starts with getting the correct grip, and from there, practicing these hand actions. The left-hand chops, the right-hand slaps, and the result is straighter shots with less effort. You can practice this motion without hitting a ball by simply rehearsing the movements. I often spend time just repeating the chopping motion with my left hand and the slapping motion with my right hand. These simple drills make the feel second nature, and once you&rsquo;ve internalized it, it&rsquo;s hard to forget.
Even small movements&mdash;just practicing the motions&mdash;can make a big difference. Tools like the glove with an alignment stick are helpful for visualizing the motion, but they&rsquo;re not essential. The key is to practice the chopping and slapping action regularly to develop a natural feel for it. With time, your shots will become straighter and more consistent, making your golf game much more enjoyable.
&nbsp;

Chop, Slap, Straight Shots

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

Kory Budinger

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

Your golf grip is more than a preference&mdash;it&rsquo;s a performance tool. In this video, Justin shows how his grip transformation unlocked more speed, better control, and helped prevent injury. Mike breaks down the connection between palm orientation, face angle, and joint integrity. When your trail hand and lead hand are positioned correctly, the club becomes an extension of your body, allowing for proper leverage and wrist hinge. This video emphasizes the grip as the launch point of an effective, high-speed swing. Learning to align your grip with the face correctly is the first key to controlling path and creating power. Justin explains the consequences of a grip that's too strong or too much in the palm&mdash;issues that can lead to reduced leverage and even chronic pain. Whether you&rsquo;ve struggled with slicing, clubface control, or simply hitting it flush, this video shows you how a grip change can unlock the rest of your swing. You&rsquo;ll understand why proper grip structure enables athletic efficiency and makes it easier to load and release the club with precision under pressure. When the grip supports natural joint function, the entire swing system becomes more powerful, more repeatable, and more sustainable.

Grip-The Foundation of Force

The pullback drill is another unconventional drill that Joe Nichols shared with Mike.  By pulling back, it puts force into the left leg as a stabilizer, which accelerates the clubhead.  These are very good things in a golf swing.

DEEPER LOOK INTO PULL BACK

Bunkers are the easiest shot in golf to be fairly good at. That is if you understand what you are actually trying to do. The first task is to throw sand not hit the ball. Once you see what is the correct task and how the sand wedge works you can become fairly good fast. It is the only shot in golf where you want to miss the ball. And you can miss it by a 1/2 inch or 4 or 5 inches and still hit an acceptable shot. Again it is about tasks and skills. This one is the easiest to be good at because it has the most room for error and still hits an acceptable shot.

Skill Pathways-Bunkers

In this fifth video of the Player Lesson series, Mike Malaska introduces Jimmy Pearcy to the concept of leverage as the key to creating effortless power in the golf swing. Building on earlier lessons on grip, speed, and relaxation, this session focuses on teaching Jimmy how to harness the club’s weight and momentum to generate speed and control with minimal effort.Mike begins with a practical drill to help Jimmy feel the club’s natural weight and motion. He instructs Jimmy to turn the club around and grip it just above the head, making swings with the lighter handle. This exercise allows Jimmy to focus on the sensation of the club’s balance and movement without the distraction of ball striking. Mike emphasizes that the lightness of the handle contrasts with the heavier clubhead, and this difference helps Jimmy understand how to control the swing using momentum rather than force.After a few repetitions, Mike has Jimmy reverse the club and take his proper grip. With the heavier clubhead now in play, he instructs Jimmy to make soft, easy swings, paying close attention to the weight of the club as it moves through a circular path. Mike explains that the goal is to let the club’s momentum guide the swing, allowing the weight to naturally hinge, unhinge, and re-hinge the wrists without forcing the motion. This, Mike notes, is the foundation of leverage in golf.As Jimmy practices, Mike identifies tension in his hands and arms that disrupts the flow of the swing. He emphasizes that tension is the enemy of power, as it prevents the natural movement of the wrists and restricts the club’s ability to accelerate. Through repetition and reinforcement, Jimmy begins to loosen his grip and feel the freedom in his swing, experiencing how a relaxed approach unlocks the club’s full potential.Mike uses analogies from other sports to solidify the concept. He explains that the motion of a golf swing should feel similar to a tennis serve or a baseball swing, where the player leverages the racket or bat’s weight and momentum for power. In each case, relaxation in the hands, arms, and shoulders is crucial for generating speed. Mike further illustrates this by comparing the golf swing to a tennis racket dropping and snapping through a serve, showing Jimmy how the wrists work naturally when tension is removed.To deepen Jimmy’s understanding, Mike introduces the idea of dynamically using the clubface, much like a tennis or pickleball racket. He demonstrates how slight adjustments in wrist position and grip can change the trajectory and spin of the ball. Mike shows how to lower or raise the loft of the clubface or produce a hook or fade, explaining that these small adjustments give the golfer full control over the shot. By practicing these techniques, Jimmy begins to see how mastering the clubface opens up new possibilities for shaping his shots.The lesson continues with Jimmy hitting balls using his newfound understanding of leverage. At first, he struggles to maintain awareness of the club’s weight and momentum, often losing it at key moments in the swing. Mike patiently guides him through each step, encouraging him to focus on feeling the weight of the club throughout the entire motion—from the backswing to the downswing and follow-through. Gradually, Jimmy begins to make progress, hitting shots that are both more powerful and more consistent.Mike highlights how a proper grip and alignment play a crucial role in this process. He explains that when the grip is correct, the clubface naturally squares at impact, eliminating the need for excessive control or tension. By contrast, an incorrect grip forces the golfer to work harder to manipulate the club, often resulting in erratic shots and a loss of power. With the right grip, Jimmy learns to trust the club’s design and let the swing flow naturally.Throughout the session, Mike reinforces the idea that effortless power comes from leveraging the club’s weight and momentum, not from trying to muscle the ball. He points out that professional golfers achieve their impressive distance not by swinging harder but by using their hands, wrists, and arms efficiently. Their smooth, relaxed motions allow the club to work for them, generating maximum speed with minimal effort.By the end of the lesson, Jimmy experiences a breakthrough. He begins to feel how the club’s weight and momentum can guide the swing, creating power without strain. With Mike’s guidance, Jimmy realizes that the key to effortless power lies in mastering leverage and embracing a tension-free swing.This lesson is a pivotal moment in Jimmy’s journey, as it provides him with the tools to unlock a smoother, more powerful swing. By learning to work with the club rather than against it, Jimmy is set to achieve greater confidence, control, and consistency on the course.

Effortless Power Master Your Leverage

(How L to L Generates Effortless Power) You&rsquo;ve trained face control and path&mdash;now it&rsquo;s time to generate speed. In Day 14, Mike Malaska introduces the &ldquo;L to L&rdquo; lever system, a fundamental movement pattern used by every powerful athlete, from tennis players to baseball hitters. This simple, repeatable action creates effortless clubhead speed by allowing the wrists to hinge and rehinge naturally through the ball. Using a 7-iron and a seated drill, Mike demonstrates how to train the pivot point of the swing without using your body or brute strength. The secret is not in swinging harder&mdash;it's in letting the club work. When you understand how the wrists, arms, and pivot function together, your speed will increase without tension or over-effort. You&rsquo;ll learn how elite players build speed with minimal effort and how to groove this same motion into your game with short, controlled swings. These drills not only improve swing speed, they also help you feel proper sequencing and strike the ball with more consistency.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn About the Lever System (L to L): &bull; Why clubhead speed comes from the wrists&mdash;not the shoulders &bull; How the &ldquo;L to L&rdquo; motion builds effortless, repeatable power &bull; How to train your hands and arms with the seated drill &bull; Why a light grip and proper pivot create speed more than strength &bull; How to transfer this feel into your full swing over time Key Takeaway: Speed comes from learning how to use the club&mdash;not from swinging harder. The L to L motion unlocks your natural power. Train it with small swings, feel the hinge and release, and let the club do the work.

Day14-Create Speed With The Lever System

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

Your hands are your swing. If you use them in a certain manner. It becomes significantly easier to control the ball. Your lead hand basically hinges and unhinges. Your trail hand flexes and extends. There is very little fact rotation relative to your swing arch. Also if your lead hand is in this hinge position it is very strong. IT is how the lead wrist is designed to hit an object with the most force and the least chance for injury. Your trail hand flexing and extending is how you throw a ball, Shoot a basketball, or throw a bowling ball.

WRIST HINGE

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

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)

(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

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

PBA Champion Josh Blanchard demonstrates how body alignment can make your bowling and golf swings easy and consistent.

Sports Connect-Bowling

A Malaska Golf Member has a question about Jack Nicklaus's practice of putting the ball in the same position with every club.With a sand wedge, Jack would position the ball off his left heel. The handle of the wedge was right on his left thigh, where his left hand would be and where Jack would always set up.Moving to a 7-iron, Mike’s right foot drops back. It looks like the ball is further forward, but the hands and handle are in the same position off the left thigh.Now, to the driver, It’s the same as the 7-iron, only the right foot is farther back. The hands and handle still come off the left thigh.All Jack does is keep dropping the foot farther and farther back, but the hands and handle are in the same position, regardless of a wedge, 7-iron, or a driver. Jack is very consistent in the way he sets his club up relative to his body.He also has a leg action that allows it to work on all his clubs. Now, some players do that by having everything up off their left heel. Others move as the club gets shorter and goes farther back in their swing. You must find what's best for you and then be consistent with it.

Jack Nicklaus and Ball Position

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

START WITH YOUR ELBOW

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 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 

Start with standing upwright with the putter in your trail hand. Your weight should be even in your feet. Your toes quiet. Line your trail forearm up with the putter shaft. It should be pointed just above your belly button. Then push your hips back keeping your toes quiet. Place the putter head behind the ball. Then make a stroke and let your trail forearm push the shaft through the ball. Fell the force into the back of the shaft and into the ball. This should happen in all shots.

Swing Concepts-Putting

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

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

When you set up to the ball you need to make sure that your eye line and your shoulder line are parallel to your target line. You can also have hips and feet parallel but the most important is to make sure that your eyes and shoulders are parallel. This is critical because your club will tend to follow your eye line.

ALIGNMENT

Having an understanding of how the face works relative to your swing arch and your target line is critical. You must have the correct task in your mind. “Your eyes perceive, your brain receives your body reacts”. So the picture is very important. Once you understand the picture it becomes much easier to create the motion.

PATH, FACE, SWING, ARC

Our second installment of the Spotlight Member brings us to Utah with Todd Heugly.

Todd Heugly

In this six-part Player Lesson series, Mike Malaska works with Jimmy Pearcy to transform his golf game by focusing on core fundamentals and personalized instruction. Starting with an exploration of Jimmy&rsquo;s &ldquo;golf DNA,&rdquo; Mike identifies how Jimmy&rsquo;s athletic background and natural movement patterns shape his swing. By tailoring the lessons to Jimmy&rsquo;s strengths, Mike provides a foundation for improvement that is both effective and sustainable.
The series begins with grip fundamentals, as Mike emphasizes the critical role of a proper grip in supporting every aspect of the swing. By positioning his hands correctly and reducing tension, Jimmy learns how to maintain control of the clubface and create consistency in his shots. This foundational step sets the stage for unlocking greater speed and power.
In subsequent lessons, Mike introduces Jimmy to the concept of speed generation. Using drills that highlight the importance of relaxation and leveraging the natural hinge and release of the wrists, Jimmy discovers how to create effortless power. Mike reinforces that tension-free motion, combined with proper sequencing, is the key to maximizing clubhead speed with minimal effort.
The series progresses to the concept of leverage, where Jimmy learns to let the club&rsquo;s weight and momentum dictate the swing. Through exercises that focus on feeling the club&rsquo;s natural movement, Jimmy develops a deeper understanding of how to generate power without relying on force. This approach not only improves his swing but also enhances his confidence in controlling the club.
In the final two lessons, Mike focuses on advanced concepts of shot shaping and control. Jimmy practices manipulating the clubface to produce hooks, fades, and straight shots, gaining the ability to navigate different course conditions and play with more versatility. By mastering the relationship between his hands and the clubface, Jimmy unlocks a new level of creativity and precision in his game.
Throughout the series, Mike&rsquo;s personalized coaching helps Jimmy develop a relaxed, efficient swing that capitalizes on his natural strengths. By addressing fundamental issues and progressively building new skills, Jimmy gains the tools and confidence to approach the game with a deeper understanding. This series marks a significant transformation in Jimmy&rsquo;s golf journey, equipping him with a more powerful, controlled, and versatile game.

Jimmy Pearcy-Player Lesson

Core Content

(Train Your Eyes. Lock In Your Setup. Eliminate Guesswork.) If you want to be consistent with your golf swing, you need to be consistent with your setup. Most golfers hit balls without any structure on the ground, which leads to inconsistency in aim, ball position, and feedback. In Day 9, Mike Malaska shows you how to build a simple yet powerful practice station that trains your eyes, reinforces your alignment, and eliminates setup errors before you even swing. It&rsquo;s a habit the best players in the world use&mdash;and it&rsquo;s something you can start using today. You will learn how to set up a 3-stick station that locks in your ball position and target line. Mike explains how this daily routine calibrates your body and trains your eyes to see correctly, helping you overcome visual distortions (like parallax) and improving your ability to start the ball on line. He also explains why this setup works for every club in the bag, from wedges to driver. What You&rsquo;ll Learn About Practice Stations: How to set up three key alignment sticks for target, body, and visual aim Why consistent ball position is critical for consistent contact How to adjust placement for irons vs. driver What parallax is&mdash;and how to train your eyes to see the target correctly How to get instant feedback on setup, alignment, and swing path This station becomes your practice baseline. It ensures every swing is based on the same setup, so you&rsquo;re not introducing variables without realizing it. It also allows your brain and body to trust the process&mdash;especially your eyes, which play a much bigger role in shot direction than most people realize. Key Takeaway: Consistency starts with setup. Build a practice station with alignment sticks every time you train. It will teach your body to aim correctly, train your eyes to trust your target line, and help eliminate errors before the swing even begins.

Day 9-How to Build a Practice Station

In this fourth episode of the Malaska Golf Player Lesson, Mike Malaska joins Jeff Coburn and Jeff Krull on the first tee to discuss one of the most important parts of the game&mdash;how to drive the golf ball with consistency and control. The lesson begins with course management. Mike explains how amateurs often play from tees that are far too long for their average distance. By choosing the correct yardage&mdash;typically 6,000 to 6,400 yards for players who drive the ball around 220&ndash;240 yards&mdash;you set yourself up for shorter approach shots, more greens in regulation, and a more enjoyable round.
 From there, the focus shifts to swing tempo and balance. Mike demonstrates how to find your personal swing speed by making smooth, controlled practice swings until balance is lost&mdash;then dialing it back just enough to regain control. He reminds both players that rhythm and tempo, not brute force, create repeatable distance and accuracy. Once the body feels in sync, Mike introduces the concept of face control&mdash;the real key to hitting straighter drives. He shows how professional golfers maintain awareness of the clubface through the hitting zone, while amateurs often make beautiful practice swings with no awareness of where the face is pointing. Mike demonstrates how to integrate face awareness into practice swings, ensuring that the clubface delivers the desired shot shape when it matters.
 As both Jeffs step up to hit, Mike emphasizes the process that separates pros from weekend players: make a swing, evaluate what happened, and make one correction before the next shot. He encourages them to identify what they felt, where balance was lost, and how the face moved through the ball. If the result is good, replay it mentally; if it&rsquo;s off, make one small fix and move on.
 This session highlights the mental and physical side of driving&mdash;how choosing the right tee, maintaining smooth tempo, and learning face control leads to consistent tee shots. More importantly, it reinforces Mike&rsquo;s philosophy that golf improvement comes from awareness and evaluation, not repetition without purpose.
 By the end of the lesson, both players are making confident swings, finding fairways, and learning to analyze their shots the same way tour professionals do.
 Key Takeaways Play the Right Tees: Choose a yardage that matches your average drive for more fun and better scoring. Tempo Creates Control: Swing as fast as you can while maintaining balance and rhythm. Face Awareness: Every good swing controls where the clubface points through impact. Evaluate Every Shot: Replay good swings, fix bad ones, and move forward with purpose. Confidence Comes from Awareness: When you understand your tendencies, the driver becomes your best friend.

Drive With Complete Control

Mike Malaska works with Dr. Joe LaCaze, Owner and Managing Partner of Rotex Motion. Joe plays golf mainly in the summertime and shoots anywhere from 75 to 77.

Mike observes Joe make a few practice swings. He notices that Joe's body mechanics are really good, although the way his hands and Lever System work is minimal.

Mike's goal with Joe is to get him to understand the Lever System and put that together with what his body is doing. Mike adds that if the Lever System works correctly with much less tension and effort, Joe could get more speed.

When Mike observes golf swings, he looks for how the body moves and what the Lever System is doing. Most of the time, Mike corrects the Lever System first and then the body. Because Joe's body motion is good, Mike mainly focuses on the Lever System with him.

Joe makes a couple of swings, and Mike notices Joe's grip is off. When Joe tries to lever the club, he levers at the elbows instead of the wrists. If he levers at the wrists, this will keep his arms straight on the backswing. Joe tends to cast the club on the downswing.

Mike works with Joe's grip to ensure that the club feels like it's more in Joe's fingers. Mike then works on Joe's takeaway and understanding that the Lever System is immediate. The lever needs to happen before the club is parallel to the ground. Mike also wants Joe to feel like he is pushing the handle away from him.

Mike gets Joe to swing and point the handle away on the backswing and the follow-through. This motion is the Handle Away Drill. Mike reminds Joe to keep the wrists loose and go easy on the swing.

Mike wants Joe to make practice swings with a plastic ball with his right foot back. This helps Joe to feel the Lever System and practice the Handle Away Drill. Mike really wants Joe to get a feel for how the hands work.

FEEL THE LEVER SYSTEM

The Lever System is one of the most important fundamentals in golf. After grip, Mike believes it has the greatest impact on your ability to square the clubface, control ball flight, and generate effortless distance. In this two-part Focus of the Month, you&rsquo;ll learn how to train the natural hinge and unhinge of the wrists with the Look Cool Drill, then isolate each hand using the Impact Bag &amp; Racket drill. Together, these lessons show you how to let momentum and physics do the work &mdash; creating a swing that&rsquo;s both powerful and consistent.
Key Takeaways:
The Lever System is the foundation of distance, control, and consistency.
The Look Cool Drill builds awareness of natural wrist hinge and release.
The Impact Bag &amp; Racket drill trains each hand&rsquo;s role, then blends them together.

Focus Of The Month (September, 25)

In this sixth episode of the Malaska Golf Player Lesson, Mike Malaska guides Jeff Coburn and Jeff Krull through a practical on-course session focused on approach and pitch shots&mdash;one of the most critical areas for lowering scores. Mike begins by explaining how to evaluate each lie and determine where the club&rsquo;s low point should be. Many golfers hit behind the ball because their natural swing bottom is in the wrong place. The fix, he explains, isn&rsquo;t mechanical&mdash;it&rsquo;s positional. Before every shot, make practice swings and watch where the club brushes the turf. If it happens behind the ball, move your setup slightly forward until the club consistently contacts the ground after impact.
 This awareness forms the basis of controlling ball-first contact and creating consistent spin and trajectory. Mike emphasizes that golfers need to pay attention to their feedback, not ignore it. If you take a divot before the ball, you have immediate information about your setup and motion. Learn from it, make one correction, and swing again.
 Throughout the session, Mike reinforces that golf is a game of adjustments. Every shot gives you feedback&mdash;how the club interacts with the turf, where contact occurs, and what the ball does afterward. Great players use that feedback to adapt. He explains that the &ldquo;yips&rdquo; occur when golfers ignore what their swing is naturally doing and try to override it consciously. Instead, players should learn to &ldquo;duplicate the circle&rdquo;&mdash;find the bottom of the swing and let the ball get in the way.
 Both Jeffs practice this process, making subtle changes to ball position and release while observing turf interaction. Mike shows how this simple awareness builds a repeatable short game without technical overload. Golfers don&rsquo;t need to chase new mechanics&mdash;they need to learn how their motion produces results and make real-time corrections based on feedback.
 By the end of the lesson, the players are striking cleaner approach shots and learning to trust the process of awareness and adaptation. Mike&rsquo;s philosophy is clear: you don&rsquo;t fix your swing&mdash;you learn it, adjust it, and make it work under pressure.
 Key Takeaways Ball-First Contact: Focus on hitting the ground after the ball for cleaner impact. Low-Point Awareness: Watch where your club brushes the turf to improve consistency. Adjust, Don&rsquo;t Overthink: Make small setup changes based on feedback. Duplicate the Circle: Recreate your natural swing path and let the ball get in the way. Golf Is a Learning Process: Treat every shot as feedback to improve awareness.

Approach Accuracy Mastery

October's focus of the month is Body Motion.
How the lead hip moves in the golf swing is an integral part of stabilizing the clubface and creating a consistent, powerful swing. It&rsquo;s not just a turn &ndash; it&rsquo;s the movement of the left hip socket that creates the turn.

Focus of the Month (October, 25)

In this final episode of the Malaska Golf Player Lesson, Mike Malaska brings the entire series together with Jeff Coburn and Jeff Krull to focus on what truly separates great golfers from average ones: the ability to learn from every shot.
 Mike explains that golf improvement doesn&rsquo;t come from swing theory&mdash;it comes from awareness. Every player, from tour professionals to weekend golfers, goes through the same four-step process: Program the shot, Execute it, Evaluate the result, and Fix or Reinforce before the next swing. When you make this process part of your game, progress becomes consistent and measurable.
 As the players reflect on their round, Mike emphasizes how awareness transforms performance. Whether it&rsquo;s a chip, putt, or drive, the key is to pay attention to what the ball does and what caused it. If a shot feels off, you already have the data to make a small correction. If it feels right, replay that motion mentally to reinforce it. This is exactly how professional golfers practice and play.
 He reminds Jeff and Jeff that golf is a game of emotion and adjustment. Most amateurs react emotionally to bad shots and move on without learning anything. Tour players do the opposite&mdash;they treat each swing as feedback. Mike challenges both players to bring that same mindset into every round: measure progress by how much you learn, not just by what you score.
 Throughout the discussion, Mike shares insights on mental focus and on-course strategy. Golfers who can stay neutral, observe outcomes, and make small corrections between shots improve faster than those who rely on constant swing changes. It&rsquo;s not about fixing the swing&mdash;it&rsquo;s about understanding how your current motion works and how to make it perform under pressure.
 By the end of the lesson, both Jeffs recognize how much their awareness and confidence have grown. They&rsquo;ve learned to approach every shot with a plan, execute it with commitment, evaluate with honesty, and adjust with clarity.
 This closing session captures the core of the Malaska Golf philosophy: when you understand the process, golf makes sense. The more you learn from each shot, the better you play&mdash;and the more fun the game becomes.
 Key Takeaways Golf Is a Learning Game: Every shot gives you feedback&mdash;use it. The 4-Step Process: Program, Execute, Evaluate, Fix or Reinforce. Awareness Creates Improvement: Focus on what you feel and see, not just the outcome. Mindset Over Mechanics: Great golf starts with the right approach, not a new swing. Play with Purpose: Measure success by learning and adjustment, not score alone.

Play With Awareness

M-System Elite

Mike Malaska works with Frank Cox on his golf swing. Frank has a unique swing when it comes to hitting the driver. He does not have a problem hitting the ball a long way, and he tends to fade with a giant pull. Frank has a weak grip, and the clubface is open at impact. He also twists his body and turns hard on his swing. He finds himself having to twist his hands at impact to catch up. Mike works with Frank on having a stronger grip, shutting the clubface on the takeaway, and pushing his left leg back, which gets his left hip out of the way. This allows Frank to accelerate his swing at impact and on the follow-through. With less effort and more control, Frank can hit the ball as far, if not farther, and straighter with more consistency.

Frank Cox

In the fourth video of John Lang’s player lesson series with Mike Malaska, the focus is on refining the swing path by using drills that teach proper clubhead positioning and body alignment. Through hands-on adjustments and visual aids, this lesson highlights the importance of pushing the handle down during the takeaway to position the clubhead correctly and improve overall swing mechanics.The session begins with two critical drills designed to correct John’s swing path. The first drill emphasizes choking down on the club slightly to maintain control. Mike explains how pushing the handle of the club downward during the takeaway causes the clubhead to rise into the correct position. This motion prevents the flat backswing that has been affecting John’s consistency. Using a ball as a visual guide, John is instructed to take the clubhead over the ball on the backswing and swing down inside it on the downswing. This drill reinforces the concept of creating a proper swing arc.Mike observes John’s posture and notes the need for further adjustments. He points out that John’s hips must push back more to create the necessary spine angle, allowing the shoulders to rotate correctly. A key takeaway is the use of visual feedback tools like shadows, mirrors, or windows to practice and evaluate posture and movement. Mike demonstrates how observing these reflections can help golfers ensure they are maintaining proper alignment and body angles during the swing.To reinforce the changes, Mike uses side-by-side video comparisons of John’s swing from earlier in the lesson and after the adjustments. The improvements in posture, clubhead positioning, and shoulder rotation are evident. Mike highlights the critical difference between the two swings, showing how the new technique sets John up for more consistent and powerful ball striking. He also explains how focusing on the task of pushing the handle down naturally adjusts the shoulders and body to accommodate the desired clubhead movement, eliminating the need to overthink shoulder rotation.The lesson concludes with John practicing the drills while incorporating the adjustments. Mike emphasizes the importance of training the hands and club to work together since they are ultimately what control the ball. By focusing on the handle and clubhead, John can develop a more repeatable and efficient swing.This lesson provides John with practical tools and concepts, such as using visual feedback and task-based training, to continue refining his swing path and overall mechanics. The improvements in posture and clubhead positioning lay the groundwork for consistent and controlled ball striking moving forward.

Fix Your Swing Arc

Mike Malaska introduces the M-System Lite M1: Line of Compression. Line of compression goes right into the concept of impact. To hit the ball solid, you need to compress it, which most amateurs don’t. This happens because they don’t have a great line of compression.What is line of compression? If you take a baseball bat and hit something, a tree, for instance, your arms will line up with the bat. This is because the bat stabilizes the force coming back through it.Mike says that you wouldn’t roll your wrists when you hit with a baseball bat. If you did this in golf, it would be considered an ‘over the top’ swing.Mike demonstrates what line of compression is with a baseball bat.Line of compression happens in tennis too. If you take a tennis racket and make a forehand swing, the same thing happens. Your arm lines up with where you hit the ball on the racket, and this stabilizes the force.In golf, line of compression starts with your putter. It is important to get a feel for it with putting and distance. You need to establish line of compression first with putting before you can master it with your full swing.The concept of line of compression relates right to impact, and understanding it will help you.Mike holds his putter level out in front of him so that his arm lines up with the shaft. His arm is slightly angled, a little forward, because his arm pushes the putt.Some people keep the angle in the wrist, and others let it go, but the arm still lines up with the putter.Mike now sets up to a ball with a line on it. The ball needs to roll the line. You don’t want the ball to wobble. You want a center face hit with a good path.Mike demonstrates putting the ball as his right arm pushes the shaft through the ball. Again, the key is to make the line on the ball roll. Mike sinks the putt.It is important to command line of compression first with just one arm so you are stable with the putt before you add your second hand and arm.Mike moves to the edge of the green to talk about how line of compression relates to chipping. He explains that chipping is really ‘off-green putting.’Line of compression is the same with chipping. You can see this as Mike lines up his arm with his wedge. It is on the back of the shaft and pushes the shaft through the ball.&nbsp;You don’t want your arm to twist over or underneath. Again, you are pushing the shaft through the ball.There is one change from putting to chipping, though. Mike has drawn a dot on the clubface. The key here is to put that dot on the back of the ball when you hit it.The ball will get in the air, not because you lift it, but because the loft of the clubface gets it up. Mike reminds us that chipping is a ‘lofted putt with a chipping stroke.’When Mike sets up to the ball, he likes to practice with just one hand/arm first and then move on to both. This is all about feeling the line of compression and how your right arm pushes the shaft through the ball.Mike reminds us that the line of compression starts with putting and chipping. Then, you learn to compress the ball and get it in the air with the club.This is a big concept to master, and it applies to every iron and club in your bag, including a full swing with a driver.

M-System Lite M1-Line Of Compression

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

In this eight-part on-course Player Lesson, Mike Malaska joins Jeff Coburn and Jeff Krull for a real-world learning experience. The range is closed, so there&rsquo;s no warm-up and no time to fix anything&mdash;just golf the way it&rsquo;s actually played.
 Mike begins by showing how to prepare the body in minutes, then guides both players through every stage of the round: putting, chipping, driving, fairway shots, approach play, and finishing on the green.
 Throughout the series, Mike reveals a simple truth: great golf isn&rsquo;t about changing your swing; it&rsquo;s about learning your swing. Each shot follows the same process used by tour players: Program &rarr; Execute &rarr; Evaluate &rarr; Fix or Reinforce.From center-face contact to tempo, distance control, and shot awareness, the lesson shows how small adjustments lead to consistent play.
 By the end, both Jeffs understand that the real key to scoring is mindset. Golf is a learning process, and when you treat every shot as feedback, improvement becomes automatic.

Jeff Coburn and Jeff Krull Player Lesson

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

A Malaska Golf Member recently had an aha moment when he started to feel how the handle of the club comes down and moves the club out in front of him. He wasn’t dragging the handle.Mike says he knows some people teach this concept, and in fact, Mike did it for a big part of his career. The problem with this is that if the inside circle, your body gets way ahead of the clubhead, you will have a hard time catching the face up.Jake Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and others felt that starting the club released the club from the top. As the club started away, it worked back out in front of you instead of getting underneath. This got you ‘stuck.’Again, once you change directions and get the club out in front of you, the handle comes down, and the clubhead works out. This allows you to get to impact. You should feel like your chest and club are going through the swing together, as opposed to getting your hand way out ahead of you.Mike demonstrates the swing, and he iterates that the club and your chest go through the ball at the same time.Now, if you look at it on video, it doesn’t look that way, as the club is moving much faster. This is what it feels like to Mike, and it keeps the club in sync. You don't have to catch the club up or twist the face to get the ball to go straight.

Transition of the Club

Once you are set up. Just hinge your wrists until the club is parallel to the ground. The only thing that moves is the club and your wrists. At this point your wrists are in the position you want them at the top. Then take the club and your arms back. The club head stays on the target side of your hands until your arms reach waist high. Then the club head breaks up and over your hands. As you swing to the transition of your swing the club head keeps moving away from the target line. Then as you change directions the momentum of the club will help your arms fall on the correct path into the ball. 

HINGE

Mike works with Danie on fairway bunker play and getting the ball in the air. Drawing a line in the sand is a great drill to figure out ball position and setup.

Danie Steyn

Meet Matt Baker, PGA Professional and newest Malaska Golf Certified Coach. Matt is based in the United Kingdom. Matt has been a golf professional for over 25 years, working his way up from Assistant Pro to Head Pro, and now teaches full-time. Matt started playing at age 14 and immediately fell in love with the game and how the swing worked. Golf became his passion. Matt was intrigued with the motions of the game, putting the swing together, and helping other golfers, which led him to coach. Matt, who was looking to improve his game, came across Mike Malaska on YouTube, he loved what he saw, and the videos improved his game immensely. Not only did he improve, but Matt gained a better understanding of the game because it was simple and made sense. The key takeaway was that Mike Malaska&rsquo;s instruction and coaching just made sense to Matt! Matt has applied this knowledge to his game and especially to his students. Matt has seen great success from them as they start to play better golf and understand the game. Matt also loves the sport connect and how other sports relate to golf, making the game more understandable. His goal is not to teach you something you don&rsquo;t understand but to teach something you already possess and can do. Matt is excited to be a Malaska Golf Certified Coach and help others play better golf. The M-System is Matt&rsquo;s favorite, and he does it every day.

Malaska Certified-Matt Baker

Dropping your right foot back gets your right hip out of the way and makes it easier to hit balls on the range and the course.

STAGGERED STANCE PROGRESSION

(The Key to Power, Timing, and a Repeatable Release) In Day 16, Mike Malaska reveals one of the most important connections in the golf swing&mdash;how your lead hip socket and the clubhead must move together in harmony. This relationship determines whether your swing has effortless power or if it breaks down under pressure. It&rsquo;s not about &ldquo;turning your hips.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s about displacing your joints correctly to create a chain reaction from the ground up. Mike breaks it down through slow-motion drills and short swings, showing how pushing your lead hip socket backcreates space for the trail hip to move forward, which activates your torso, shoulders, arms, and ultimately the club. If the hip doesn&rsquo;t move back&mdash;or moves incorrectly&mdash;you&rsquo;ll block your arms or flip the club, leading to inconsistency and loss of speed. Whether you&rsquo;re swinging a wedge or a driver, this concept is universal: power doesn&rsquo;t come from brute force&mdash;it comes from sequence. This lesson helps you feel and train that sequence.
What You&rsquo;ll Learn in Day 16: &bull; How your lead hip socket creates room for a clean, powerful release &bull; Why &ldquo;joint displacement&rdquo; is more effective than simply &ldquo;turning the hips&rdquo; &bull; How to sync the motion of your body with the clubhead through impact &bull; What goes wrong when the hips outrun&mdash;or block&mdash;the arms &bull; Why this connection improves consistency across all clubs, from wedges to driver
Key Takeaway: The club and your lead hip socket must move in sync. When your body creates space by pushing the hip socket back, your arms and club can move freely and accelerate through the ball. Without that connection, your swing stalls. Build this movement into your practice until it becomes automatic.

Day 16-Connect Your Body to the Club

Billy Fitzgerald, a Malaska Certified Coach, is subbing for Mike this week. A member has a question about how the hips move and how they time up with the club.

First, your hips move because of what your feet and legs do on the ground. When you swing back, your right hip moves back because your right foot, knee, and thigh push back. You are not twisting your hip back. As you push off the ground, that movement pushes your right hip back up and out of the way.

On the downswing, the same thing happens to your left leg. The left leg pushes the left hip back and out of the way. Your hips are moving, but you aren’t setting up to the ball and twisting your hips back and then forward. Doing this moves you off the ground. You want to stay on the ground.

It also helps you move your center away from the ball, giving you room for your arms to swing back and on the follow-through. This is how your hips work, and this is because of your feet and how they work into the ground. It is a reaction.

When you talk about speed, it’s all about lining the clubface up and timing it as you push off the ground. As you do this, your right hip pushes back, creating speed as you come through the ball.

Again, your feet are what moves your hips, and the timing of the club and how your feet push off the ground is what accelerates the clubface through the golf ball.

How the Hips Move

Knowing how the handle and bounce works are the first things to gain familiarity with for hitting these lob shots. Here's how you practice that.

FUNDAMENTAL SKILLS FOR HITTING LOB SHOTS

An Instagram member wants to know why he keeps hitting slices now that he has a strong grip. Mike believes that the member's grip is more neutral than strong.

Mike demonstrates with a strong grip why the member slices the ball. As Mike hinges his wrists on the backswing, the wrists cup, and at the top of the swing, his left wrist is bent, and his right wrist is flat.
This causes the clubface to be open. When you start the downswing, your clubface is still open and will be open at impact, causing you to slice the ball.

Even though your grip is strong, it doesn't mean your wrist will work correctly.

This time Mike demonstrates the solution. When he takes the club back and hinges his wrists, it is flatter, so the clubface is facing the ball.

Mike then shows the difference between the two wrist hinges on the takeaways. It is obvious the member's wrist hinge will cause the clubface to be open. The key is ensuring your wrists work correctly with a strong grip.

CORRECT WRIST HINGE

Doing certain exercises not only helps your swing but gives you an understanding of who you are motion wise. Start by lying on the ground with your feet up in a chair. Just let your lower back relax into the ground. Then breath from your diaphragm. This relaxes your body and create a neutral pelvis. Then go to your hands and knees. Pike your body up. Then try to put your heels on the ground. IF this is hard for you to do. Then you need to be careful how much angle you put in your hips in your set up. Last Kneel at a chair, put one knee at the back of the other foots heel. Then stand and straighten your legs. Keep your hands on the chair. This stretches your hamstrings. A big part of being able to maintain your spine angle in a swing.

SWING CONCEPTS - FITNESS

A Malaska Golf Member has a great question for Mike, and it is about how your left wrist works in the swing. There are many swing concepts out there, and some aren’t even close to what you should be doing.

Mike came from baseball to golf and used his baseball swing to hit a golf ball. Mike demonstrates how he swings and hits a baseball with his golf club. You can see what the left wrist does when he swings on the follow-through. You don’t twist your wrists at contact in baseball or other sports.

Mike equated hitting a golf ball to a low outside pitch. Mike demonstrates this. When he hits the ball, his left wrist is fairly flat, and on the follow-through, Mike’s wrist worked the same way it did in the baseball swing.

Mike rapidly got good with his golf swing and game at a young age. The coach at the time took a video of Mike’s swing and said his clubface was shut and that he had a flippy release. The coach said they had to get rid of that. He changed Mike’s grip and introduced a new swing concept: when you hit the ball, you rotate your left forearm and turn your wrists over with your left palm up.

Mike says that from then on and the rest of his career, he was never as good as he was in his late teens. Mike was winning everything back then, and it was really easy.

The ironic thing is that Mike, at age 69, is back to playing the way he did then and is now a more consistent ball striker than in his professional career. Mike attributes that to understanding how the hands work and controlling the clubface.

Mike says that your left wrist goes back and hits the ball, and then the club straightens your arms, and they fold up on the follow-through. You can see what the wrists are doing. Again, the wrists aren’t twisting over at impact.

Mike stresses the concept of hand action and release. Understanding this can either make your game easy or impossible to play.

THE SECRET TO THE LEFT WRIST

To pitch effectively, you need to have great face control. Here's how a dot can help you build this.

Set-Up for Natural Pitch Shots

This Mulligan Monday, Mike discusses developing putting tempo on the green.

Golf swings are all about finding a tempo and Tour Players are masters at maintaining tempo under pressure. Tempo is the pace at which the swing works, and rhythm is the sequence. Timing is what holds it together. The key is finding the tempo and maintaining it. If the tempo changes, the sequence changes, and then the timing changes.

Mike is developing tempo on the putting green by making swings. He counts out 1 and 2 and then putts the ball. Whether Mike is putting a two-foot putt, a twenty-footer, a fifty-footer, a chip shot, or even a drive, the tempo remains the same. The only difference is that the club is swinging in a larger arc.

PUTTING DEVELOPING TEMPO

A Malaska Golf Member watched a video where Tiger Woods out-drove another golfer while hitting off his knees. The member wanted to know the value of this drill and what it does.Mike says everyone should learn to hit a driver off their knees. It’s not hard on your back and teaches you several good things.Mike gets on his knees the same way Tiger did, and what it teaches you is how to lever the club and create speed with your arms.Mike demonstrates the Lever System. If you are tight when you swing, you won’t be able to hit the ball. Many Tour Players can hit the ball off their knees because the Lever System is the biggest speed producer.Mike hits the ball about 200 yards off his knees with an easy swing. Another thing this drill does for you is help with the club path and angle of approach.Most people who attempt this drill for the first time will hit the ground behind the ball. They are so used to throwing their body out and into it that the club drops behind their hands, and they can’t feel the arc and direct the momentum of the club right into the back of the ball.If you swing over the top, you will stick the club in front of the ball. By making practice swings, you will start to learn the club path. Mike hits another ball off his knees, and he explains the club path.This is the same club path and arc when you stand up and address the ball. It’s just on a different angle. Your hands work the same way.Mike throws his hands around him with the club, and this is where you create speed. You aren’t playing with ‘quiet hands,’ as Mike demonstrates.Your hand might feel quiet for other reasons, and Mike has done videos about this on the website.The drill that Tiger did is monumental and good for everybody in golf.

Hitting a Driver From Your Knees

The drill library is a collection of several drills to help your game. To begin, familiarize yourself with what is in there. Depending on what you are working on, guide yourself to drills that will help with your game. These drills all relate to some part of the M-System. If you have a problem with a particular part of the M-System, you can find additional drills in the drill library. These will help you navigate your game through that system. Just have fun. Try the drills. There is not a drill in the drill library that will hurt you. Suppose you find a drill that is hard to do. Work on it. It will make you a better player.

Drill Center

A Malaska Golf Member is struggling with his driver, almost to the point of throwing it away. He finds himself moving too much.
Mike explains that when you set up and start to swing back, you shouldn't mistake force into your right foot as weight shift.

Mike demonstrates that you can see how much your head has moved back when you do this. What happens is that when you realize you have done this, you slide forward to compensate. Your upper body becomes the change of direction instead of your lower body.

You will hit the ground behind the ball if you shift your weight on the backswing. The key is that you are moving a lot of force into your right foot. This is a dynamic weight shift. Mike can't stand on his right foot when he swings back. When he changes directions, it would measure that he has 100 percent of his force or weight in his right foot.

Mike explains that it's not weight shift but force. As Mike swings on the follow-through, 100 percent of his force is now in his left foot. Throughout this swing, Mike's head has not moved.

When you move force into your right, you're moving force into your heel, not swaying your body to the right. When you sway to the right, you have to get back up to the ball, and this causes problems.

When people finally do it correctly, they say it feels like a reverse weight shift. This has nothing to do with weight shift. It is about force going into your right foot.

Mike says the member is trying too hard to get into his right side. His head is moving back, and he has to move forward to get back to the ball.

PROBLEMS WITH WEIGHT SHIFT

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

A Malaska Golf Member makes some brilliant observations about the golf swing. The member notices that the arc of the backswing is different from that of the downswing. When you start on the downswing, the club comes down on a steeper arc than the backswing.

The member wants to know if it is correct that your hands move away on a wider arc when you start down. He also wants to know if the reason you feel you are wider coming down and your downswing arc is steeper than your backswing is because of the change of direction.

Mike agrees with both of these assessments. Mike says you must be careful with how these things fit together. Mike has made a lifetime of observations and practicing the swing to figure this out.

Again, the backswing arc is different from the downswing arc. The downswing arc is steeper, but not because you aren’t pulling your hands in. It is the change of direction that causes this to happen.

Good players feel like their hands are moving away from them and that their right arm is constantly straightening from the elbow, not the wrists.

Mike concludes that if you understand this concept, you are well on the way to understanding the golf swing.

THE SWING ARCS ARE DIFFERENT

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

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 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

Mike talks about maintaining the M-System after going through the videos. The most important part of the M-System is the first, and Mike practices this daily. Mike starts with Line of Compression, how your right arm pushes the shaft, and how your wrist works. 

Take your club, hold it with your right hand, and just make small shots. Feel that motion, and then add both hands and the pivot. This is about moving your left hip out of the way. Your right forearm is still on the back of the shaft, with the pivot of your body, and you are running the club into the ball. 

The next step is Impact. Set up to the ball, and move your body and legs to impact position. Again, make little swings and shots. Mike goes through the routine: Setup, Impact, back to Setup, swing, and hit the ball at the impact position. Start there every day and build into the Lever System with more body motion. 

Mike stresses that you must get to the point where you practice certain parts of The M-System daily.

MAINTAINING THE M-SYSTEM WITH IMPACT

Plus Content

LAG SHOT HITTING A DRAW

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

A great drill to help you stop your club from bottoming out on chip shots.