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Meet Ryan Groves with Bodi Trak and an early Malaska Golf Member.

Ryan Groves

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

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

June Focus of the Month: Grip and Wrist Action- The foundation of a consistent and powerful golf swing begins with how you hold the club. This month, Mike Malaska takes you deep into the fundamentals of grip and wrist action, showing how these two elements influence every part of your swing&mdash;from setup to impact to follow-through. Across three focused videos, you&rsquo;ll learn how proper hand placement and natural wrist motion create a swing that is stable, efficient, and free of unnecessary manipulation.
 In the first video, Grip and Grip Instinct, Mike explains how a proper grip allows the clubface to square automatically through impact. He emphasizes gripping the club in your fingers rather than your palm, which promotes freedom in the wrists and supports the natural lever system of the swing. Drawing on experiences from other sports like baseball and tennis, Mike shows how athletic instinct often leads to better hand positioning than traditional mechanical instruction. This video lays the groundwork for developing feel, control, and confidence at setup. In Training Each Hand Separately, you&rsquo;ll learn how to isolate each hand to better understand its role in the swing. By gripping and hitting with one hand at a time, you can uncover tension, compensations, or inefficiencies that might be hidden when both hands are working together. This drill helps build awareness of how the clubface moves, how pressure should be applied, and how your hands sync through the hitting zone. It&rsquo;s a powerful way to refine hand function and train smarter.
 The final video, Chipping, connects everything by applying proper grip and wrist action to the short game. While the grip used in chipping is slightly different, the principles remain the same: square contact, quiet wrists, and clubface awareness. By starting each session with 10&ndash;20 chip shots, you remind your hands how to hold the club and move through the ball with control and stability. This not only improves your scoring but reinforces mechanics that translate directly to your full swing.
 Throughout this month&rsquo;s series, the message is clear: when your grip is right and your wrists function naturally, the rest of the swing becomes simpler. You&rsquo;ll stop fighting the clubface, reduce compensations, and start building a swing you can trust under pressure.

Focus of the Month (June, 25)

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

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 wants to know why he still slices the ball despite having a stronger grip.

Mike surmises the member has a strong grip, which Mike calls a neutral grip; however, on the takeaway, he cups his left wrist. The problem is, when you twist your wrists, your clubface becomes wide open on the backswing. Then you are forced to compensate and get the club square on impact.

When you take the club away, ensure your left wrist hinges and the clubface is pointed back at the ball. For you to keep hitting to the right with a correct grip, your clubface is getting open on the backswing. The only way to do this is for you to twist your hand.

Again, as you take the club back, ensure the clubface is still aiming at the ball, then swing up to the top. Notice how your left wrist is flat and hasn’t cupped. Now the clubface is where it’s supposed to be.

Mike demonstrates this with a swing. The key is ensuring your clubface isn’t getting open, collapsing, or cupping the wrists. Doing this will stop your shots from going to the right.

FACE CONTROL WITH HAND ACTION

M-System Max

The latest additions to the Ask Malaska Golf Collection.

Ask Malaska Golf-What's New

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

M-System

The lever system is a very important part of your swing. Learn to get the club hinging and unhinging correctly.

THE LEVER SYSTEM

Core Content

When your hips work together, your swing becomes easier to pull off. Get a feel for how your hips work for eachother in your swing.

GETTING YOUR HIPS WORKING TOGETHER

Mike connects the relationship with baseball to golf and how the grip is almost identical at impact. Hitting a golf ball and a baseball is essentially the same.

BASEBALL SWING

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

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

Driver

In this video, a Malaska Golf Member has a sports-connect question about throwing a frisbee. This is a great way to feel how you turn the corner and how your left hand works on the follow-through.

Mike grabs a frisbee with his left hand and cups it. He makes a throwing motion which is the same left-wrist action as in a golf swing. Mike demonstrates this action by throwing the frisbee.

Mike then faces the camera and shows the frisbee at the point where you hit the ball in golf and the release of the frisbee or the follow-through.

Mike has drawn an “X” on his glove to illustrate that the “X” is visible to the camera when your hands release through the swing. Your wrists don’t turn over and show your hands to the sky. This is an old way of teaching where you have swung and opened the clubface and rotated your forearms.

If you have a baseball grip, the hand action is the same as when you swing. Mike takes his golf club and applies the same frisbee-throwing action to hitting a golf ball.

A FRISBEE AND HAND ACTION

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)

A Malaska Golf Member has had success with the Right Foot Back Drill. Doing this drill helps get your right hip out of the way. The Member feels he can’t get his left hip out of the way on the follow-through because his right hip is already back. 

Mike says this is true to some degree. However, it still gets your hips to work correctly. This is all about a feel and relationship between your right and left leg that works when you put your feet back together at your square stance.

The Member then wants to know how to get his feet back to square without having his right foot back and still get the right hip back.

Mike says it’s about feeling where the hips must get to, whether doing the Right Foot Back Drill or hitting the ball from square. Once you feel where the pelvis must go, move your foot up. Your legs will start to feel how you push your hips back.

It is about identifying a feel and a spot and creating spatial awareness of where the hip needs to go. You can then make a swing with your stance closer to square.

FEEL YOUR HIP WITH THE RIGHT FOOT BACK

Elite Content

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

Using the same wedge. Hit three different trajectories and make the ball go the same distance. You do this by the relationship of your trail hand knuckles to the wrist. The farther behind the wrist at impact the knuckles are the lower the ball flight. Being able to achieve the same distance with multiple trajectories is a big part of having an efficient short game.

SWING CONCEPTS - CHALLENGE

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

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

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

FULL SWING HIP MOVEMENT WITH ERIC COGORNO

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 

Mike Malaska has a Player Lesson with Dr. Joe LaCaze, Owner and Managing Partner of Rotex Motion. Joe is a former Navy Seal and avid golfer who has worked with elite athletes for 26 years. He is a guru in the motion fitness arena. His company sells products that will help you with flexibility and better movement patterns.

Joe LaCaze- Player Lesson

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

Here we are with Ask Mike. I'm joined by Brian Gott and Billy Fitzgerald. Today's question comes from John Geraldo, who wants to know: Billy, when does a chip become a pitch?
That's an interesting concept for most people, and I think a lot of golfers have different ideas about it. I believe we're mostly on the same page, though. So, Billy, why don't you help him understand? When does a chip become a pitch?
First, let&rsquo;s define what a chip is and how it feels. Putting and chipping are almost identical, with a slight difference in ball position and the way we approach the ball.
For a chip shot, I use my putting grip. The ball is positioned slightly farther back in my stance, and I lean forward to ensure I catch the ball on the downward part of the strike. I can only make a certain length of swing with this setup before it starts to feel uncomfortable.
For me, that limit is about hip-high to hip-high. Any longer than that, and I feel like I have to involve my body more, which becomes uncomfortable. That&rsquo;s when it transitions into a pitch for me.
With a pitch shot, I need to generate more speed in the club, so I change my grip. I move from my putting grip to a pitching grip, which is closer to my full-swing grip but still slightly in the palm. This grip change allows my hands to work more, and it enables my body to pivot naturally, giving me the speed I need.
Let&rsquo;s go through both techniques:
For the chip shot, the ball is back in my stance. I lean forward slightly and make a putting motion. For the pitch shot, if I need to go a bit farther, I change my grip to a pitching grip. This allows for a little wrist hinge and some body motion, which adds speed to the club.
The difference between a chip and a pitch varies for each golfer. It comes down to when the chip motion feels uncomfortable or insufficient for the required shot. That&rsquo;s when you need to add speed by adjusting your grip and motion.
So, to sum it up, when you feel a chip is no longer sufficient for the shot, change your grip, add some speed, and transition into a pitch. That should help clarify the difference and improve your short game.

Chip vs. Pitch Key Differences

A deep dive into Pitching with Mike Malaska and the M-SYSTEM

Pitching

A Malaska Golf Member has a question about the backswing. Sometimes, his arms get too far back behind him. The member wants to know a drill that he can use to make the club do what it’s supposed to do.When Mike takes the club back, the club gets behind his hands, and his arms and hands swing back and straight up; that’s okay. That’s how Mike takes the club away. He doesn’t necessarily bring it back and make a loop with it.Mike swings back with the club in line with his hands and then moves it behind his hands, demonstrating this.He is swinging the club on a line (arc), and his shoulders keep this all in sync.The problem most people have is that their shoulders don’t turn on the same arc of the swing, but they turn back. This is what gets most people in trouble.Holding an alignment stick with your golf club is a good drill for feeling how your club works and getting your shoulders steep enough. Mike holds the stick together with his club, and the stick extends up past the handle and the back of his belt.&nbsp;The key to this drill is to take the club back. As you do this, you have to get the stick off your hip and make it swing down on the other hip. When you do this, your shoulders turn steeper. Mike again demonstrates the swing with the alignment stick on the end of the golf club.Again, this is a great drill to help you turn your shoulders steeper instead of turning your shoulders and arms back.

Don't Turn Your Shoulders

Ball Position is a vital part of The M-System series. Mike Malaska walks us through how using different clubs, from your driver to your wedges, affects ball position in your setup. Mike builds a practice station for you to follow to help with ball placement and how you line up your body to the ball. Mike&rsquo;s approach from 120 yards out is consistent with hitting from his left side. As Mike gets into fairway woods, rescue clubs, and his driver, the approach and ball position are more forward, and both legs come into play. The golf swing is a circle, and the ball position and angle of attack change with the club.

Ball Position

Grip is the same as full swing. The big difference is in how you set the face. The angle of attack or approach is not very steep. Much shallower than players think.

HAND ACTION

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 has questions about positions in the golf swing. You can get too fixated on hitting certain positions in the downswing, but if you use motion correctly, the positions show up automatically.You must be careful about trying to hit certain positions. Mike demonstrates positions that you might want to hit. The problem with trying to practice this way is there is no force involved. You must have enough force so that the momentum of the club is doing things so that you can learn to offset those forces.The golf industry has struggled because we have tried to learn a motion sport with our feet still. Mike explains that in baseball, you stride when you hit the ball. You move your feet in tennis as you swing the racket to hit the ball. The same is true with ping-pong. In hockey, you are moving your feet.However, when you move to golf, the industry wants you to make a swing and keep your feet static.Mike demonstrates a drill to help you move your feet. Place your club forward outside a golf ball and start to step back while making a swing and hitting the ball.Many Tour Pros, when they practice, will make small steps before they hit the ball. They are using this footwork to create motion that creates positions.The key is to know what motions you need to do to create those positions. Motion is very different compared to static positions.Mike explains that he ruined a career by slowing his swing down to look at positions and trying to get to those spots! Those spots happen, but they don’t happen by what you see. The biggest thing that Mike has learned is that you can’t see a golf swing. That’s why he wrote the book, ‘The Invisible Swing.’It’s not about what you see but what causes what you see. That’s why static positions can be detrimental.

Static Positions in a Golf Swing

Plus Content

A Malaska Golf Member is confused about the left, right, left hit relative to his right foot rotating and pushing the spike of his shoes and rotating into the ground.Mike explains how to do the drill correctly. You start by taking a small swing with the club to the left, then swinging back right, and then starting back to the left on the downswing.As you start the downswing left, your right foot is pushing into the right cleat of your shoe and twisting into the ground. When you do this, it helps the right hip stay back. Most people, when they do this drill, push off on their right hip. When your right hip stays back, your femur starts to rotate inward, which turns your right foot in and the cleat into the ground. This happens automatically if your hip works correctly. If, however, your right hip pushes, then you will be in trouble.Again, the sequencing of left, right, left gets your hip to stay back. Your leg starts to rotate and pushes the heel into the ground and then you hit the ball.Mike demonstrates the swing, and you can see the foot rotate in. It is a natural pattern if you do the sequencing correctly. You also want to work on the foot action.Once you feel it, the hip works, so you tie the two together.

Proper Hip and Foot Action

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

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

In the set up there are two positions relative to ball position. One is how far from the ball and the other is where in my stance front to back. The distance from the ball is extablised by first take your grip. Then let the club unhinge or radial deviate your lead wrist. Once the is established just bend until the club touches the ground. That will give you a great feel for distance from the ball. Then with short irons up to about a 5 iron the back of the ball goes in the center of your stance. That makes it easy to have a slight downward hit. As the club gets longer but on the ground the back of the ball moves slightly more forward. The last is the driver. Here the ball is up off your lead foot. Either just off the inside of your lead foot to even with your lead toe. This allows you to hit slightly up on the ball.

BALL POSITION

When setting up to the ball. First make sure that you are balanced your bending from your hips but your toes are quiet You need to make sure that your arms have room to swing back. Set up with your lead arm on top of your left breast and your trail arm is on the side of your trail breast or on your side. This creates an open path way for your arms to swing back on the backswing. You then do not have to move your arms out and around your body. 

ASHLEY - SETUP & BALANCE

Mike Malaska introduces Garrett Richards for a Player Lesson and Sports Connect at Ocotillo Golf Course. Garrett, a retired MLB pitcher, previously played for the Boston Red Sox and, most recently, the Texas Rangers.Mike talks about how he had always wanted to play baseball as a kid, and he pitched until college. He loved the hand-eye coordination of the sport.Mike explains that he will look at Garrett's swing and relate that to pitching. Baseball players have great hand-eye coordination when they are hitting and throwing a ball. They already have the perfect golf swing.There is a misconception that baseball and golf are different; however, they have the same body movement patterns. You hit the ball on a different plane and at a different spot, but the swings are very similar.Garrett says that his misses are usually an over-draw to the left, and he struggles with pitch shots inside of 100 yards. He is more comfortable with 150 yards. Garrett says he tends to overthink tight lies with his wedges and catches the ball thin or fat.Garrett says he is looking for a mindset, a comfortable feeling, or a weight shift that will find the clubface more often.Mike asks Garrett how often he plays a week. He says that he uses a simulator at home and that he is a member of Seville Golf and Country Club in Gilbert, AZ. He doesn’t get out as much as he would like because of kid’s activities, but usually, it’s once or twice a week.Garrett usually warms up with a pitching wedge to loosen up. Mike watches Garrett hit a few shots to assess his swing.Mike comments that Garrett has a nice motion, which he expected, having been a professional athlete. Mike says that he watched Garrett pitch, and Garrett explains that he was a cross-body pitcher. Mike says there are a lot of things that are similar in pitching and golf, specifically how quickly you open up. In golf, if your shoulders open up too fast, you are dead, and the same is true when you are pitching.Mike explains that in golf, instead of throwing a pitch out in front of you, you have a ball on the ground, and the pitch is down there. You must rotate and stay rotated until you plant your feet. There are many similarities.Mike says he will fix Garrett’s swing fast. He wants to work on a fundamental concept in golf that Garrett is weak on. Mike elaborates that he is fighting all his natural instincts for one particular motion. Once Garrett understands this, he will get significantly better.Mike asked Garrett what type of pitch he liked the best: a fastball or a curveball. Garrett liked his slider better because he had more control over it. Based on this, Mike says he will show Garrett why he hooks the ball. Mike continues to explain that Garrett controls the type of pitch with his fingers on the ball. When you play golf, you can also control the clubface with your fingers.That is how Mike does it because Mike used to be a pitcher. Mike controls the clubface by pressuring it with his fingers to hit a draw or fade and hit it straight, just like a pitcher does with a baseball. You curve and spin the golf ball the same way you do with a baseball. The clubface becomes an extension of your hands.Mike takes Garrett’s hand and fingers and shows him how to manipulate his fingers to hit different shots, which is similar to pitching. Mike tells Garrett that he is so good at putting spin on a ball that he should be good at it with golf.Garrett hits a ball, and Mike says that Garrett is going to improve easily.

Garrett Richards-Pitching and Golf Connect

The concept of GreatLIFE is what my entire career has been around. More of Human development and how sports cross over. But not just that a business model that allows almost anyone access to golf and sports in general that they otherwise could not afford to take part in. Especially what it does for kids and families. It is without question the business model of the future for communities to come together for the overall good.

GreatLIFE

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 Coach-Matt Baker

A Malaska Golf Member has a question about your swing path relative to the target line.

Some people believe you should swing from the inside out, which is untrue. This concept was developed to help people who were swinging over the top. Instructors told them to swing from the inside out to the right field to remedy that. Mike explains that it is an exaggeration and not what happens.

Mike sets up with his oversized iron and an alignment stick in front of him. As he swings the club back, you notice that he swings on an arc up to the top. As the club comes down, it comes slightly from the inside before it hits the ball.

The point at which the club hits the ball is the apex of the circle. There are no straight lines in your swing. After you hit the ball, the club continues on an arc around to the left. The club does not swing down the target line.

This was a concept, unfortunately, that Mike was taught, and it killed his swing. They said Lee Trevino kept swinging his club down the target line on his follow-through. Mike got to stand behind Trevino one day and watched him swing and hit balls. He didn’t swing the club down the target line; it went around to the left.

His clubface stayed at a 90-angle angle to his swing arc, but he wasn’t changing his arc.

Whether you fade or draw the ball, you are hitting slightly from the inside, and then the club continues around to the left. Again, it does not go down the target line.

The Arc of the Club

This is a combination of short game tasks and skills. They are used and extended into full swing. Which is nothing more than more body motion and more arm swing with more speed. It is easy to learn if it is done in a skill development process rather than a by chance or random process it is something that most anyone can get fairly good at. It is not this mystical magical thing that you never get good at. And if you do it will for sure leave you. That is because you do not know the process to develop and maintain what is called a golf swing.

Skill Pathways-Full Swing

Welcome to the Malaska Golf live stream! This is our first live stream, and we’re thrilled to kick it off. We plan to host many more in the future. Our goal is to discuss topics that interest you and connect with you about what’s happening in the golf world.During this live stream, we answered your questions in real-time. Whether they were about the Open, a specific shot, a swing, or what a player might do in a tournament.Joining us today is Matt Baker, a certified golf coach with Malaska Golf, currently based in England. Matt will share his insights on the atmosphere and happenings around the Open in England and Scotland.

Malaska Golf Live 152nd Open Replay

When you set up to the ball your trail wrist is at a 90 degree angle to your swing arch. As you swing back to waist high your trail wrist is still at a 90 degree angel to the swing arch. As your arm swings to the top of your swing your trail arm externally rotates in your shoulder socket. That rotation makes the club face look as thought it has opened up. Then as you swing down the arm internally rotates back so that at waist high the wrist is back to a 90 degree angle to the arch. It then stays in that same relationship until waist high on the follow through. At that point your lead arm continues to externally rotate. 

SWING ARC

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

Body Motion

Mike takes us through the first of 3 bridge exercises. These basics are for your core and to stabilize your lower lumbar spine.

Mike lays on a towel with his knees bent. You should lay on your back with your hands on your chest and lift your hips off the ground. The key is to hold your hips there, then lift and stretch out your left leg. Hold for a few seconds, and then switch to the right. Make sure your body is straight and diagonal to the ground.

If you can’t lift your leg without your hip dropping, hold the pose or lay your arms out for support and then lift your leg.

BRIDGES

Start by taking your grip. Then lift the clubbed up until it is directly above your hands. The club will feel very light. Then let the club drop until the club head is even with your hands. You will feel your arms tighten. Now lift the club to about a 45 Degree angle and make some small circles with the club head. Once you can make these circles and always feel the club head. Then try to keep that same pressure throughout your swing. 

ASHLEY - GRIP PRESSURE

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

Invisible Swing

Mike Malaska has a Player Lesson with Javier Montoya. Javier has had problems shanking the ball or pulling the ball to the left with his irons and driver. Mike notices Javier tends to swing from the inside, and his clubface is open at impact. Mike works with a drill to lever the club and to get Javier to stand the club up on the backswing and the follow-through. Another thing Mike does to help Javier feel the club release upwards is by doing the Look Cool Drill. These few drills improve Javier&rsquo;s swing dramatically.

Javier Montoya- Player Lesson

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

Kory Budinger

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

When it comes to combining motions there is an order in which it needs to be done. First, is set up and balance. Then, the main task is impact. Learn what that is. Then, gradually develop your swing based on the task of impact. Start with small swings and gradually build the motion until you are to full swing.

M4-Combining Skills

Using his 7 iron, Austin moves from the ROTEXMotion Floor discs to the floor, applying what he has learned.

Mike says this is how you should practice. Use the ROTEXMotion Floor discs, then transfer that swing motion to the floor. It has been a great coaching aid for Mike and his students. The rotating of the feet on the discs gets your hips to move correctly. This also helps you to feel where the force is going.

<a href="https://malaskagolf.com/products/rotexmotion-total-package-model" target="_blank" style="color: #EB3916">Get the ROTEXMotion Total Package from the ProShop</a>

Austin makes more swings with his 7 iron and puts the timing of his swing together. Austin talks about how his backswing felt wobbly a few weeks ago, but now after using the discs, it feels perfect.

Mike also notes that when you are on the discs, your right leg straightens, then pushes your right hip up and tilts your shoulders. This throws your arms up in the backswing allowing your shoulder and hip planes to work parallel. This all should be a free-flowing motion. It’s like swinging on an elevated plane; your swing should feel level.

7 IRON OFF THE DISCS


When good players hit the ball, their swing looks effortless, and the ball goes a long way. How do they do that? The Lever System is the secret and magic to generating a lot of speed and force with your driver. It is important to create 90-degree angles on the backswing, holding the angle on the downswing and letting the arms unhinge into the ball.

On the follow-through, your arms have straightened out, and then the club rehinges because your body stops rotating. You need to learn how to swing the driver back and forth fluidly because your hands have to react to the momentum of the club.

Learning to use the Lever System correctly is the first and most crucial aspect of driver consistency and getting maximum speed.


LEVER SYSTEM - PART 1

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

Ask Malaska Golf-Body Motion

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

Hi, I'm Billy Fitzgerald, a Malaska-certified golf coach from Chicago. Jimmy Thorne writes in with a question about arm drop in the golf swing. To clarify, yes, your arms do drop, but they do so as a reaction to your change in direction. I often see people trying to focus on dropping their arms or pulling them down intentionally.If I reach the top or transition point of my swing and simply try to pull my arms down, my right side, or trail side, is likely to follow, causing me to come over the top almost every time. This often results in pulled shots. From down the line, you can see that when I get to the top and just pull down, my entire right side follows. So, your arms naturally drop as a response to the change in direction, not from consciously pulling them down.When I swing back and my hip socket clears out of the way, as soon as I finish turning and change direction, I plant my foot in the ground. This action tilts my shoulders, which allows my arms to drop naturally. So yes, your arms do drop, but how do we work on achieving this?I have a board here to demonstrate. If I allow my arms to drop as I move left to right, as soon as my right foot plants on the ground, I turn out of the way and shift left again. My arms drop naturally with this movement. This step is part of the transition point in the swing. There’s a small amount of lateral motion—just enough to plant my foot without sliding, which stops the momentum, lets my arms drop, and allows me to turn through the shot.To practice, I suggest starting without a club, making swings to feel this rhythm. You can even hold the club out in front of you for some balance and rhythm as you swing back and allow the arms to drop. Think of it as “left-right,” with a little step that causes the arms to drop from the change in direction.So, yes, your arms do drop, but it’s the change in direction that makes them drop. That’s why you need to stay soft in the shoulder sockets so that when your foot hits the ground, your arms drop naturally, the club stays in front of you, and you can then turn through the ball.

Stop Forcing Arm Drop

Putting is the difference between winning and losing. Here's what you need to win.

Advancing in Putting

Mike Malaska sits down with the Owner and Managing Partner of Rotex Motion, Dr. Joe LaCaze. Joe is an expert in the motion fitness arena. Mike and Joe met this year at the PGA National Coaching Summit, where they were both speakers. 

Joe, a former Navy Seal of 22 years, had decided to retire due to the damage his body has taken. Thirty-five hundred jumps from planes, landings, concussions, a hurt back, and sciatica have taken their toll on Joe’s body. The Navy wanted to do an intense operation on his back, but Joe decided it was time to move on.

He decided his next step was to become a Dr. of Chiropractic, and Joe spent the next 20 years figuring out everything about the body. In 2007, Joe had a back-related sciatica episode that was nearly suicidal. This was Joe’s tipping point, and he decided he would figure out his injuries. Fifteen years later, Joe has no back problems and can even hit 500 golf balls a day, and this is without surgery!

One of Mike’s mentors and business partners, Pete Egoscue, a former Marine, had a similar story to Joe. He had been shot and was told he would not walk again. Pete, like Joe, became a fitness expert and defied all odds by figuring out how to walk, run, and have no back pain without surgery.

Joe met Pete Egoscue while working with Jack Nicklaus in San Diego. This coincidently was when Mike was working with Pete and his fitness group. Pete has been a big influence on what Joe has accomplished.

NAVY SEAL TO FITNESS EXPERT 

The palm of the hand and fingers are important when gripping the putter.

MICHAEL GARDEN - PUTTING- GRIP & HANDS - 202104

Mike works with Kory on getting the left hip out of the way at impact.  Offsetting forces create more speed with the driver.

OFFSETTING FORCES

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

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

TUG OF WAR

Training videos on how to use the Lagshot Wedges.

Lagshot-Wedges

Holding the angle in your wrists is an effect not a cause. The momentum in the weight of the club head as you swing sets your wrists. It is also that same momentum that unhinges you’re wrists at the appropriate time in the down swing. If you try to hold off an angle or a motion. Likely it won’t work consistently. So the key is to understand what holds the angle. Again it is an invisible force that does it. And that force is very consistent in how it works.

Hold The Angle

First take a ball. Get set up and just turn and throw a ball into the ball that is on the tee. You should also just like throwing step with your lead foot. Then once you have a feel for how the transition works. Your lower body starts going forward as soon as your arm starts going back. Set up to the ball with a club. Now all you are doing is throwing the club head into the ball on the ground. So as you start back step forward and throw or direct the momentum of the club head at the ball. 

ASHLEY - THROW THE BALL DRILL

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

THE WRIST HINGE DRILL

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

LEAD ARM DRILL

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

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

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

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

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

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

DEATH GRIP SYNDROME

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

Lesson With Milo Lines

Taking a club that is not designed for the shot you are hitting then challenging yourself with making the club work. Is a big part of becoming a better player. Adjusting the face to make the club hit a shot it is not designed to hit makes you a better player. Challenge yourself with different shots with the wrong club.

BUNKER CHALLENGE

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

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

Get in your set up position. Then put the club out in front of you where you want it to go after impact. Then let the weight of the club and or momentum swing the club back into the backswing. Let the club swing where it wants to go. Then swing down and hit the ball. This really helps you feel the momentum of the club and takes the tension out of the backswing. 

FRONT LOADER DRILL

Start with the club in your lead hand. Take your grip then practice swinging the club and hinging unhinging and rehanging your wrists. Very little arm swing. Then change hands do the same thing. Then put the club in both hands. By the time your lead arm gets parallel to the ground on the backswing the wrist should be hinged to form a 90 degree angle between your lead arm and the club shaft. Then swing down hit the ball and duplicate the 90 degree angle on the follow through side buy the time your trail arm is parallel to the ground. 

ASHLEY - L TO L DRILL

Learning how to integrate how your hands and arms work, with how your body moves. This is a step-by-step process. If you follow the process then having them work together is fairly easy to develop. If you do not train them in the correct sequence you can dramatically increase the compensation necessary to hit the ball consistently.

Ask Malaska Golf-Combining Skills

Welcome to Malaska Golf Plus&mdash;and thank you for being a member! What this tells me is that you&rsquo;re truly committed to understanding what your game needs to improve. As a Plus member, you now have full access to the M-System, a step-by-step skill development process for building a golf swing.
Everything we do is built around step-by-step development. Golf instruction has often been a random mix of &ldquo;try this&rdquo; or &ldquo;try that&rdquo;&mdash;with nothing that truly fits together. One coach says one thing, another says something else entirely. But for real progress, everything has to fit. There has to be a system, a reason, and a structure&mdash;so all the parts work together like wheels in motion.
When people learn from random tips, those wheels don&rsquo;t connect. You might hit a great shot now and then, but you don&rsquo;t know how you did it&mdash;and when things go wrong, you don&rsquo;t know how to fix them.
That&rsquo;s where the M-System comes in. It&rsquo;s a structured process used by every top player I&rsquo;ve worked with. It&rsquo;s how they learn, how they practice, and how they maintain their swing. It works with how your body is designed to move, helping you build skill in a way that&rsquo;s both natural and effective.
We also include Sports Connect, which is incredible&mdash;and personal to me. That&rsquo;s how I learned golf. I played baseball, tennis, and basketball long before I focused on golf. Honestly, golf was fourth or fifth on my list&mdash;but I was naturally good at it, because the ball didn&rsquo;t move. To this day, I still believe golf is the easiest sport&mdash;if you do it correctly.
Your body is a pattern machine. So instead of trying to build completely new skills from scratch, use what your body already knows from other sports. That&rsquo;s the secret behind Sports Connect.
On top of that, you get access to Skill Pathways. This helps you break down and develop individual areas of your game: how to hit bunker shots, chip, putt, drive, or handle uneven lies.
Each of these is a specific skill that requires different movements and concepts. For example:
Bunker shots are actually one of the easiest parts of the game to become good at&mdash;yet most people fear them. Why? Because they don&rsquo;t have the right picture in their mind. Skill Pathways helps you see those pictures clearly and simplify each area of your game.
When you combine the M-System, Sports Connect, and Skill Pathways, your game gets easier and easier&mdash;because it finally starts to make sense.
Thank you again for being a Malaska Golf Plus member. Here&rsquo;s the most important part: all this information will help you tremendously&mdash;but I want to know what you&rsquo;re getting out of it. Are you seeing success? What are your breakthroughs? We want to share those with others. And if you&rsquo;re hitting roadblocks, let us know. Chances are, someone else is struggling with the same thing&mdash;and I may not have explained it the right way.
You become a key part of your own learning by staying in touch and letting us know what&rsquo;s working and what isn&rsquo;t. That&rsquo;s a big deal.
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Welcome To Malaska Golf-Plus

Fixing problems in the downswing by fixing the backswing.

FIXING THE DOWNSWING BY FIXING THE BACKSWING

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

This is an important idea that plays heavily into Mike's philosophy as an instructor and coach.  Hear how accountability has a role in teaching.

ROLE OF THE TEACHER

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

A Malaska Golf Member wants to know about the release pattern in the swing. Mike says this member is typical of those players who swing from the inside and have to roll their hands over at impact. He has a weak grip, holds the clubface open, and twists his forearms. The member wants some advice and drills to keep from doing this.

Mike uses a frisbee to show hand action. He first uses his right hand to throw the frisbee. Notice that Mike doesn’t twist his hand as he throws it. If he did, it wouldn’t go. He now throws the frisbee with his left hand, and you can see that hand action.

Throwing a frisbee with both your right and left hands gives you a feel for the hand action of the golf swing. Mike demonstrates this hand action with a golf club.

Mike has also put an ‘X’ mark with a sharpie on his left golf glove. The reason to have the X on the glove is to make sure that Mike’s hand was facing outwards on the follow-through. This was to teach Mike not to turn his hands over because if he did, the palm of his glove would be facing upward. 

These are two of the best ways to practice hand action.

LEARNING HAND ACTION

Mike Malaska introduces the M-System Lite M2: The Lever System.The Lever System is the most important part of M2 and the M-System. This is where you generate distance and speed from your irons and clubs.Mike demonstrates what the Lever System looks like, swinging an iron loosely, horizontally in front of him, from side to side. He looks very flippy with his hands as he swings the iron back and forth. However, this is how the Tour Players swing. Most amateurs tend to drag their hands throughout the swing.&nbsp;Mike explains that people don’t let the momentum of the club go and let the lever system work. This is how you create speed.Mike now drops the club down to the ground, applies the same motion/swing of the lever system, and hits a ball. Mike hits the ball 110 yards with little effort using the lever system.Even though the practice swings look flippy, they take on a different look once you add your body into the equation. The swing looks more fluid. Mike feels like he is doing the same thing. One of the biggest things he has learned in 60 years is what you feel like you are doing and what you see are very different.Mike now shows us a drill that puts the Lever System together, which is the L to L.First, make sure your grip is on correctly. As Mike demonstrates, the grip goes primarily in your fingers. People say it’s a strong grip, but really, it’s how your arm straightens and all your joints line up. Your right palm goes right on the back of your left thumb. Your right hand faces the target because it moves like a throwing or pushing action. Your left hand acts more like a chopping action.Once you get your hands on it, the lever can work correctly. Mike swings the club back and creates an ‘L’ with his arms and club on the backswing, then swings through to create the same ‘L’ on the follow-through. This is the L to L. Mike demonstrates the L to L, and you can see how the swing mirrors itself.It is important to be able to do this drill and let the momentum of the club rehinge your wrists. This should be an easy drill, but most people struggle because they tighten up and let their shoulders pull.This drill is monumental relative to distance, consistency, and the ability to relax and gain a lot of distance and speed.

M-System Lite M2-The Lever System

Maintaining balance is key to controlling the golf swing.

CHIPPING FITNESS

When we talk about release. We are not taking about letting go of the club. We are talking about how your hands direct the momentum of the club to the ball. And how they react to that momentum as the club goes through the ball and into the finish. So the question is how do your hands work or direct the momentum of the club.

Release the Club

Ashley talks about the three planes of movement and the importance of functional health in your golf game.

Ashley Huizing

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

TRAIL ARM DRILL

For Step 3 of Billy Fitzgerald’s player lesson, Mike Malaska talks about how you drop your foot back as you swing on the downswing. Your foot turns in, and your right knee stays behind your left knee. Mike explains to Billy how he should feel his femur rotate down and in and that his foot is rotating.

Mike talks about his baseball experience as a kid and how coaches teach you to rotate your right foot out in the baseball swing. This was referred to as “swish the bug.” Baseball players don’t do this much anymore. Mike applied that foot action when he came to golf, and Mike never struggled with his hips going out and his right leg moving up and out. If your right leg goes up and out, it will be limited to what you can do on your swing.

Billy makes some swings focusing on rotating his right foot back and in, and his right knee stays behind his left knee.

Billy comments that he feels his hip socket go back and stays there as his leg and foot are working. Mike says that the femur rotates in his hip socket, and it rotates because of what his foot is doing. His foot is twisting in the ground and not just pushing.

Baseball players talk about a second spike in their right foot, how they turn that spike down and twist it into the ground. This prevents their right hip from moving out.

Billy makes some swings so that Mike can analyze them. Billy is on the right track. Mike reiterates that Billy has a great impact position, and now he has mastered the right foot back and making it rotate into the ground.

BILLY FITZGERALD - FEEL HOW YOUR FOOT ROTATES

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

Learning how the ands and the handle of the club works to create the proper pivoting action of the club is one of the biggest skills in the game relative to distance and control. You do not pull the handle it is used like your hand is used in snapping a towel. The handle has to slow down and feel like it reverses directions to accelerate the club head. It works the same with both hands. 

PIVOT DRILL - RIGHT AND LEFT HAND

When it comes to a great visual for a bunker shot. It is like skipping a rock on water. The rock has to be angled to make the rock skip. Plus you throw the rock on a shallow angle at the water. The steeper you throw the rock the less chance for it to skip. The back or bottom of the rock is the bounce or sole of the club.

BUNKER SPORTS CONNECT

Tournament play can be stressful, so being in the right mental state is key. Learn how Phil keeps himself level when under pressure.

Phil Blackmar-Tournament Play

How golf and music are played the same way.