GOLF | What Jack Nicklaus told Mike Malaska about the Golf Swing! 

The "malaska move" was such an eye opener for me. Swinging the arms down and let the momentum of the club doing the rest is so simple.

This is frickin Amazing . I just went into the back yard to try this and it is so simple and effortless and I feel no pressure on my spine which is causing me problems . Thanks guys

I realize this is an old video. Just wanted to say that may be one of the best views on a golf course/driving range that I have ever seen. Wow.

Best instructor on the planet. Thanks for sharing, Brendon.

Malaska is brilliant, Brendon asks the questions we all have, making the vlog that much Better! Go BBG!!!👍👍👍

This series changed my game completely. I would love to see you do more with Mike.

Excellent. Luis Oostheizen (sp?) says he feels like his body follows his arms. Now I can see it. Pros talk about their arms dropping.....now there is room. Keep shoulder closed to target as you do this...thanks Mike.

I attended many Jim Flick Golf Schools with Mike. He's so good at explaining and simplifying a concept. Not a theory. Spend 10 minutes with him and the light bulb goes off. And his dry wit and humor makes it even more fun beating balls in the sun. Thank you Mike. I miss Mr. Flick and you too. Whenever the old swing gets off, I go back to what you and Jim taught me and it always rights the ship.

Thanks Mike for one of the best presentations I have seen dealing with this aspect of the swing. It is also extremely helpful in that this is the only video I have come across which explains precisely what is meant by Jack Nicklaus ' early release. I have been labouring for years under a misapprehension as to what he meant by it. Not too many golf instructors who know what it means either! I take it that doing it correctly from the top means there is no need for manipulation of the club head with the hands on the way down as I have unfortunately been trying to do for such a long time? The squaring of the face will automatically take place as you state simply from the forces applying to the head on the way down?

Brilliant tip by Mike Malaska ! I was struggling this entire season and part of my issue is multi dexterity and cross hand dominance. This move was simple and practiced it at the range and can see significant improvement.

thank you!! this is so helpful for me to understand my flaws. the Ax concept is a crystal clear way to know what one needs to do in approaching impact. WELL DONE!

Hey Mike thank you for the video.I watched a lot of your videos but this one I had the aha moment you talk about it really clarified what you been trying to say your the best teacher ever thank you for all the great videos

This video saved my golf game this year. Was about to give up until next spring but I watched this vid, tried the concepts and WOW what a difference! Still have to iron out the kinks but it's such an improvement in accuracy and even distance but most importantly golf is FUN again!

Great questions keep me coming back to this lesson.

Never seen Makaska - wow, his instructions on all areas of golf is amazing. The best I've seen.

Awesome. Could have used this 2 years ago before my bad habits. Thanks for the visual, now I can move forward correctly. It is simple.

Great vids, Brendon. Simplest I've ever heard. Tried it at the range and --WOW. Keep 'em comin'.

Whoa talk about a great location to film!

Your work with Mike is top notch. You asked the questions I had when I watched his RU-vid channel. I hope there is more to come from your time with Mike. Are you using any of this in your swing? Any word on when the Malaska Golf instruction site will go online? Keep up the great content.

Mike, this is one of the clearest examples. I have seen . Thank you

I love the way Mike presents his ideas, great video Brendon

Thanks, I love this. I have a mild case of cerebral palsy and can play with no problem, but needed a simple way to get to a repeatable swing without having to "time" everything. This is simple and works!!!:)

This is a great video. You guys are a great team for amateurs. The expert and then dumbed down really works.

I've been a steep handle-yanker for a while, and for some reason this Malaska swing works really well for me. I picked it up and took it to the course very quickly, and even shot my career low score using this swing (75). Then for some reason, listened to the naysayers, and tried for a more 'conventional' swing. After a season of not being able to break 80, I'm back on the Malaska train. I just works for me. Great stuff BBG!

Another great video Brendan. I have actually been practicing this over the last month and I'm hitting the ball with about 4/5 mph faster SS than I was when I last checked at start of the year. also my clubs are a mid/high HC clubs and I tried my mates ping I clubs (more players clubs) yesterday and I was actually hitting his much better better flight /straighter. my own clubs now seem to be ballooning when I hit them. so it looks like it's a trip to the fitting room for me soon.

Love the concept of this channel. Keep up the good work!

Thank you, Brendon. You do know how to ask the right questions!

Fantastic videos you post. I played some of the best golf of my life with this method. It seems to keep me from getting stuck. It feels effortless as well. I still fight my old tendencies.

That place is amazing. Great work. Nice job drilling down in Mike's concepts BD.

Mike Malaska is a very special person who has mastered what he does.

Awesome video. Best explanation of the golf swing I have seen.

Malaska is such a brilliant coach and love his concepts and ideas

Brilliant Coaching and Brilliant Questions and Observations

I am so thankful I stumbled upon this amazing vedio clip. I can never Thank you both enough. Appreciate so much. Also, an Amazing location for your vedio.. Love the background.. Fan from Papua New Guinea..

Awesome stuff. It makes sense. It gets the club back down to the address plane. It feels so much better than dropping it behind you and throwing it out at the ball. Something ive been trying to do for years. In concept, you might think it will result in over the top, but getting the grip down gets it inside. You can easily use timing and your body to get the path inside. It feels like swinging from inside with an over the top shaft angle if that makes sense. Very cool.

The ax explanation really helps. That giant club was a great visual too. Thanks! Your content is the best!

Thank you thank you thank you. Now I see when bringing the hands down toward the hips it keeps the elbows closer to the body for power.

NOW THIS IS GOLD !!!

Man I wish I would have found you guys 5 yrs ago. Awesome content

mike is the man, great vid bbg

I figured out the Malaska move and I can tell it's changed my game I absolutely crush it now all my clubs are carrying an extra 15 yards. I literally don't have any swing thought except that downswing part it fixed nearly everything. And hit My 4 iron now 230yards with no effort it feels like. His an absolute genius.

Great video i love mikes stuff but find it hard to do this has made it simpler thanks allot :)

how pure is the swing Mike makes at the end and you can see the nice draw ball flight!! Wow this video is awesome Brendon!

Since I have been practicing this it actually enables you to control how shallow you come in due to the amount of control the feel gives you. I can hit a 56 degree full with a divot the size of a quater, or even no divot at all.

This is actually a move Justin Rose works/worked on together with Sean Foley. He would feel like he kept his back to the target longer whilst his shoulders moved the clubhead downward. So you definitely have some tour validation with this move.

i had the same thought about the axe but got confused by another instructor. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction

This move is so great! This is the pull the rope/ring the bell move everyone talks about. But instead of pulling the handle straight down towards the ground (which is what I always thought) it's pulling towards your belt buckle/groin while letting the club face swing out. Look it what is does! It's all the feelings everyone is trying to get: its ARMS FIRST, it brings your hands back to the setup plane, and also immediatley gets that left shoulder separated from the chin. It keeps your hips back and allows the shoulders to rotate through. And all of those happen without forcing it.

wow.......thank you.....that made perfect sense.....practiced it for 5 mins in my net and i'm ripping it........I'm 61 and never could figure that move out........but I got it now.......yesssss !!!!

your best video ever Brendon ... really great channel

Ha ha ha I'm just chuckling because I've been dropping clubs and other objects for students to show them this and finally .... finally i see someone that knows what they're talking about doing the same thing! Thank you made my day! Jeff Anderson Instructor John Jacobs Golf schools

Love this lesson!!!

It's very interesting .. in that I used a tennis racquet with a long handle and used the chop the block of "wood" swing just to get the feel of moving the club and clubhead vertically to START the swing but used the body to direct the racquet forward from that hard chop position (as described in the video above) smoothly so that the "chop" was incorporated into the swing. The "whoosh" was noticeably LOUDER than any other technique that I've tried especially rotationally. That tells me that the swing speed in that drill was much faster than anything I've yet done. I haven't taken that to the range with a club as yet but it indicates that swing speed is increased using Mike's techniques. One "seduction" we've all been subjected to is the "flatten the plane" or "shallow the club" on the down swing to increase "lag." That tends to lead us amateurs to flatten or lay off the club by getting the hips ahead of the club or getting the club stuck behind us. Watching Mike's concept of moving the clubhead in front of the hands makes it look like swinging the club around from the top as his interviewer demonstrates, yet watching it directly "head on" shows a considerable increase in "lag" angle which is exactly the same thing. It is the more "trendy" teaching of a rotational swing that gives the illusion of a much flattened swing plane coming into the ball (like Sergio) whereas the more vertical approach (somewhat like Jack N or Fred Couples to a slightly lesser degree) incorporates as much "lag" and it is a bit of an illusion due to the differences in the backswing .. at least as far as I can tell. Mike might comment on this.

So good. No other teacher talks about hands down, heal out.

So , just to clarify , when you were demonstrating coming down with the heel of the club as the axe , is actually your lead hip opening to start that downswing.

Sorry! Should be thanking you Brendon for organising a superb session with M M Not everyone seems to realise what a top teacher Mike is. He is definitely one of the best I have come across and following some of his video advice I reduced my handicap by 3 shots this year and also shot under 80 for the first time in over 15 years. The body and hips cannot physically move as quickly as the arms can swing but the way most amateurs like myself swing we reduce club head speed rather than increasing it Usually by too much and too early body movement without proper coordination Like my being told some years ago that I had all the right moves in my golf swing. Just not in the right order! Mike is definitely able -especially with the help of Bob Toski in some of his videos-to simplify and improve upon explanations of the most important elements of the golf swing. Keep up your excellent work! Thanks. Regards. Ian

Not a swing I chose to adopt, but one I decided to play around with at the range and it really is quite brilliant. Definitely a very simplified swing that generates plenty of swing speed. I expected some poorly compressed short but straight shots, but ball flight was pretty solid. Personally, I'm not sure how easy this will be for an average golfer to adopt. Kind of need to know the feeling of how to control the clubface and release through. Without that, I'm thinking most would just cast and be chunking all day. Also, I think it's an important clarification that it won't work without the proper swing plane and top of the backswing position. More of a two-plane kind of swing. I think I'll be recommending this to my over the top buddies however.

I've almost incorporate this fully into my swing. But my brain STILL yells "square the club face!" when I'm chopping the wood block half way through the down swing. I can't fully trust momentum to kick out the toe and square. I still try to manipulate it.

Mike is spot on correct in saying that all of this stuff has been around for years. I recently read Harry Vardon's 1905 book 'The Complete Golfer' and he actually talked about these concepts!

Really good stuff. Loved the putter eyeliner tip...worked very well, thank you! Pulling the arrow out the quiver was something I worked on as a kid but had totally forgotten it! How can I sign up and pay for more??

This is a pretty simple concept to understand, it just looks counter to what many of us have been told for several years. I have tried this and it actually feels quite natural but admittedly I fear taking it to the course, especially when I'm scoring as well as I ever have.

Brendon, I have been a golfer who has also tried to maintain lag and in doing so my right arm goes internal rotation with the left arm getting pinned across my chest. As opposed to you, I didn't get "offsides" but I fired my body so early and so fast that it left my right arm behind me and got stuck. When I was hooked up to motion sensors, it told me that my torso was rotating way too fast compared to other parts of my body. With that said, I think that this move slows my body from firing to early and using the arms/hands (Tony) to fire first, then the body (the extra 15%). I think the real key to this (just like he described it to you) is waiting to get the club feeling upright and tipped before firing the body which will then flatten the club. I have taken a couple lessons from GG and he wants the club flattening earlier if possible. I tried to flatten but still fired my body too early and GG wanted to get my path to be more right (like Mike, over the top coming from the inside) which should slow the body down. I agree that they say different things but the results should still be the same. Keep up the good work! Jim

this was really good. thanks sir. that giant club was funny

classy video guys. good interaction. dying to test this out

Superb Video. Many golf instructors complicate things to sell their methods talking nonsense. Mike is talking about to use the natural forces rather than creating your own.

Good stuff once again brendon

Great vid.

Does this over the top from the inside favor a more neutral grip then? Is that why you had trouble with it coming down closed with a stronger grip?

Wow very nice thanks I drop handicap by two after looking this video thanks mate

So, the greatest golfer to have ever picked up a golf club swung the clubhead & we're all being told to do the exact opposite by most instructors, holding angles & pulling the handle nonsense. When you swing an axe or a hammer do you swing the handle or the head when you direct towards the target? Mike is bang on the money here.

There are many ways to get the club head to the ball. This is just another concept (a great one too) for those who relate better to the body mechanics in this swing. It's great for those who come over the top or for those with fast hips that get the club stuck in a back swing and I have tried it for months but just couldn't wrap my head around it. I couldn't get the rhythm or tempo to be consistent. I personally need to get my hip bump going to get my right elbow and club to drop and set before I unwind through ( I guess it's called firing the hips through). I looked for so long for a concept that I could relate to that would help my swing and "skipping a rock " with the right hand did it for me. It took some getting used to it but I am no longer stuck between 10 different trial and error swing ideas. No more coming over the top, no more chicken wing, no more disconnection of body and arms and a ton of other mental challenges. It just fit into my body mechanics and set my brain at ease for a more natural swing. I still try different concepts because everyone is always looking for a better golf swing but the difference is I now have a pretty good base line swing that I can just incorporate new ideas in and out. I guess I am writing this for those who constantly compare and knock different teachers and their techniques or ideas as if one of them has to be wrong. We all have different athletically challenged bodies and what might work for you may not work for someone else, mentally and physically. So try everything you get your hands on to see if it works for you before you doubt it of have a metal explosion. Imagine if you didn't know who Jim Furyk was and he was trying to give you a lesson on club head path.

OMG. This is good. Brendon. I know you are a great player as an amateur. But, this is the first time I noticed (to my eyes) that you really eliminated your early shoulder turn on downswing. Wow. a beautiful swing. I wish I could do it myself. Wondering if you can repeat it with your driver. Anyway, I envy you taking great lessons from great teachers. Keep up good works!! I appreciate your videos!!

My old instructor, God rest his soul, taught this as well. I understood it better when combined with keep your back to the target as long as you can.

Great Instruction.

Additionally, in making that "hardest chop possible" move (analogy of getting paid for every inch an axe blade goes into the wood as noted by the interviewer), you automatically start using the lower body to accelerate the club handle rather than "chop" with only hour arms or hands, especially if you deliberately DON'T slap the axehead early by "finishing the chop" into the wood rather than re-directing it through the swing. It might not work for all but the feel is very very good for me and it keeps my weight behind the ball. It will be interesting to see how it goes on the range (working into it gradually). It's a little like Gary Player used to say that he started his swing by jamming the club handle into the ground. That didn't make sense then but he meant by jamming it down using the lower body and not pounding the club handle down by using only the arms.

I wish i had watched this in 2016 WHAT AN EYE OPENER

Love that practise ground.

I have a personal experience of getting a lesson from Mike, and I would like to say the following: 1) Before him I couldn't manage a trajectory, and with a sequence from Mike I can do it easily now. 2) This swing works perfectly from SW to DR. Ie, my effective yardage of PW (manageable distance, trajectory and roll/spin) is 60-130, before it was very much poorly manageable 50-90; 3) Mike explains the things in the way that is easily consumed by me - he talks on physics and athletics. I can understand his logic, what he talks about. The same time, I have never heard of any physics concepts behind some popular ideas of conventional swing, ie "flattening a club". 4) There is nothing new in golf and Mike appropriately refers to the source of this both privately and at his youtube channel. What is shown here is called "rotar swing" (three corners and a flat spot) and was mentioned in golf magazines in 1977 (googleable).

Great vid. But just another example of all the different swing theories out there. Some of the other vids (GG for example) completely different. Thanks again for getting all these great teachers on one channel

Hey Brendon, love the channel and also the SOF. One question I always had for Mike was that this seems like the face is wide open and there is going to be some "squaring up" before impact. Lots of talk today about the club head coming in pretty closed and just holding through impact. What does Mike say about rate of closure? I think other teachers might say you will have a two way miss with this.

Agree the sources of force’s and major force source is the cause of all mistakes in golf swing. There is the shape and content of movement, most coaches don’t understand the difference. 👍

thatquestion u ask about howto prevent the toe going too much out its the holly grail for me as 5hdcpnatural drawer i started hitting fat low hooks and if not that sometimes flare to the right...

this guy really genius! thanks

When asked in another video's comments section what is a 'scapula dig', I posted >It's the right shoulder blade pinching in toward the spine as you take the club to the top. If you've never achieved scapula dig during your backswing, it may take time to ingrain the feel of it. Once you get it at the top, don't release it as you perform MM's release pattern on the way down. Yes, you have to move your upper body through the ball to hit it, but you do so by opening your hips and lowering your right shoulder, in a scapula dig state, toward the ball. You hold back the release of it for as long as you can through impact and around to the finish. MM speaks to the importance of not allowing the shoulders dictate his release pattern, which can be interpreted as maintaining the scapula dig. Why he doesn't elaborate more on the topic is unclear. But keep in mind, he's a strong, elite athlete and may not actually need an added power source. Not to mention, he teaches 'opposing forces' or the movement of the lower body away from the club head during the down swing, which in essence delays early shoulder activation and promotes the scapula dig

i'm upto 4.07 and i completely agree with everything your saying, as i am working on this move, but is it not a case of "cause and effect", as i take it to far under the plane going back left arm stuck to the chest and then in order to get back on plane it goes over the top on way down with the shoulders and then left arm is pinned to chestand get ahead of it with arms

One thing I've noticed is that when I make one armed swings with my right arm, I kind of do what Mike is talking about without really trying. I think it's because, one armed, you sort of have to. When swinging with one arm you are forced to use the momentum of the clubhead much moreso than swinging with two. So it just sort of comes naturally.

I like the idea of being arm first without shoulder turn of starting down swing, it will avoid the club slab from outside in, but i just wonder one thing, as i saw you and mike release the right hand elbow while start the down swing, won't it effect you loss the speed of club head when it hit on the ball? Or it should be the right hand elbow and wrist should stay hinge and hold to wait until release to get more club head speed?

Mike....the holding of the left shoulder in the downswing seems key most pop up that left shoulder as they early extend their hips

So, this over the top from the inside move feel like you're trying to keep your shoulders closed to the line for longer? My miss is a blocked right shot (I'm right-handed), the occasional pulled hook and a lot of hits off the heel of the club. Every now and then I'll hit one so flush and straight, even with a little draw...it almost felt like I had my back to the target at impact. Based on what Mike is saying here, it's pretty obvious that I'm getting the club stuck behind me and having to catch it up. I'm gonna suck it up with my back pain and try this hockey grip drill thing today at the range. Did Mike give you any other tips/drills to ingrain this move?

Great video... very insightful! thanks guys.

That axe analogy make it more clear!!

for the average joe the way this was explained especially in the end was a little confusing.. but I am in this makes so much sense and looking forward to getting to the range I am a 5.5 and 43 and losing yards by the year... yuck

I can't get the timing right every time with this. So hard to hit that perfect spot. When I do it's awesome, but the ball goes everywhere. Can you do this consistently as a weekend golfer or just as someone who has a lot of time to practice?

Hi brendon, i have the feeling that im hitting a lot of fades with this Technique. Is this common? Im generally also faling victim to turning upper body. This is really good for me. But would like to know how this feeling relates to a draw

Do you bring handle in front of you by using the left arm or the right arm or both tohether ?

I now get it.......but one question in mind remained. Understanding that the down swing process produced club head acceleration, how much does the left and right hand contributes during club head impact to the ball? 50%-50% or 60% left-40%right or 80%left-20%right. Answer will be much appreciated. Thanks...

What about longer clubs like a 4 iron? I'm further from the ball, does this still work?

The one tip from Mike Malaska that fixed everything in my swing. Hands control the face and the arms control the body causing the effects you see. Golf is starting to feel "easy".

where do i order a set of irons at 3:48, i really think that is the key to fixing my slice.

Mike, please please please, is there any way to get Jack Nicklaus on one of your RU-vid. What a great moment that would be.

Awesome.