Hip movement with Mike Malaska

[scott80109]

I was fortunate enough to attend a clinic with Mike Malaska last weekend. In 5 minutes, he taught me something that completely changed my golf swing - how the hips should work. I've worked with other instructors, read books and magazines, watched a million YouTube videos. They all say similar things...."Fire the hips". "Rotate the hips". "Get your hips towards the target". Following that advice just caused more swing flaws, like sliding too much, rotating my hips too early, rotating incorrectly by focusing on my trail side hip/leg. 

All of that was wrong. Mike basically did with me what he does to Eric Cogorno in the video below. He stood behind me, and moved my hips for me. It was a completely different feeling. Using the straight-line force from pushing my left heel into the ground moved my left hip back and up. To be honest, I had never before felt that in my golf swing. It was more like a baseball swing, where you plant your front foot, and push back. And that's what Mike teaches...that the golf swing should be using the same movement patterns that you use in other sports like baseball and tennis. 

From my first swing, I hit the ball better. Solid. Effortless. Repeatable. With every club in the bag. That one move fixed my issues with swing plane, over the top, and swing path. I still have some work to do with club face control, but my misses seem to be a lot tighter now. I hope this lasts, because I'm hitting the ball better than I ever have in my 20 years of playing golf. I'm looking forward to taking it out to the course, and hopefully seeing it translate to some lower scores. 

Watch this video, and see if you are moving your hips like this. It could be a game changer for you, as well. He also gave me a good drill that isn't discussed in the video. He had me tee up a ball, pre-set my impact position by pushing my hip back with my heel and holding it there while hitting shots with my 7 iron. 

 

 

 

[dlow206]

10 minutes ago, scott80109 said:

I was fortunate enough to attend a clinic with Mike Malaska last weekend. In 5 minutes, he taught me something that completely changed my golf swing - how the hips should work. I've worked with other instructors, read books and magazines, watched a million YouTube videos. They all say similar things...."Fire the hips". "Rotate the hips". "Get your hips towards the target". Following that advice just caused more swing flaws, like sliding too much, rotating my hips too early, rotating incorrectly by focusing on my trail side hip/leg. 

All of that was wrong. Mike basically did with me what he does to Eric Cogorno in the video below. He stood behind me, and moved my hips for me. It was a completely different feeling. Using the straight-line force from pushing my left heel into the ground moved my left hip back and up. To be honest, I had never before felt that in my golf swing. It was more like a baseball swing, where you plant your front foot, and push back. And that's what Mike teaches...that the golf swing should be using the same movement patterns that you use in other sports like baseball and tennis. 

From my first swing, I hit the ball better. Solid. Effortless. Repeatable. With every club in the bag. That one move fixed my issues with swing plane, over the top, and swing path. I still have some work to do with club face control, but my misses seem to be a lot tighter now. I hope this lasts, because I'm hitting the ball better than I ever have in my 20 years of playing golf. I'm looking forward to taking it out to the course, and hopefully seeing it translate to some lower scores. 

Watch this video, and see if you are moving your hips like this. It could be a game changer for you, as well. He also gave me a good drill that isn't discussed in the video. He had me tee up a ball, pre-set my impact position by pushing my hip back with my heel and holding it there while hitting shots with my 7 iron. 

 

 

 

May I ask how much it costs for his clinic and what the format was? I am a big fan of Mike Malaska's teaching. 

[scott80109]

9 minutes ago, dlow206 said:

May I ask how much it costs for his clinic and what the format was? I am a big fan of Mike Malaska's teaching. 

It was $300 for 2 hours, but ended up being about 3 hours, because Mike just loves teaching and talking about golf. This was in Denver at Green Valley Ranch. The golf school there has recently become affiliated with Malaska Golf, learning to teach his method. He was there to play in the Colorado Senior Open, so he put on a golf clinic. The format was 6 guys with him and the 2 golf school coaches. He started us on the putting green, then the chipping green, then the full swing on the range. 

I got the last spot available, and I'm glad I did. $300 for 3 hours with Mike was a steal. He typically charges $400/hour. 

[toehold57]

Dang, wish I could have jumped in on that.  I have a lot of respect for Mike and his thoughts.

Lucky you!

[scott80109]

On 8/27/2020 at 6:30 PM, toehold57 said:

Dang, wish I could have jumped in on that.  I have a lot of respect for Mike and his thoughts.

Lucky you!

Follow Gott Golf at Green Valley Ranch. He will be back.