Mike Malaska's One Hand Drill (Video)

This year I'm going to create a different method to help you improve your game. It's not unusual for me to get questions from players who struggle with mechanics, even the simple ones I teach in my books. And I understand that. Sometimes approaching this game from a mechanical perspective causes you to focus on things that don't really help.

So I've spent several months trying to figure out the best way to sidestep that focus on mechanics... and I think I've found it. This month we'll lay down some basics to get everybody on the same page.

Yesterday the late John Jacobs gave us a basic concept to build on:

"The measurement of whether you have a good golf swing is what the ball does."

That's a great concept but we need a practical way to work that out -- to dig it out of the dirt, if you prefer that phrase. So let's start by watching this Malaska video on the one hand drill.

You may remember a few months back in September 2020 I posted a video on how your dominant hand squares the clubface. But your dominant hand, which for most of you is your trailing hand, can do more than just square the clubface.

Your dominant hand can aim your clubface in any direction you desire. What you need to learn is the feel of aiming your clubface.

If you check that dominant hand video I linked to earlier, you'll definitely see a similarity between it and this Malaska video. But the dominant hand drill is more technical and we want to strip it down even further.

Hence, I'm posting the Malaska drill.

This one hand drill is a good starting place to learn clubface control.

• It's a very short swing, with the shaft swinging from parallel with the ground on the backswing to parallel (or slightly higher) on the followthrough.
• It's not a power swing. You're not forcing motion here, just letting the swing happen with a tiny bit of extra effort. That makes it easier to feel the position of the clubface in relation to the position of your trail hand.
• And finding the proper position of your trail hand -- the hand that, for most of you, is the one that controls the clubface -- finding the position that allows you to consistently aim the clubface where you desire is perhaps the most basic skill you need for this new approach to the game that we're going to take.

The key things you need to remember with this drill is that you:

1. position the ball under your trail shoulder (or, if you use your lead hand to aim the clubface, under your lead shoulder) and
2. swing gently.

You aren't trying to smash the ball a long way, only to make solid contact and chip the ball in the direction you want it to go.

What are we looking for when we do this drill?

Pay attention to how you've placed your trail hand on the club when you get the results you want because that will become the new basis for your normal grip.

THAT is what we're after at this point. Use this drill in your backyard frequently, because this is a simple practice routine that will ingrain the feel of aiming the clubface.

And the beauty of this is that we aren't really thinking about mechanics at all. We just want to make the ball go where we want it to go!

Drop any questions you have in the comments. Let me know if you run into any problems with this part of our quest for face control. This is our first step and, if it takes a month to get it worked out, that's a month well spent.

And remember: I don't care whether you have an over-the-top swing or any other swing fault at this point. I just want you to learn how to aim the clubface.