Malaska and Bender hand swings

Hi guys, first time poster (long time reader!) and apologies if this has been covered elsewhere..

Wanted to give a perspective on some work I have been doing lately, focusing on some of the material Mike Bender and Mike Malaska - 2 instructors that am intrigued about. Both of which (from what I can tell !!) very much promote active arms / hands from the top and are against the idea of firing the body and hands catching up.

I first came across Malaska last year and found his material very relatable. The idea of "releasing from the top", "standing the club up" and "directing the momentum of the clubface to the ball", all seems effortless and a very efficient and repeatable way of swinging the club. I just couldn't get it to work (like I have seen from other posters) and could not shift the feeling of casting during the tipping motion (even though I feel I was coming in from the inside), resulting in some bad pull hooks.

More recently I have been watching and reading Mike Bender's stuff, and how he gets the arms in position on plane at the top and fires the hands directly in a straight line at the ball. I have been having a lot of success with that, but more importantly I started to understand what swinging on plane really means (particularly from his book). It's working well, but my problem is I have a tendency to overdo (if that's the right way to explain it?) it on the course, and i end up getting stuck on the inside. I think I know what is going wrong, and my tilts are getting messed up as I fire the hands, resulting in way too much draw bias.

Anyway, back to Malaska.. So now given what I now feel is a significantly different (and better) plane (starting from better tilts at address), his idea of releasing the club is working WAY better for me. I feel that if I get the club set at the top on plane, its just a matter of standing the shaft and tipping the weight onto the ball (I know this is just a feel). It also allowing me to control draw / face with the idea of right hand over or under coming into impact. From what I can see, Malaska doesn't talk a lot about plane, but for me it getting that better seems to be the key to unlock some of his ideas for my swing.

Keen to hear any other perspectives, or if they are able to make Malaska's ideas work for them. Thanks

The plane type of swing concepts only work of the grip is constant, this is what I have found out by many years of trial and error, which can make learning this method difficult. Learning to swing around the right leg and right hand set up correctly is easier and much more intuitive.

Thanks. I find it fascinating while both talk about getting the hands very active, they both do it in a very different way. Malaska is about getting the club stood up and tipping the weight of the clubhead into the back of the ball, and Bender is about firing the hands towards the ball on plane with clubhead lagging behind. What makes both great is the clarity of their message. I am starting to have some success with Malaska at the moment - while I dont get the feeling of absolutely flushing a strike, it feels way more repeatable and dependable.

The all but intangible parameter of these swing theories(at least to the observer) is what muscles are used in the hands and arms duriing the swing. The good teachers are aware of this of course, but it is difficult to explain which is why there are so many teaching approaches that have the same outcome.

This is also why learning golf can be so frustrating. For the student that learns a more "positional" method without learning to use the "correct" muscles they might get in all the correct positions and the swing may look right but they won't have effortless power or precision. For the student that learns a "feel" method, unless they train sufficiently they may never get their arms and hands situated in an effective takeaway sequence, with the same outcome as the "positional" student.

Yes, completely agree. So at least for me, I would spend 20 minutes on the range before a round working those "positions", repeating ball after ball and ready to go to the first tee. Stand over the first shot, hit the middle of the fairway and continue hitting these "positions" for the first few holes no problem. Then I get to the back nine, maybe hit a couple of loose shots and these positions in my head start to break down. I try to fix it and make it worst, but I can train a feel and don't worry about any positions then that's way more repeatable and hopefully more consistent. That's why I think this idea of feeling the weight of the club being directed towards the ball is working - it should be easier to get a constant feel and tempo each time.

I agree with the feel aspect. All I want to add is I belive there is a takeaway method and sequence that can get one pointed in the right direction to let the correct muscles take over. It is about setting and connecting the hands and arms very early in the swing a la DJ Johnson, however without the left wrist bowing that he does later in the backswing.

Mike malaska is 400 hr and has and does work with tour players. He has a ton of free vids on tou tube and he offers 2 week trial for his video library.