How the L-to-L Drill Becomes Your Full Swing
The L-to-L Drill is one of the simplest ways to feel how the club should work through the ball. But once golfers start to get the drill, the next question is obvious: how do you take that half-swing feel and use it in a full swing?
Mike Malaska’s answer is direct: the L-to-L motion is not something separate from your full swing. It is already inside your full swing. The full swing simply adds more turn, more speed, and a fuller finish around the same release and re-hinge pattern.
What the L-to-L Drill Is Really Training
In the first L, your body has turned, your weight has moved into your trail foot, and the club is set in relation to your hands and arms.
From there, the club comes down into the ball. Your hands release through impact, your weight moves to your lead side, and the club re-hinges back up into the second L on the follow-through.
That is the heart of the drill.
The goal is not to freeze the swing into two positions. The goal is to learn how the club releases, how the weight of the club works, and how the club naturally re-hinges after impact.
How It Fits Into the Full Swing
To blend the drill into your full swing, start by making a practice swing where you feel the first L and the second L.
Then make a fuller swing with a little more turn going back and a little more turn going through. The swing is bigger, but the relationship between the clubhead, your hands, and your arms should still pass through the same basic L-to-L pattern.
That is the key point: the speed can change, the turn can get bigger, but the release and re-hinge are still part of the motion.
The Mistake Most Golfers Make
A lot of golfers get into trouble because they never let the club re-hinge on the follow-through.
Instead, they hold on, pull the handle, chicken wing, or try to keep the club from passing them. The result is a swing that feels tight, forced, and hard to repeat.
The club has weight. After impact, that weight wants to keep moving. When your body rotation begins to slow down, the club needs to re-hinge. If you do not let that happen, your arms and body have to start making compensations.
Be Careful Copying Tour Players
Some tour players can appear to hold the club off for a long time after impact. That can make golfers think they should copy that look.
Mike’s caution is that those players often have the flexibility, speed, and rotation to keep their body moving fast enough that the club does not need to re-hinge as early. Their pelvis and center keep rotating at a pace that matches the clubhead longer than most golfers can manage.
For most players, trying to copy that look creates more problems than it solves.
A better feel is to let the club release and re-hinge naturally, then train that motion until it becomes part of your normal swing.
Try This Practice Feel
Start slowly. Make the first L, swing through the ball, and then let the club come back up into the second L.
You can even hit shots where you deliberately recoil the club back into that follow-through L position after impact. This helps reinforce the feel of the club releasing and re-hinging instead of being held off or forced around your body.
Use this sequence:
- Make the first L with your body turned and weight into your trail foot.
- Swing through the ball and let your hands release.
- Move into your lead side.
- Let the club re-hinge into the second L.
- Recoil the club back to that L position to reinforce the feel.
The goal is not speed at first. The goal is awareness. Once you can feel the pattern, you can gradually add more turn and more speed.
What to Watch For
If the ball striking gets inconsistent, check whether you are actually letting the club re-hinge.
If your lead arm folds awkwardly, your finish feels jammed, or the club never feels like it releases, you may be holding the club off instead of letting it work.
The L-to-L Drill gives you a simple checkpoint. If you can find both L positions in a small swing, then find the same pattern inside a fuller swing, you are building a release pattern you can use on the course.
The Takeaway
The L-to-L Drill is not just a beginner drill or a half-swing exercise. It is a way to train the release and re-hinge that happen in every good full swing.
Make the swing bigger by adding turn, not by changing the pattern. Let the club release. Let it re-hinge. Then build speed around that feel.