Nearly there, but want to quit

I've been playing golf for about a year now. I've been progressing nicely since Christmas - starting to get a few up and downs in every round, hit 32 putts a month ago. 6 months ago I hadn't a driver in my bag - as I knew I couldn't hit it, but now I do and am hitting it very well. All in all the main areas of my game that were poor are now getting much better.

Over the past year no matter how bad my driving was I could fall back and use a 5 iron on the tee. If my short game was **** I'd just bump and run from any spot and root it close to the hole (if there was a bunker I'd just sacrifice a shot and go around it). I don't need to use these "fall back" tactics anymore as I've mastered those tougher elements of the game. My irons were always "safe". I'd hit a 7i 140 yrds pretty often and that got me okay scores, no matter how bad everything else was.

However, over the past 4/5 weeks as all the other elements of my game have started to come together I have begun shanking 90% of my iron shots - really brutal stuff. The best example I can give of how this is depressing me came on Wednesday. I was 40 yrds from the green on a 500yrd par 5 (driver 250 ish, 18 deg util 210 ish). I shanked my wedge - but it was a big green so I wasn't in trouble and got and up and down from 50 feet (lovely chip and 6 foot putt) - I got away with it - with good golf

The next hole - a 160 yrd par 3 (no hazards) I took an 8. I shanked 4 shots in a row - I didn't loose a ball, just shanked on the tee, shanked my 2nd 120 yrds out, same with my 3rd 100yrds out - you get the picture...

My scores on the 4 par 3's were 7,4,8,7 (and I had no 3 putts in those scores). The 4 was a shanked tee shot, but a good wedge from 60 yrds that got me 10 yards off the green and then a really nice up and down from 30 yrds to the pin...

This is killing my game - I could live with duffed or topped chips, I could handle the banana slices, I even made peace with the 43 putts.....

All of those problems I could walk away from and say I'm going to sort this, I can get this right.

This I can not handle.

I went for a lesson and the reason for all of this is a reverse pivot. As I swing away the weight moves to my left foot (right hander), which causes me to drop my spine. Then on the downswing there isn't enough room for the club and it thus "moves forward a few inches" and thus the shank. I've been trying to eliminate the reverse pivot, but I am very tense and nervous now over the ball and overthinking my problem. Which causes very bad shots

The typical advice of relax and just hit it is useless, because when i relax and just hit it I go straight back to the reverse pivot....

I'm really getting annoyed with this and dreading the thought of playing a round.

Does anyone have any advice on how to "get my head right" and get through this. After soo much hard work and nearly on the brink of really enjoying this game I'm thinking of just walking away from it......

I have a quick remedy that will help to restore your confidence. Just address the ball off the toe of the club which will help you hit off the sweet spot. but in the long term i suggest you get a PRO to have a look at your set up . Regards..T.P.Grealey



Remember..... shanks occur when standing too close to the ball at address

this is how i fixed my shanks that happened a few weeks ago

first off i got 2 old clubs, laid one down where a ball should go, i setup with the other club, i set up with it on the far side of the shaft and when i swung i conentrated on bringing the club on the inside of the shaft, i hit the shaft 20, 30, 40 times, then i finally got it, i was take good divots on this side, the feeling i was getting was my elbow and right arm was brushing my right side, like i couldnt have my cell phone in my right pocket

also i when i would hit a ball i would setup with the toe to the ball but i would concentrate mostly on not tilting forward, just swinging the club and not worrying about the ball

__________________
going through the rough

Hi delboy,

just a little tip which my help. tpg1965 is right you may be standing too close to the ball. When you're set up and addressing the ball just let go of the club with your right hand (right handed players) and just relax it letting it hang straight down, your hand should not move any closer or futher away from the ball, but just go staight down. That way you can see if you're standing either too close or too far away from the ball.

Cheers, Ian

Without seeing your swing it is hard to give advice of a specific nature.
Try and go back to the basics
1) Grip - is it too strong or too weak. check the lesson section at this site on the grip
2) Alignment - are you aligned properly remember the railroad track concept. Feet aligned with the inside track and club aligned with the outside track. In general, tendency is to align the feet towards the target line instead of parallel to it. If you do this correctly, you may feel as if you are aimed left
3) Stance - May sure you have enough spine tilt at least 25 degrees, buttock extended over the heels and slight knee flex. You may feels as spine is too close to the ball. However, maintaining the spine flex will help you to swing the club more lateral than vertical, helping you to get your shoulders behind the ball. In a reverse pivot, the swing is often too vertical and your shoulders end up ahead of the ball, which requires all kinds of compensations on the downsiwing. You may need to have somebody watch you for a while to make sure your shoulders end up behind the ball.

Hope this helps.

ok time for my 2 cents (Euro cent that is)
If the OP has already had a lesson and been told the reason for the shanks then we need to address that and not offer any other magic solutions or quick fixes.

My advice to try and stop this reverse pivot is:
1) Take 3/4 swing and aim for a punch shot
2) On your backswing press down with the inside of your right foot
3) start the downswing by pressing down with the inside of ryour left foot
4) swing nice and slowly and dont worry about anything other than this feeling (and of course staying down behind the ball until its gone)

This is the sort of weight shift feeling you want

Try this and let us know how you are getting on...

where in your stance is the ball, if it is too far back that can cause a reverse pivot, general rule of thumb, nothing behind center

Many of us get The Shanks from time to time. It IS the most disturbing thing in golf.

All I can say, is that I have learned to fix it quicker than before.

I was doing this just a few weeks ago. Friend said something about speed of swing and lack of normal good transition from back to downswing.

What I did on range and then on course, was to first ensure good address position with slight change:

1. place club behind ball with ball nearer toe than centre.
2. step into ball and adjust foot position without moving clubhead (Gets you right distance from ball)
3. make sure weight is nearer heels than toes and keep it there during swing (don't lunge toward ball)
4. Imagine that clubface has an eye in the middle of the face that is looking at ball - take club back very slowly and very square (so the eye keeps looking at the ball). Club may not go back as far as usual which is probably a good thing!
5. Then swing down through the ball making sure you keep your body quite still.
6. Keep relaxed through all of this!

I start off in this way - it feels awkward for a while, but one I start making good contact, the swing frees up and I stop thinking about "it" - except to make sure I go through setup drill.

guys I really think to be helpful we need to read the first post where they guy says that a PRO told him its due to a reverse pivot.
Anything else we talk about that may cause the shanks is just confusing, try to limit your responses to preventing a reverse pivot...

Fine, then out of the 3 things I mentioned, # 3 is probably the most pertinent to the reverse pivot.

amen brother
that is why I asked him where in his stance it is but the set up gets no love

Lot's of players have a reverse pivot, but don't shank. I played with a retired guy yesterday that has had a reverse pivot since he was a teenager - He is a 3 hcp and was not happy with the 75 he shot!

So perhaps the PRO just wants to fix this first? Probably a good idea and may get delboy's mind off the shanks!

If he takes the club back very slowly (Item 4 in my post), it will be hard to reverse pivot. I myself reverse pivot slightly and this slow square takeaway seems to help until I regain confidence.