Need Help With Short Iron S**NKS!

Hello. I recently stumbled upon this site while looking for a cure for my recent short iron s**nks (which are causing me to pull my hair out ). I am about a 12 handicap, have gone to a golf school and had private lessons, but this year I started s**nking my chips and pitches (other iron shots are great). Chipping isn't as bad as pitching, but I have done the following things to try and correct this embarrassing swing:

Keep hands further from body
Keep hands stiff (chips)
Hands ahead of ball
Begin swing with front shoulder
keep weight forward and ball back (chips)
Keep head still
good follow through
Swing more with upper body than lower

Any tips, fixes for this problem are highly appreciated. Again, it's only a problem with my short game. Thanks.

I'll probably never see a 12 handicap, so I shouldn't be offering tips or fixes, but I noticed a similar problem. With the short irons, for some reason it's easier to leave the heel of the club raised when addressing the ball. I'm not sure why. If you swing from that position, crazy things can happen, notably the toe of the club catching on the turf early, twisting the club face around. This may not be what you're doing--it seems pretty basic--but I found that if just took extra care to keep the sole flat on the ground when addressing the ball, it fixed the problem--and that might mean backing away from the ball a bit in the setup.

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

You and me both, brother. I shot two rounds around 90 in APRIL this year already, convinced I was on my way to an awesome year, and I haven't even gone out on the course in the last month because of the sh**nks.

Here's what I just did, and it worked for me. I adopted a really strong left-hand grip. I had been very neutral, and someone suggested I go to strong.

So if you have a neutral grip right now, try going way strong (to where you can basically see 3 knuckles on your left hand, if you're a righty) and see if that helps.

I just went way strong on my left hand, relaxed, swung nice and easy, and voila - they're gone.

Thanks for the quick replies! I'll try your suggestions with more weight towards the back of the feet, lower the heel of the club and have a stronger grip and see where that gets me. I just joined a golf club and need to fix this ASAP so I don't look like a fool.

On short chips it is all too common for people to be watching the ball going into the hole before the clubhead gets to the ball. Try keeping your head down for 5 seconds after you have hit it. You are obviously not going to lose the ball on a short chip, so there should be no hurry to look up. 5 seconds will still give you lots of time to watch the ball fall in the cup

for chipping:http://members.shaw.ca/gord962/drills/chipping.htm

Same goes for pitches. Stay committed to your shot. Confidence in your judgement of distance will ensure a clean strike, whether you judged the distance correctly or not is another problem!!!

__________________
Gord

Quote of the month:
"It's easy to see golf not as a game at all but as some whey-faced, nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister's fever dream of exorcism achieved through ritual and self-mortification." ~Bruce McCall

Personally I would't recommend a strong grip as a solution. With the short irons you will inevitably stand and swing more upright but you still need to give yourself room to hit the shot. If you are standing too close to the ball at address than a s***k is a likely result. Stand a little further away from the ball and that will probably help.

I also have had this problem when practicing. I hit some solid pitches and then out of nowhere I shank one. I have tried a few things. First, check your aligment. Place a club down in the target direction, then hit the ball with the directional club between your feet and the ball. See how you feel when you are aligned properly. You may not feel like you are aimed at the target at all. I know I feel like I am aimed way left. Second - open your stance a little. this may help to get your hips in the correct position at the point you strike the ball without excessive hip turn. Also for a wedge the ball position should be in the middle of your stance. Hope this helps.

Thanks all! I am playing today (weather permitting) so I will keep some of these tips in mind (move back a little and put ball a little further up in my stance) and see what happens *crosses fingers*

Played today and still s**nked an 80 yard wedge Although chipping was better (moved ball further from body and started swing with front shoulder). Practiced wedges after the round and focused on taking the club back lower along the ground (this seemed to help quite a bit). I think I'm gonna have to cave in a take a lesson to cure this though!

Recently had the same problem, but sorted it out. Turns out what I was doing was just lifting my arms, basically making a fake backswing. I would get caught in a bad position so the move down brought the hosel right into the ball.

I make sure to treat it the same as my full swing now, just stopping it with my left arm parallel to the ground, or 3/4 of the way, and swing nice and smooth....only difference is a narrower stance and my weight stays left. I still make sure to turn, not just lift. This helped me a lot and I've been pitching much better.

AHHHHH!!! I give up, played another 9 holes yesterday and instead of sh**king I was hitting my chips too fat or topping them (adding about 5+ shots to my score). I have never had a problem chipping until a few months ago and now I'm a complete mental case with no confidence in my short game I'm pretty sure I'm just thinking too much before I hit these shots but I think it's time to schedule a lesson, will let you guys know what the pro recommends.

BTW Slicershell I tried your tip on longer pitches and it helped some, thanks!

This has now taken over your game. Go out for a practice round. Don't keep score, just work on shots as you make your way around the course. Don't worry if you make the shot or not. If you don't hit the shot you were looking for, just drop another ball and try again. You are now just putting too much pressure on yourself to get this fixed, making the problems worse.

There's nothing to chip shots. Play the ball back near your right foot and chip like you putt. Keep your hands ahead of the clubhead always. Don't flip at it.

Tell that to someone who's brain has taken over, for the worse. Problems at this point are extremely cerebral and are sucking the enjoyment out of his game.

Right, which makes it easy to lose sight of the necessary fundamentals. He could be brainfarting and forgetting the basics.