shanking

It's very possible that you are bringing your head up too early trying to see where the ball is going to go. This happens even more when you are shanking because you want to know immediately whether you are breaking the shanking habit. Just remember to keep your head down, and that your playing partner will see where your ball went so you won't lose it. I used to have this problem, and my neighbor who has played for 35 years, noticed that I was bringing my head up and I started just concentrating on not doing that and I've been hitting great.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

I've had my fair share of them old s!**ks too, a good tip I found recently which seems to work is making sure that the shoulders complete their turn, when the virus strikes it is all too easy for the swing (especially the short club swing) to get very arms-only in an effort not to sh!!*k

I haven't had one for a good few months, but the other night up the range hitting lovely 8 irons - all of a sudden 2 of them in a row! - I realised that my shoulder wasn't turning fully and concentrated on making a full turn - the result? even better shots than before - right out of the centre of the club.

Just my 2 cents but give it a try

Over the past month or so I have developed a shank with my wedges and now and then with the 9 iron. I have been experimenting with Hogan's 5 Fundamentals since Christmas and trying to get on plane consistently. I cup my right wrist and keep my left pretty flat. This works great for everything down to my 9, then I start to have a problem. It is not persistent, but occurs often enough to make me shy away from playing rounds these days. I spend a lot of time on the range, trying to make sure it cannot happen. I can hit the PW, SW, LB is I use a modified Mo Norman backswing and keep everything straight and in line, but can't get decent distance; a full swing might work, but too often now, it results in a shank. I can toss the Wedge aside, pick up a 3 iron and blast it 200 yards straight out. It feels right when the wedge doesn't.

I know exactly what you are experiencing. I have had the problem for the last few rounds with wedge 8 and 9 iron. However, when I go back to the range I find that its lifting my head is the problem. I also concentrate on setting up the toe of the club to the ball as well as purposely slowing down the take away. Hope this helps.

As another poster mentioned, not making a turn with your shoulders can lead to shanks. If you're not making a full swing, it's easy to get lazy and just hit it with your arm swing and no body turn. Short shots need to be hit with the same force as the full swing, just choke down on the club.

Hi Jay,

I tend to agree with Gator. The short game is the only shot one needs to see the club face hit the ball. Keep head down and maintain your spine angle. This will prevent you from coming out of your shot too early.

Trust yourself. You're off 4 - you know you can do it.

Thanks to everyone for the reply and encouragement. I'm still working on it.

I find it hard to believe that my shanking is only a result of a moving head (not talking for sure), but I will focus on that at my next range session. I can avoid a shank if I bring the club straight back and straight through which shortens my swing and limits distance so that I don't have a club to use between about 60 and 100 yards.

Well I am one of those guys who has to say "I heard you so". I went out for a round yesterday and focused on keeping my head still and down, on all my shots. My score was 80. Hitt every fairway, 12 GIR and if I could have putted might have improved on the "80". It really was my head. Now if I see the shot I know I have lifted up. Keep it down, trust the direction and distance to take care of themselves.
Thanks,
D

so only take full swings

It happens sometimes to me on slow rounds.... the waiting game, getting bored of hanging around the Tee box...*S*
In my case I narrowed it down to an incomplete shoulder turn and lifting the head early. Both lead to separation of the arms from the body and the hands go "wide" there goes the "hosel rocket"...

All of these posts sound very familiar. I too was down to a very decent handicap (2.4 index), then one day while attempting somewhat of trick shot out of the rough from under a tree, I shanked one and nearly killed my playing partner. My next shot attempt, a 52 degree wedge, was also a hosel rocket. I've seen my playing partners shank one and be able to shake it off and return to their game, but me, no such luck. The day after that event, I began to shank everything from 90 yards and in, mostly with my 52, 56 & 60 degree wedges. This has happened on and off for almost two months now. My index has slowly risen to almost 4.0, but that's mainly because I'm afraid to play golf anymore. While practicing on the range, from time to time I hit it great, then I get enough confidence to hit the course, then wham, back to shanking. Then while attempting almost every shank tip fix known to man, I begin to shank every club.
Most recently I've found success utilizing the training tool Inside Approach, because even when I was playing well, I had a little over the top move. While it appears that the Inside Approach helps me avoid the shank with most every iron, it seemingly has no benefit when using these wedges. I will attempt to concentrate on keeping my eye on the ball and moving the shoulders. Thanks for any additional tips targeted toward the short-shot-shank.

snpperhd

weight too much on balls of feet, standing too close or far from the ball, too flat a swing plane, too much angle between club shaft and left arm at address, loosing spine angle at the top of the back swing
should be one of those

Snapperhead,

What's the training tool you speak of?