The Shanks

New member, 7 handicap, recent case or The Shanks. need mental and technical help!

if your spine angle changes during your swing you can shank or you may just be holding the club to close to your body, the other thing could be coming to far from the inside.

Thanks for tips - I will post a more detailed question later and perhaps move this to the Instruction area. I have a sore back from hitting too many bad shots! So will take a week or so break and see if that helps.

You're a much better handicap than me, so I won't offer technical advice (maybe you could give me some though?!) - but when someone gets the shanks, I believe the root cause is almost always tension - pure and simple.

Example: The driving range I go to in New York is called Chelsea Piers and it is very expensive. If you go during peak hours, the rate works out at something like 25 cents per ball (talk about putting pressure on each shot)!!

If I hit a few hosel rockets, I start worrying about how much all these bad balls are costing me and I start tensing up and panicking. I get hot and bothered and angry and I start hitting the balls harder and faster and I only get more frustrated...

The thing I do to stop them is to breathe deeply and try to relax (this is the hardest thing to do with a case of the shanks). Then I start hitting my driver - it's almost impossible to shank the driver.

Once my drives are flying well and I know I'm making good contact, it gives me confidence that my swing is decent and it relaxes me (nothing feels better than a well struck drive, right?), so I pick up my 6 iron and give it a go starting with a 3/4 swing and working up. This works for me 9 times out of 10.

If you get the shanks out on the course though, that's a different matter - I don't know what to recommend for that, as you don't have the option to start spraying drives around. I'm sure there's plenty of advice on this site if you search on the words "shank" or "hosel".

I do exactly the same as Carter. For some reason I've developed the shanks on the range and I switch to the driver to get my tempo and confidence back. I'm lucky that it doesn't manifest itself on the course, so I've put it down to lack of concentration and focus and it generally happens after I've loosened up and hit a few great shots.

Right now, I am not giving advice to anyone

One thing I have very little problem with, is my driver - I hit it about 250 yds, usually quite straight. This often leaves a short iron to the green which I then proceed to shank.

I think you are right about relaxing - Everyone tells me that I look like I am tense, but after a few shanks, that seems to be what happens. Maybe I need to take a few beers along with me

Right now, I am quite relaxed - Instead of playing in our Sunday Morning league, I brought my clubs home and hung them in the garage! I am going to take a week off and then go incognito to a range and try and work this out, using some of the advice I pick up here.

BTW, I already took a lesson withour club pro - During lesson, I only could only hit straight balls, even with long irons - Pro did give me some suggestions as to what to do:

- Stance - Get tailbone up and out, straight spine, eyes more out over ball, knees slightly flexed (not sitting position)
- put ball slightly further back in stance (it had crept forward)
- try to eliminate forward press which causes club to go back inside.
- easier swing with full follow through (don't hit at ball)
- weight on balls of feet, not heels.

Now, he did not see me hitting any shanks, so these were just based on what he could see and what he already knows of my game (I took lessons from him when re-learning golf after an extended layoff some years back)

Right after my lesson, I hit a few more balls, had lunch & went out and played a round with my wife. Had 39 on front - included 3 shanks. On back started with 2 pars, hit my drive on 12th about 270 yds with wind - middle of fairway in reach of green on par 5 - shanked second into water. Dropped, shanked SW onto 13th Tee almost hitting other players - chipped onto green and got a double. From there on things got worse and I picked up on about 1/2 the holes - Have had several rounds like this and on other days, did not not even go out after consistently miss-hitting range balls.

I can probably still shoot in mid/high 80's, but it's not much fun for me or playing partners.

Just looking at the advice you received from your pro and it's identical to what I've been told. I think it's very good advice by the way. What I like about the advice is it's all in the setup and doesn't involve thinking about too much when you're actually swinging the club.

Also, when I've had the lesson, I was hitting the ball perfectly straight and long.

When I play a few holes on my own for practice I nearly always shoot well within my handicap. However in company....

I'm just back from a 2 day golf trip and played woeful and in trying to analyse the difference, I'm convinced it's down to lack of concentration and fatigue (drink induced fatigue on day 2 anyway).

When I play on my own, I'm moving from one shot to the next without any distractions and I'm 'in the zone'. When I'm in a fourball, I seem to completely forget about concentrating and going through my routines, and I'm anxious about slow play if I see the next fourball coming up behind when we're looking for someone's ball etc. When I'm rushing, I never take a practice swing either.

So the lesson for me after this weekend is this...

Establish a routine (both physical and mental) for each type of shot; drive, long iron, pitch, putt... and use it on every hole to help me relax and concentrate. I'm not a slow player so I shouldn't get anxious about other slow players in the group. Just use the routine pre-shot and still enjoy the social side of playing in a fourball in between.

That's my plan anway.

Never give up hope!

Actually I have been thinking of having a beer or two while playing - maybe that would loosen me up a bit!

I tend to do the same thing - I hate it when there are players waiting behind us and I hate it when I have to stand around waiting for the group ahead. I also hate it when I cause the hold up which is the case with current problem.

I hope that taking a break will help. I am finding that I am quite enjoying NOT playing golf - WE do play too much - Usually over 100 rounds per year.

Fundamental errors:
Incorrect grip
Be sure that the V'S are pointing between your right shoulder and the right side of your chin. Most likely it is your grip, because your grip determines the path of the club and your swing plane

Standing too close to the ball- When you are too close to the ball, you will take the club too far outside(this puts the hosel in line with the ball instead of the clubhead) and you will shank it

Weight displacement: Weight is going too far forward onto your toes

Ball position: Ball is too far forward

Right side: Right hand is throwing the club from the top

Alignment: Aimed too far right of the target


Drill: Setup

Check your setup in a full length mirror

Grip
Alignment
Stance
Posture

After reading your second post:

It appears quite obvious that you are or were standing too far from the ball.

This causes the club to be snatched inside the target line and this puts the hosel inline with the ball instead of the clubhead.

Here is a second drill you can do on the range.

Setup to a ball now take a second ball and put it behind your clubhead directly behind the ball that you are set up to. It will look like this

.|.(The first period is the ball that you are set up to, the straght line is your clubhead, and the second period is the second ball.)

The goal here is to push the second ball straight back. This puts your club on plane and promotes a correct inside path. Feel yourself dragging the club back keeping the ball on the back of the clubhead and pushing it straight back.

__________________
Jordy Scerbo
Golf Instructor

Thanks for the comments.

Right now, I am trying to put the problem out of my mind by not playing for a while (4 days so far!). I have some back aches (probably from hitting bad shots!), so this will help this too.

My grip is OK - I have one of those clubs with grip built in as a check and local Pro also agreed that this was not problem.

I think that my weight may have been on heels and when I get a bit tired, I may lunge at the ball.

I asked pro if I was coming over the top (or hitting from the top) but he said no - just a little.

I know from my own videos that I do tend to forward press and when this is overdone, the club goes back inside and then of course comes back from the outside. This I need to work on and your 2 ball drill will help.

The guys I play with always say that they wish they had my repeatable swing - Not so sure they still think that!

I got out today (2nd time in a week or so) and i had a few shanks also. I just stayed metally focussed and only ended up a few strokes off my average.

I think it is the tension in your hands sounds like to me on your second shot to that par five you got tense. to help this I take 4 3/4 practice swings back and forth before setting up to the ball. this free up the tension in the hitting area things can really go bad. this will help free up your body for the full swing.

Agent 99,

Ahh the Shanks, such a wierd occurance don't you think. Anyway, just wanted to contribute since I've had bouts with this from time to time. I'm a 5 handicap and in almost all my cases, it always starts with the short irons(9, PW or SW). What I've found is that the club gets behind me a bit on the takeaway and layed off at the top, rather than staying on plane. I'll then make a move that sends the arms down and SLIGHTLY out over the original shaft plane I established at setup. When I get out of position like this, the natural compensation is to try to bring the club back in plane by using the hands and more body rotation during the downswing. It shows up initially as weak hits to the right(left for lefties), which causes me to swing harder in attempt to square the club. Eventually, if not corrected, the swing will start producing the dreaded shank. Here's a drill I use when I start seeing the weak right ball flights in my short irons.

First, setup two golf balls perpendicular to the target line. One ball will be a couple inches above the other. Address the ball furthest away from you first, then hit the ball closest to you. Hope this helps.


Target line ------- o
o

your body

Thanks for the suggestion. I hope I understood it properly:-

Place one ball futher away and one closer - Start swing while addressing ball that is furthest away and then try to hit ball that is closer to you.

Does this encourage taking the club back more on the outside so that it can come down on the inside?

Agent 99,

That's correct regarding the drill. This drill encourages two things: One it makes me take the club back more on plan rather than back around me. Two, it encourages you to keep the arms connected to the body and prevent from being thrown out in front of you on the downswing. Remember this is just a drill to get the correct feel back, so hit a few to get the feel of the correct movements then go back to your normal setup and try to recreate the same feel. Repeat as necessary.