The most embarrassing/enlightening hour ever.

[Crim]

Last night was quite possibly close to the most embarrassed I've ever been. Let me preface this story with...I'm a very coordinated person, I have good hand eye coordination and I've been golfing for a little under a year. I don't duff the ball all that often, even if my swing is technically far away from where it should be.

And now to the ridiculousness. I have a membership at an indoor golf academy in my area...the night started out like normal. Hit 10 easy shots with the PW, then the 9, then go on down the list. Well I got to the 5 iron...I hit a couple ok one's...and then a duff. Then I hit a major duff. Then I hit a REALLY MAJOR duff. Before you know it, I'm 50 balls in of complete and other horsecrap mishits.

Now I'm not the kind of guy to give up. I went back to my PW and slowed everything down. Didn't matter, these shots were so ungodly horrible that I took a look around and there were people watching. LOL. No one could believe how bad they were. For the next half hour I tried to correct what was going on and it only got worse and worse. Now I'm a person that doesn't really get too frustrated, I grind and grind until what needs fixing gets fixed. For the first time I felt like throwing a club, but I knew it wasn't the clubs fault.

I was exhausted and finally ready to pack it up when one of the coaches there came over. Now they don't usually help out unless you pay for a lesson but every once and a while if they see something that really needs fixing...they'll drop some advice. Well he walked over with a block of wood and put the wood right next to my ball on the right side. "Now hit the ball." he said.

Perfection....well maybe not perfect, but every shot after that felt flush to me. Apparently I was coming way too far out to in, or something, I don't know I'm a stupid monkey when it comes to golf. All I know is that I never could have fathomed how bad I was for about 1 full hour. I went from a complete hack to back to normal in 60 mins.

Has anyone had that happen? If it hasn't, pray it never does.

[MS256]

Unfortunately I know what it is...And, oh yeah, it's happened to me plenty of times.

Best thing to do is to be a "Stupid Monkey", if you can, and consider yourself "fixed".

[boogielicious]

Of course.  I have been at the range and shanked 10 in a row while working on something.  But when you are working on a specific part of your swing, you really shouldn't worry about everything else, including what others think.

See this thread

http://thesandtrap.com/t/54840/simple-specific-slow-short-and-success-the-five-s-s-of-great-practice

[dsc123]

To a lesser degree,  yes.  I think you just have to pack it in and come back the next day.

[iacas]

Of course.  I have been at the range and shanked 10 in a row while working on something.  But when you are working on a specific part of your swing, you really shouldn't worry about everything else, including what others think.

Heck, I posted a video of myself shanking the ball and said it was one of the best swings I've ever made. Because it was. :)

The anti-shank drill sounds a lot like this one in that it strongly encourages you from getting the sweet spot outside the golf ball:

[ctcampbell]

I know what you mean here, if I'm having a bad day my out-to-in gets really bad and it's not till I slow down and really focus on in-to-out that I get back to hitting properly. Unfortunately I don't always realise that I'm having a bad day till it's too late.

[rkim291968]

When I go into prolonged shanking streak with a club, I stop and move on to another club or practice.  Otherwise, I keep making the same mistake and I don't want any bad stuff I am doing to be ingrained on me.   Usually, by the next day practice, it will be fine.

[billchao]

If I'm having a bad range session, I'll slow everything down and really focus on incorporating the feels that I've been working on. What's important is for me to make the changes that I need to make to improve and really groove them in.

If I'm having a really bad session and I start to get frustrated, I'll pack it in. If I'm completely lost for the day, hitting more balls won't fix that. It helps that I film my swings so I can look at them later and really figure out what I was doing wrong.

[dfreuter415]

This will happen to me periodically, and fortunately I have been able to recover in a short period of time. But, when it does happen, I can't help but think the following....

When all other hypotheses are exhausted, it just might be that your are inflicted with Steve Blass Disease .  It might not be as widespread as Gehrig's ALS, but sadly, Steve Blass Disease has taken its fair share of victims.

The disease, named after former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Steve Blass, refers to an athlete's sudden and inexplicable loss of ability. Blass got the unfortunate ignominy of having the disease bear his name after his career derailed when he lost the ability to pitch strikes. Until that point, he'd built quite a resume, acquiring 18- and 19-win seasons, making the All-Star team in 1972 and helping the Pirates win the 1971 World Series. Then, in 1973, the wheels came off. He tripled his ERA, walking 84 batters in 88 innings and striking out only 27. In short, he just couldn't pitch. He was sent to the minors in 1974 and, after a failed attempt to make a return, retired before the 1975 season, becoming a sales representative for a ring company. He is currently a Pirate announcer.

What's remarkable about Blass' downfall is that there's no explanation. He didn't have any injury, there was no event that shattered his confidence. he just...stopped. The dreaded Steve Blass disease has struck other athletes, like Ian Baker-Finch and David Duval , both major champions, all without reason.  Maybe you are a victim, too.

I hope you get out of this temporary slump, and best wishes on your recovery.

[MS256]

Three kinds of shanks:

"Shanks" where we simply miss where we are aiming and nothing much to do with the swing.

"S hanks " where we occasionally shank some balls due to one flaw or another in our crappy swings. (Usually a little change can get through the day OK.)

" SHANKS " where it doesn't make much difference what kind of swing we make. Out to in, in to out, standing on our head, or anything else. (Time to go home and hope tomorrow is a better day.)

Then there are the spells when we can do everything in the book entirely wrong either accidentally or on purpose and never shank a ball.

Then there are the lucky people that can't relate to why anybody would ever get the shanks at all, and just think other people that do are un-athletic spastics.

One of the better players at our course had the SHANKS last year for about a month (it was awful). The guy I work for, that has probably never shanked a ball in his life, was looking at the other guy's wedge and saw a ball imprint on the hostel and said "Look at this. I told him he was hitting the ball on the hostel." I laughed and said, Hell, when we get the shanks it's not that we don't know where the ball is hitting the club. It's that we can't stop it.

[Harmonious]

One of the better players at our course had the SHANKS last year for about a month (it was awful). The guy I work for, that has probably never shanked a ball in his life, was looking at the other guy's wedge and saw a ball imprint on the hostel and said "Look at this. I told him he was hitting the ball on the hostel." I laughed and said, Hell, when we get the shanks it's not that we don't know where the ball is hitting the club. It's that we can't stop it.

There's the problem right there. Check out of the hostel and move to better accommodations!

[MS256]

There's the problem right there. Check out of the hostel and move to better accommodations!

Hahaha! My spelling is bad enough, and then my computer decides to find the closest proximity. At least it's a word. Hosel doesn't even exist according to my computer.

[Crim]

One of the better players at our course had the SHANKS last year for about a month (it was awful). The guy I work for, that has probably never shanked a ball in his life, was looking at the other guy's wedge and saw a ball imprint on the hostel and said "Look at this. I told him he was hitting the ball on the hostel." I laughed and said, Hell, when we get the shanks it's not that we don't know where the ball is hitting the club. It's that we can't stop it.

hahahahah, so I took a look at my 5 iron and there was definitely some marks on the hosel. Unreal.

I want to thank everyone for making me feel a tiny bit less of an idiot. Now at home when I'm swinging my practice club...I put two golf balls down and imagine I'm hitting the first one. Hopefully this will keep me a little bit more on plane even when I'm air swinging. I really need to record my swing again.

[hacker101]

Crim I was on the course last Sunday, I could have thrown the ball farther, no matter what club I used it was thin, fat, left, right. Totally out of control 3 balls lost,  it happens to most.

As my son said it is about time you had a bad round you where due, all I could do at that point was to hang on and try to have a good time.

Don't let it get you down it is golf, good news is you can fix it, have fun!

[dennyjones]

My instructor suggested using Yoga blocks for the same effect.   A little larger than a golf ball and not nearly as dangerous is you do swing over the top.

[BuckeyeNut]

When it comes to the shanks, I normally think of an inside-to-out swing.  A shank can be caused by any number of swing flaws, but golfers that swing from the outside tend to miss towards the toe, but what do I know?

This is coming from the Shank-master. LOL......  I believe I have more embarrassing (on course) shank stories than most people!

[Hammer 4]

I normally don't hit shanks, but at the range I hit a doosey today. Hit so sideways that the ball hit the divider on my right, then ricocheted off that and hit the divider on my left, and dribbled out on to the range... Talk about Embarrassed.

[BuckeyeNut]

I've shared this story before.......

One of my favorite embarrassing shank stories......

I was playing a long par5. A huge ditch bisects the fairway.  I can't reach it, but I just barely did on this day with a fluke 320yd drive.  The ball barely made it down the slope in the deep hay. I did very well to hack forward just to cross the ditch..  I have 200+yds to the green up a steep hill for my 3rd shot.

The approach to the green was steeply uphill, but WAY, WAY to the left is a par3 tee at my level 50yds left of the green that is my target. I was in the fairway beside the par3 green when I decided to take a mighty swipe with a 4-iron.

KLANK.......I didn't know what happened.  All I know is 4 ladies on the par3 green next to me that I didn't notice were screaming with great urgency.........."FOOOOORE!...at the guys on the tee behind them.  The ladies were members and knew me and were watching me in all my glory as I hit a hosel rocket.......LOL I've played with them and knew them...they knew I was scratch or close to it...........to hear them shriek when I hit a hosel rocket was quite embarrassing.  With that said, I know they were watching me...LOL

My ball came to rest on the par3 tee.........I swallowed my pride and went over there.....and played my 4th shot to the green.  Those guys had to think I was a total hacker...LOL....with that said, I hit a great shot up a steep hill to within 8'...but missed my par putt.   I was just happy my ball stayed in play and the result wasn't worse!  Yep....this was an embarrassing shank on many levels!..    just saying!