Shanks

Well, I'm a little embarrassed to admit I've got a bad case of the shanks. Its been a problem all along and I've never fully dealt with them.

I played a full round Sunday afternoon and managed a 95, which is quite remarkable in that I shanked the ball no less than 15 times. I was adding it up in my head and counted 15 of these miserable little dribbles to the right. Can you imagine how I would do without the shanks?

This problem is confined to a 3/4 to full swing with just about any iron and can come and go, but it mostly stays. I think my problem might be traced to sliding foreword on the downswing and perhaps a slight lunge toward the ball. I've got to fix these and if I do I feel my scores will drop dramatically (obviously).

Any ideas or suggestions? I've read several tips online so far. It only occurred to me Sunday night that it was quite simply the shanks I've got to deal with.

Ive always dealt with it as a mental issue. I think its just something has to click in your head, and you have to realize that you have hit the ball 234234234 times before and this time is no different. Good luck with your shank issue and keep us posted. Atleast you dont have the yips like charles barkley.

is it bad that a part of me wants you to keep having this problem until the newport cup?

i guess i don't have any real good advice, but my would be to keep your head still and just not worry about it. it'll come around.

Beware... if they leave alltogether you'll be accusing me of being a sandbagger. Criticism I would love to hear.

I'll start a round with no serious expectations until I find myself one-over after the first four, or five. That's when the "I'm-playing-over-my-head" attitude kicks in. Or, I just simply negate in my mind what got me there in the first place. The good shots are forgotten and the first shank confirms what I "know", i.e. I'm not good enough to be where I'm at.

I start "pressing" for that five or ten extra yards off the tee to fight the mental attitude. The smart lay-up goes out the window. More shanks...

"I can still get in with an 89 if I birdie two of the last four holes." Shank, shank, shank...

Don't keep your own score. Have someone else record it and just play each hole as it comes. Whether it's a birdie three or a double-bogey six, move on. The end result - for that round - may be the same but, you won't be as inclined to dwell on the bad shots. I'm thinking there won't be nearly as many shanks, either.

I'm playing 36 holes this weekend and I'll try to take my own advice.

Rick

I usually fight the shanks once a year, and then I go on about my regular business after that. It's really weird I guess, but it's completely mental for me. I will start thinking of shanking it, and sure enough I will. Every great once in awhile, I'll shank one these days and wonder what the heck was going on.

But when I have the shanks, I just try to address the ball off the hosel like Erik mentioned. But I just swing without taking a practice swing or thinking about it too much. And it usually works. The more I stand over the ball when I have the shanks, the higher chance I will shank one. So I suggest lining the shot up behind the ball and then stepping up and hitting it without thinking about it.

But you can keep the shanks in our match play contest at The Newport Cup. :)

I'll probably have them for saying that. :/

I think I discovered a rememdy! I had my right hand too involved in the swing... kind of pushing through with the irons. I have tried to feel my left hand guiding the swing and its gotten rid of the shanks. My right hand was pushing the hosel out. Its easier to hit the ball on line when I get my left hand guiding the club too.

I've fought the shanks and tried everything. Even when a good shot just happened it felt bad. BUT my fix is this... I was standing too close to the ball. I'd feel comfortable and athletic over the ball, and make a 3/4 to full swing and shank it. The momentum of my downswing brought my arms out and the hossel on the ball. Centrifugal Force!! That's why the shanks happen with a full swing and not little chip swings. The down force around your spine throws things out such as your arms stretching out rather than keeping your address length. At every address now I make sure to stretch my arms a little to make sure the hossell doesn't dramatically come into play. This fixed several things; no more shanking, more of an in to out swing, and with longer irons I got more distance because I'm sweeping more.

When you do hit a good ball you probably pull it?? That's because you're too close to the ball, so you swing out to in just missing the hossel. Just move away from the ball 2-3 inches or whatever works.

Good Luck...
Once you fix the shanks though you will see a new level in your accuracy. I always play my best after overcoming the shanks when they happen.

In my opinion, 99.9999% of shanks come from improper set-up.

People say 'feel over mechanics', I say ingrain the proper mechanics into your "feel" of a good golf swing. =]

So I've read every single shank related post on this forum and I realize that this has been covered a hundred times and I apologize for not only using the word but also for starting another post. Instead of just saying I have the shanks and asking for a swing fix, I think that I should elaborate on my current situation.

So I have been golfing for two years which isn't very long but I have golfed a lot! With the exception of winter months my friend and I play at least 4 days a week along with hours practicing in the soccer field, range, etc... 1000's of hours of golf I'd say. Anyway I recently started practicing at an indoor golf dome because of the weather and I think I have developed the worst strain of the shanks possible. The first time it happened, 'about a month ago' I didn't even know what a shank was. I had heard the word and I just thought it meant bad golf shot, slice, hook, whatever. Well the next hour was quite embarrassing as I continued to shank every single ball I hit.

In a total state of shock I turned to the internet to find out what the hell was going on. I then learned all about the shanks what causes them why the happen along with reading all the great post on this site. I went back to the dome with an arsenal of swing fixes such as proper swing plane, weight on the heels etc. Here is the crazy part, every fix seemed to rid me of the shanks but only temporarily maybe ten minutes and they returned.

So here is my current situation, when I get to the dome I have a guaranteed 10-15 minutes of great shank-free golf swings then invariably I shank every ball for 30 minutes to an hour and then they go away. My swing doesn't change, only the result. Interesting side note, although I'm shanking it seems to be very precise. There is a target set up about 75 yards up and to the right of the stall and I'll hit that target dozens of times. I took my friend to watch because he has golfed his entire life. He couldn't explain it but he said he was looking forward to the upcoming season.

So why would this happen after years of golf and so much practice? Will this ever go away and should I expect it to happen on the golf course? Do we have any witchdoctors on this site maybe they could help. Thanks.

please help me, too
i same the same problem :(
no problem with my SW but shank half of my shots with irons
the other half, i been hitting close to heel of the club face, even tho my irons were fitting for me.

I realize that you've probably thought of this but in case you haven't try moving a little back from the ball. When you hit a shank its when you hit the hozel so if you just back away a little bit then problem solved.

I have found that when I practice my short game for an extended period of time at the dome, or wherever, that I start to get a little tense in my arms and hands. When I do this, I am not allowing for my wrists to unhinge naturally like they normally do. When that happens, the hozel of the club reaches the ball first, and then I shank it. When that happens, I try to relax my arms, and try to loosen my grip a little, and the shank usually goes away.

I have also found that I tend to get tense in my arms and hands when I am in a pressure situation on the course. When this happens, I make sure that I focus on keeping arm loose and my grip not to tight.

the shanks almost seems like a curse yes. ive been shank free for a while now but not so long ago i was also cursed.
there was this period where 1 day i could not even hit 1 ball without shanking it, the next day i would try again and shoot the best round to date with no sign of a shank.

i must have read every article and tip for fighting the shanks on the internet. seemed like everyone was saying something different like, standing too close to the ball, inside-out swing, outside-in swing, taking the club too far on the inside with the backswing, bad grip, insufficient shoulder turn with backswing, flat swingplane,lifting head, sliding, open clubface at impact by not getting the toe to pass the heel at impact, throwing the arms out away from body on the downswing etc etc etc. i did try alot of things and i found some tips did work but where not a permanent fix.

i asked the pro at my golf club, he said your standing too close to the ball at address. i didint believe him, i went to the range and to prove that this was not the case, i hit a ball placed much further away from me that i was normally playing and like i thought i ended up shanking that ball.

i then thought of what the correct distance should be, which is a hand width between you and the butt of the club. i then found out that i had been standing too far from the ball causing my shanks. by playing the ball too far from me i ended up reaching for the ball on the downswing which caused my arms to drift out from my body to reach for the ball causing the hosel to make ball contact.

by people saying standing to close is the cause is only true if you dont actually change your swingplane, but the swingplane changes automatically depending how far you are from the ball. ball too far away causes a flat swing, flat swings are shank prone.

well that was my experience with the shanks, but not everyone is alike :)

Thanks for the replies. I think maybe a new poll should be started asking if the majority of long term golfers on this site encountered or developed the shanks while becoming better golfers. It might be interesting. The only explanation I can come up with for my shanking episodes is that I maybe was rushing my shots because I was paying by the hour and not by the bucket. Also, when I'm in a dome I cant see where my ball would normally end up as the distance is 100 yards tops so I'm mindlessly hitting balls at the ceiling.

My major concern was that I might be ingraining the type of swing the leads to shanks into muscle memory by continuing to shank 100's of balls into the same spot. I wonder how that works, do we train our bodies to do the wrong thing everytime we mess up? I hope not. Anyway, Thanks again.

When I shank the ball, I will go to the range and step 2 inches farther away from the ball, because a shank is hitting the ball off the hossle, so onec I do this for a while I will go back to my normal stance with a lot more confidence.