The shanks and hitting it thin

Oddly enough this never happens on the course and I am playing the best golf I have ever played.I am playing at par or slightly under par and usually from the tips.The problems with shanking and hitting it thin only occur on the range and it never seems to go away unless I use a driver,hybrid,3 wood.The shots usually come off the hosel but sometimes off the toe and I blade it.I tryed for about  30 minutes today with my 58 wedge and pitching wedge to get consistant shots going but no luck,even going for just short chips was awful,I just dont get it because it never happens on the course and I guess thats a good thing but I would like to practice some.

I can shank or thin a shot in a heart beat while on the practice tees.  I have absolutely no idea why.  As you stated and its the same for me, I never do this out on the course.  I find that I do this alot with my mid irons on the range : (

I'm really interested in the comments : )

I have no idea why either, but I'm glad to hear it happens not just to me, but to lower cappers than myself! There has to be some kind of different mentality on the range vs the course that's causing it. Maybe when we hit a bunch of shots in a row, we get in a groove and lose sight of fundamentals? That's my only possible theory.

I have come across this problem as well.  Very, very rarely will I hit a shank while playing a round.  Yet when practicing I can hit two or three in a row and be completely confused about why I have done it.  Usually the shots before and after the shanks are hit flush.  I guess it is a lack of focus while practicing.  Although I tend to focus on the basics while hitting balls on the range.  I'd love to know what causes this cause it can shatter your confidence with certain clubs.

Some of my best rounds lately I didnt even warm up at all,I just swung a couple irons around for about 5 minutes, then just teed up and went for it.I am thinking of never going to practice again except for putting.

The shanks will hit me at about 1 1/2 buckets of balls.  Up til then I can be hitting the ball perfectly, having fun, hitting shots left/right and right/left, high, low, with many different clubs......and POW......I start hitting shank after shank.  The only way I can stop it is go back down to a PW and start hitting a few pitchs of 40-60 yards.  By then though I'm scared to death!

Mine are the opposite. I never shank a full shot, but I have to be very careful when pitching.

My current explanation, is that I put tension in my forearms, which makes me extend them slightly, shoving the club away from me just enough to introduce the hosel to the ball instead of the clubface.

At least that's what I noticed today at the range.

Who knows? The cause of these shots does not have a simple explanation, believe me, and I have cycled through a s_tload of them and am still looking.

I shank full shots a lot on the range, almost always after a lay off or when trying to flatten the swing.  It's not a huge deal, once I either get used to it again, or get the move somewhat ingrained, it goes away, usually after about a day, often less.

"My current explanation, is that I put tension in my forearms, which makes me extend them slightly, shoving the club away from me just enough to introduce the hosel to the ball instead of the clubface. "

It took me a few months, beleive it or not, to learn how to hit a 40-60 yard pitch with a pitching wedge.  I shanked literally 100's and 100's of golf balls on the range.  I had zero idea what the heck I was doing.  I then found that I was "trying" to keep the face square instead of rotating on the back swing.  Once I rotated on the back swing and held the club loose enough that it felt as though it would fly out of my hands everything was fine.  I no longer have the shanking booboo with the pitches.  YAAA!

Come to think of it.....when I get hit by the shnaks on the range, I do 2 things.

1- back off and hit a few PW 40-60 yards

2- be sure I grip the club super light

This does seem to work, though I'm still scared to death until I hit about 10 shots with the d*mn shanks coming back : )

We'll I went to the range today determined to fined my fault.After shanking my usaul 60 balls or so I thouroughly analyzed everything club position ,hips arms weight forward or back etc. and this is when I finally realized that my old nemesis was haunting me again and I just didnt feel it or realize it . My problem was my hips getting ahead of my downswing and when this happens it puts the club literally on a different plane.So what I did was hit many,many shots basically feeling like my whole body and arms were swinging together or just an arm swing sensation with the hips following.If my hips rotated to far out in front of my downswing my only chance was come in on a different plane example for me was hitting it thin,topping it,hitting it on the hosel and looking like a fool on the range of course I cant leave that one out.I hope this helps someone with similar problems.You can check this for yourself in slow motion in the living room or anywhere.Stsrt your downswing then watch your clubs plane,then move your hips way out in front and watch what the club does.

: )

The fool thing..... I thought I was the only one!  When I start shanking I start looking around to see who saw that sh*t swing : )  I do look like a total newbie swinging like that.  It hurts!!  God, that swing and result is ugly : )  I think I'll take up "putting" instead of golf!!

I was wondering the same thing at the range a few weeks ago.  "What the hell is wrong with me?  How can I hit this many shanks and topped wormburners?  I haven't hit a shank on the course in over a year!  I shot 79 last week!  Alright, here we go-smooth swing...shank.  Are you serious?!  I hope no one I know is watching."

LOL......................

I went to Phoenix a few months ago to play in a 4 man scramble tourney.  I spent the day before driving down and practicing on the range.  After a few buckets of balls I went into the cafe and had a meal and ONE beer.  So I go back out on the, range and start hitting a few more balls to waste some time.  Holy sh*t, Batman....I couln't hit a d*mn ball without a shank.  I must have hit 100 shanks in a row.   I tried everything, PW, 8 , 6 , 4, hybrid, every club in the bag.   So I go to bed that night figuring I'm gonna suck really bad and I warn my team (we ended up with only 3 players) the next morning about the SHANKS.  We ended up shooting a decent 66.  I think we played about 55 of my own shots.  We played 16 of my tee shots.  I played really really well.  Hit every fairway and only hit 1 bad approach and 1 bad shot on a par 3.   ZERO SHANKS.....go figure.

I experience the same.  I can start a practice session with some decent shots, then gradually the weight gets stuck on my right foot and I groove myself into a series of fat shots.

Not saying that I always avoid fat shots out on course, but more often than not I can get myself into a poor routine on the practice area.

Same thing happens to me on the range every once in awhile...scary every time.  I find it happens mostly when I get tired and my swing gets lazy. I can't stay connected.  I usually have to pull a few shots to start gaining confidence again.  Last winter I actually went about 3 weeks without being able to hit a chip shot and not hit it off the hosel.

I think you're on to something here. When I think back to times when I had shanks, it felt EXACTLY how you described, with the hips racing far out front as if they were possessed and had a mind of their own. And then what happens, of course I'd get angry and tense, and it ended up making things even worse.

I just suffered thru an episode of the shanks at the range yesterday and wanted to post here more for therapeutic reasons more than anything.  This past weekend, I had on of my best back nines (4 over par which is great for my handicap!) ever to salvage a round. I start at the range and have a BEAUTIFUL first 2 minutes. I stop and go to the car to get my phone to check something. After I return to begin hitting about 5 minutes later, I shank a ball that goes low and slicing to the right with my 3-hybrid. It happens for 3-4 consecutive shots.  Then I pull out an iron, now I hit thin, real think so that it rolls for about 50 yards. I get worried after 20 horrible shots and start trying to fix things which causes me to start digging up a lot of earth hitting the ball flat!!  Needless to say I spent the next 45 minutes trying to fix this to no avail.

Just to end the session, I placed the last few balls in some long rough since we were at the front of this grass range, and hit a few good (straight which good distance) 9-irons, 4-irons, and even a good 3 hybrid. Luckily I have a session with my pro tomorrow, but honestly, I'm embarrassed for him to see how I've digressed -- "digressed" isn't even accurate if I'm skulling and hitting low extreme slices b/c that's worse than when I started the game 3 yrs ago!

I hit thin on the course all the time, but I rarely shank it.  On the driving range, on the other hand, shanks, thin shots, fat shots, and SUPER-MEGA SLICES galore.  It's like my faults are all exaggerated on the range.

Like Topspin4hand, I just came back from a miserable day on the range. I spent about an hour trying to get back to hitting the ball well, but I never did.  It was the bizarre 'inverse' club day --- I hit my 3 and 5 irons and my 5 wood really well, and everything else was lousy.  ...normally it's the reverse.  (Driver stayed true to form --- lousy.)

I think for me, part of it is that when I'm on the course, I consistently go through a pre-shot routine, line-up the ball, take a practice swing (at most, two), and then hit (it only takes about 15-20 seconds).  On the range, I am inconsistent with the routine.  I'm also often thinking about a particular part of the swing on the range, and on the course I try to limit myself to "Hit the ball".