Shanking wedges

So I don't hijack

DDBowdoin's 'Shank Shank Shank' thread anymore... Let me quote myself from last week...

Well, it turned out where I was choking down to had absolutely nothing to do with these hits on the heel (and occassional shank) as

Leek suspected. After work that day I hit some wedges and was back to heel hits That weekend, I found the problem (I believe it's for real this time)... As I started my backswing, my right arm was folding at the elbow almost immediately. It should stay relatively straight going back to about the 8:00 o'clock position to promote a correct shoulder turn and a proper wrist cock. I probably hit about 200 practice wedges during the week focusing on this and, sure enough, I really feel it was the problem. I don't have this problem on full swings because I was taking the club back correctly which is why those shots were on or near the sweet spot (maybe a little thin at times). I took it out on the course this past Saturday, in my monthly Men's Club tourney no less, and hit every partial and full wedge on or near the sweet spot. I just used it as a swing thought. I think it helped with all my short irons. On my first hole I had a 60 yard downhill-downwind approach, in a light drizzle. I used my 7:30 swing (maybe a little longer) to launch a high soft dart directly online about 10 feet beyond the pin. I looked at the clubface and saw I caught it sweet. That gave me the confidence for the rest of the day. I shot my personal best on my home course that day (78) and, as a bonus, took 3rd place net in the Stableford format . If you're hitting them on the heel, check your takeaway. Are you folding that right arm too soon? Did the bad takeaway cause a bad partial shoulder turn causing the heel shot?

May I carry it a little farther? What was happening imho, was you were very inside on the backswing with an open clubface. On the downswing, the hosel was leading the clubhead. If there was an ant on the clubface, he would not have been able to see the ball. This is called lagging the hosel.

The easiest way to cure shanks, is to make sure the "ant" when sitting on the sweetspot can see the ball on the downswing. This is called lagging the sweetspot.

There are four situations that can cause a shank.

1. During your swing, your weight shifts toward the the ball causing your body, and your club to move closer to the ball.

Keep your weight centered in the middle of your feet, or more toward your heels if you really have trouble.

2. Your downswing is severly in to out.

3. In your downswing, your arms are drifting away from your body towards the ball.

4. Your clubs are extremely upright.

Some of these problems are tough to see and feel on your own.

I respectfully disagree with Leek on the statement of the clubface angle having anything to do with a shank. The face can be open, square, or closed, but if the hosel is moving towards the ball, you will shank it. The method you use to "lag the sweetspot" may cause the arms to stay connected to the body or keep the path from coming inside-out too much.

Leek- I'm obviously new here, so if there is a thread in which you explain your swing theory and terminology, I'd be interested in reading about it.

My weight seemed to stay on the balls of my feet. Moving to the heels didn't help other than to get me out of balance.

I swung the club in indoors, regular speed and slow motion, with a rectangular suitcase along the target line with just enough room for the club to pass. While doing this, I noticed the path was way off (it might have actually been going inside-out...too far out). That made me focus on my mini-turn which brought me to my shoulders and ultimately the right arm folding up early with the elbow pointing straight behind me. Once I corrected that, I never hit the suitcase. I then took it out to the range and started getting better results. It felt strange at first because my arms felt like they were stretching too far for such a little shot. I would not cock the wrists enough or do it too late. After a few dozen shots, it felt better. After a couple hundred it felt right.

The only thing I could see that corrected the issue was the right arm on the backswing which produced the correct arc and path. I made sure I didn't collapse my wrists (which I was doing a little).

It was so weird cause I didn't appear to be pushing the club out away from my body, yet everytime I came into the ball the clubface was square but the heel was closer to the ball (even in slo mo). While this was happening on the course, I would hit a lot of shots online, or with a slight push, but the impact was on the heel. I did mix in a few flat out hosel shanks too. On the range, I would hit more shanks.

Since I made the correction with the right arm, I haven't shanked and the heel shots only occured if I deaccelerated and got out of position or if I bent that right arm too soon.

Try taking your normal stance and ball position. Then place a tee an inch or two inside of the ball. Then put your club behind the tee just as you would do to the ball. . It's going to seem funny but to actually focus on looking at the tee, and not the ball. Try to hit the tee, and theres a good chance youll hit the adjacent ball pretty squarely.

illustration:
---
(feet) I O
---


the O represents the ball and the I represents the tee.

The last sentence is true.

However, I believe what Leek was correct when he said it (shanks) stems from the swing being "very inside on the backswing with an open clubface. On the downswing, the hosel was leading the clubhead." I believe what Leek was trying to articulate is that as you take the club back, the forearms roll (clockwise) opening the clubface. This opening of the clubface combined with a very inside takeaway demands too much from the forearms and hands to square the face @ impact. Thus the hosel leads as the club nears impact. And in my experience inevitably results in a shank. Unfortunately, I too endured the shanks from 3/4 wedge shots to chips. This was exactly my problem. In addition to this I would also swing outside in with the hosel leading too. My chips and pitches were too handsy and I had my setup all wrong. Sometimes what seems like an "inside-square" swing is actually outside-in. It helped me to lay a club down to indicate my target line and get a reference for where the club was on the takeaway. An instructor with a keen eye helps too. There's a great drill by Rick Smith on the golf channel to cure this.