omelette

Related to removing caps and sunglasses, do you remove your glove before shaking hands if you're a lefty? And if you're a woman or playing with women do you shake hands or hug! Also never heard the one about no practice swings in first tee. Why just the first?

Sure, I accept that I am not a great golfer and am going to hit some bad shots, but the bad shots don't tend to come at random, they come after having a negative thought so surely that is at least partly mental!

I agree with this. I know the mental side of my game is bad because I can be playing well then it will pop in my head that I'm going to hit a bad shot and invariably I will. If I stand over the ball thinking I'm going to shank it I probably will even if I haven't all round! And then there are the certain holes that I'll play badly nearly every round, surely that's down to the mental side!

Yeah true, although getting angry or stressed causes tension which can affect your swing so if you can stay calm and relaxed you're less likely to make bad swings.

I think it's hard to separate the mental and physical as they are so closely linked. Speaking as a relatively new golfer, I have to fully concentrate when swinging so I see the mental side as a big part of it. Perhaps when you get much better you don't have to think so much about it so it's more physical. Also I would say that whilst everyone hits bad shots, if you are stong mentally you react better and are less likely to hit subsequent bad shots.

Thanks for the feedback. I can see what you mean about the violent motion. I do find it difficult getting my hips to start the downswing but will work on this. Thanks for taking a look at my swing. My name's Emily. I will try that wall drill. I can sometimes feel that I'm swaying and have got a bit better but still clearly prone to doing it. I've had a read about the setup. I've got quite bad posture and naturally hunch my shoulders so have always thought I should try and make my back straighter in my setup. Would you say I need to hunch a bit more then? Are these things that you think might be contributing to me shanking?

I went to the driving range yesterday and tried working on keeping my head still and coming from inside on downswing. I didn't shank too many, although there were a couple later on and i think some were getting near the heel still. I put a tee just outside the ball and aimed not to hit it. Here are a couple more videos of my swing

Thanks for the point on filming the toe line, I'll try and get to the range later this week and get some better videos. I had a read on the 5 S's too, makes sense but like you said i need to know what specifically to work on! He said there were lots of things that can cause a shank and it can be hard to spot so he was trying lots of the common causes to eliminate things. I didn't want go to another pro and get told the same thing so thought I'd see what people on here thought for now. What would you recommend focusing on to stop my upper body moving forward? Should i think about keeping my upper body still on downswing or be thinking about swing path? Thanks for the detailed response. The hip movement has been mentioned before and i know it's something i need to improve, although wasn't sure if that was contributing to the shank or not. The headcover thing is one of the things my instructor suggested but when I've tried this i often hit the headcover - do you reckon I should keep persevering with this anyway? I don't mind spending time practicing something, I just want to know I'm practicing the right thing!

I've started a swing thread and posted a video of my shank (as horrible as it is to watch!!) I haven't found standing further from the ball or lining up with the toe work for me although I guess different things work for different people.

I've been Playing Golf for: 2 years My current handicap index or average score is: 26 My typical ball flight is: straight or fade The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: shank I've been playing quite regularly for the last 2 years although played a little bit before that. I've had a few lessons from my club pro. I've started shanking my irons a lot recently and generally hitting towards the heel with all clubs. I've struggled with this in the past as well and it keeps creeping back into my game. I'd like to know what I'm doing wrong so I know what to work on - I've had a lesson with my pro on this recently but he gave me so many things to work on and nothing seems to work! Below is a video of a shank, I only have a down the line view at the moment. Videos:

Thanks for all the great replies! It's nice to hear from others who know what it's like when you stand over the ball and feel scared to hit it!! I actually played a friendly round yesterday and didn't shank anything so that's something! But I think there were some close ones and because I'm tense I'm still making bad contact sometimes. At one stage I was just shanking chips and pitches but at the moment it's all my irons and actually worse with longer ones. Plus I'm sometimes hitting my woods and driver off the heel. I once tried the suggestion of putting a head cover next to the ball but ended up hitting the head cover and having the embarrassing walk down the range to retrieve it so am always nervous of doing that one! I'd just like to know what I need to work on in my swing. When I read articles on the internet and watch videos there seems to be so much information and I feel like I've tried everything at some point. I'll try and get a video of my swing uploaded later.

I've been playing for a couple of years and was feeling recently that I was finally starting to improve until a few weeks ago when I started shanking the ball pretty badly. I've had this in the past and it's eventually gone away but it sucks and takes all fun out of the game! Anyway, I went for a lesson with the pro at my club and he said it was the hardest thing to fix as there are so many reasons why someone shanks. He couldn't see why I was doing it so basically just gave me loads of things to change about my swing (stronger grip, ball further forward, stand more upright, stick out bum, weight more on heels, take club back straighter and more closed, keep back arm connected, rotate hips more on downswing, swing fron inside) So I've gone away for a few practice sessions trying all these things but there's so much in my head now and I'm still shanking, or at least hitting towards the heel a lot. Now I don't doubt that these are things that would improve my swing but it feels like too much to work on at once. Should I try going to a different pro? Should a good pro be able to look at my swing and tell me why I'm shanking?