The Most Demoralizing Shot in Golf

[Double Mocha Man]

4 hours ago, Troy Ocker said:

A varying number of shanks have sneaked it's way into my rounds lately. With them I feel a lot more insecurity when I stand over the ball. 

It can be on any type of shot, from tee, from rough, from fairway, full swing, half swing, a short pitch etc. In my round on Saturday I had a stretch of tripple, tripple, double on three par 4 holes in row where I found myself in the middle of the fairway between 50-90 yards out after a great drive..... Ended up shooting 93 after going 20 over on the last 11 holes. Parking lots, houses next to the course etc. nothing was safe. It was like the connection I usually feel between eyes, hands and clubface was none existing for 2,5 hours....and it repeated itself yesterday, when I counted 12 pure shanks and shot 89..... there were some positives too, but with 3 tripples and 2 doubles on the scorecard I hardly feel comfortable standing over the ball now.

Hopefully the curse will be lifted soon and I'll give it another go today.  

@Troy Ocker I came across this drill/advice about a month ago. Maybe it could help.

"Shanks are not really 'bad' swings they are usually indicative of a shot pattern that is a bit too close to the heel.  If you look at video of a shank swing vs. a flush hit you will not be able to see any difference.  A shank fix drill that I have never seen fail is to setup to the ball normally and then take three practice swings missing the ball completely on the inside and then go ahead and hit the ball with the next swing without changing your stance / setup position.  For some reason this drill seems to calibrate the eye to hit the ball with the good part of the club."

[Vinsk]

14 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

A shank fix drill that I have never seen fail

Well come on over. I’ll fix that.

[mcanadiens]

Yeah. No sooner do I finally get somewhere with my driver than the wedge-shanks pay a visit.

Piped one down the 9th fairway on Saturday and hit two shanks in a row before skulling shot four through and out of a bunker and onto the green. Two putt for a double after being 60 yards from the green after the drive.

Magically, the wedge shanks disappeared Sunday, but then the driver misbehaved again. 

[woodzie264]

4 minutes ago, mcanadiens said:

Yeah. No sooner do I finally get somewhere with my driver than the wedge-shanks pay a visit.

Piped one down the 9th fairway on Saturday and hit two shanks in a row before skulling shot four through and out of a bunker and onto the green. Two putt for a double after being 60 yards from the green after the drive.

Magically, the wedge shanks disappeared Sunday, but then the driver misbehaved again. 

that is the whole of my golf experience: never I am playing with all cylinders firing. Invariably, one part of my sucks (putting). On the days I putt well, I hit 2-3 GIR 😔

[Big Lex]

If the announcers were correct, there were at least 2 shanks by US Open contenders this week, including one by the guy who almost one, and who is regarded as a great ball striker. 

As an addendum/clarification to my previously posted litany of worst shots, I will say that I have stubbed putts before (not often; I am much more likely to forehead a shot than fat it), but a friend told me on Friday of one type of bad shot I've never hit. It was the nightmare of stubbed putts. It was actually in a member-member championship playoff, and he took a divot on a putt. 

 

 

[DrvFrShow]

I've reached a par 5 in two and 3-putted. Granted the eagle putt was difficult, but the short birdie putt lipped out. I wanted to throw my putter, but 48" putters are difficult to throw. 

Even more demoralizing is topping a 5W tee shot about 100 yds on a par 4, and then topping the 5W again when trying to reach the green.

[phan52]

My short game is usually pretty good and I have to rely on it a lot to salvage scores. The worst feeling in the world is facing an easy chip or pitch and boning it across the green. It's like a two shot penalty.

[DrvFrShow]

Last Thursday, we have to qualify that it's on firm fairways and that the fairway does slope downhill, I hit my longest ever tee shot on the par 5 10th hole: 279 yds. and it was on the fairway! I followed this by topping my 8i approach into the water. Ye olde drive & duff. 

[Double Mocha Man]

2 minutes ago, DrvFrShow said:

Last Thursday, we have to qualify that it's on firm fairways and that the fairway does slope downhill, I hit my longest ever tee shot on the par 5 10th hole: 279 yds. and it was on the fairway! I followed this by topping my 8i approach into the water. Ye olde drive & duff. 

At a higher elevation than sea level and with the firm soil of any other course that would have been 310 yards.  And a topped wedge.

[Opoponax]

Hi. New here. Thanks for having me. 🙂

Anyway, the most demoralizing shot is when you stand over the ball and you really feel like you're going to hit a good shot. I don't know how to describe it adequately, but everything just feels right: from address to backswing to the split second before you top, shank, pull one almost completely laterally... it was all going to be so good, but now it's time to question existence itself. 

[KMP]

Nothing in golf is demoralizing....it is all in the mind......gunga la gunga.

[GolfLug]

Disasters on the 18th tee with something on the line are always a hoot. 

Caught a branch on an over-faded drive and rolled lost it to the penalty area on par 5 18th last weekend. Finished with bogey to miss out on breaking 80. 

Not demoralized as won a bit of money but def stung a bit for a couple of days.

[Seeking70s]

For me, the worst is when I am over a shot, feel uncomfortable, know I should back off it, swing anyway, and then hit a horrible shot.

Had one of these last weekend, hit a 4i so far off the toe I am surprised I made contact.

[mdl]

1 hour ago, Seeking70s said:

For me, the worst is when I am over a shot, feel uncomfortable, know I should back off it, swing anyway, and then hit a horrible shot.

Had one of these last weekend, hit a 4i so far off the toe I am surprised I made contact.

This. For me it's almost always a block. I'll stand over the ball feeling like I'm going to block it way right. Swing anyway. Block it way right and then playing to salvage bogey.

Other than that I think it's probably bad drives on easy holes. For example there's a super easy par 5 at one of my regular courses. Pretty significantly downhill. Usually a bit under 500 yards, which for me, downhill, is easily reachable with a solid drive. Super super wide fairway. I hit my worst drive of the day. Huge block fade into the trees way right. Ball nestled down by a tree trunk. Had to take an unplayable.

[bking]

On 9/4/2021 at 1:03 PM, mattm16 said:

hitting a shot out of a bunker, it hits a rake and comes back in;

Uggg. Nothing upsets me more than when people leave the rake greenside of the bunker

[Vinsk]

14 minutes ago, bking said:

Uggg. Nothing upsets me more than when people leave the rake greenside of the bunker

Why not move the rake before taking your shot?

[bking]

18 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

Why not move the rake before taking your shot?

Good point. I generally do unless I'm lazy, but it's still the wrong place IMO. I figure leaving it on the opposite side MIGHT save someone going in, but I can think of any positives to leaving it greenside 

[RFKFREAK]

On 7/12/2022 at 9:06 AM, Seeking70s said:

For me, the worst is when I am over a shot, feel uncomfortable, know I should back off it, swing anyway, and then hit a horrible shot.

Had one of these last weekend, hit a 4i so far off the toe I am surprised I made contact.

This - and normally I don't step off b/c I don't want to ppl to get upset with me or think i'm a slow player.