Shanks

[bret_gessner]

Shanks are embarassing, no one will argue that point. I do have a few drills for this total mental issue. Shanks are cause betwo factors, either extreme in to out swing path or extreme out to in swingpath. So try these drills.

1) Place a headcover on the opposite side of the ball at address and take 3/4 swings, this will prevet your from your excessive out to in path.

2) Take a broken shaft and put it to the right of your right foot about 2-3 inches behind you and this will help your path if you are coming too far from the inside.

Also, you may be standing too close to the ball at address so check your distance.

[barrycuda]

i understand what some of the causes are resulting in shanking, what i dont understand is how one day iam hitting every shot off the middle of the club and the next day im fighting to keep the ball off the hosel without consiously having changed any part of the swing.

all those tips and drills dont work for me, they might keep the ball off the hosel abit more often, but ball contact is still right off the heel barely missing the hosel.

only thing that seems to work is to put away the clubs for a day or two. im still searching for the reason why this is happening, going by my ball flight does not help since i hit anything pull,hook,straight,push,slice, seems to be an even spread among those shots.

[JML22]

*grumble*
hozel hozel hozel hozel hozel
grrrrrrrrrr

[shankalots]

Try standing slightly farther back from the ball and make sure you're not on your toes. Also you can place 3 balls down with a few inches between them while practicing and only make contact with the center ball. UGGGH I hate the shankers!!!

[JML22]

yeah i think i was just leaning too far over
started like halfway through a 100 ball bucket
i ended hitting like 25 bump and run type shots to end it

[sean_miller]

yeah i think i was just leaning too far over

Don't exaggerate the in-to-out swing path.

[IceDave]

I've battled this a couple of times, and tried the thing with the headcover, right hand and all, but it didn't do the trick for me. What did though was following in order of importance:

1. Stance, hands should be right below shoulders at setup and space between legs and hands ample (use mirror). Do not fall into the trap of putting hands further away from the body as that will only induce sitting-down stance which will bring back the shanks along with inconsistency in impact. Also keeping hands to close to legs or your knees to flexed well explains itself, will cause you to hit it on the heel sooner rather than later. I would reccomnd a visit to a pro to just focus on the stance (it took me 3 lessons :).
2. Forward movement of upper body. In the second part of the swing (forward swing), keep from shifting upper part of body forward (to the left for right handed players). Moving the body in this way will move all your setup to the left and with it your clubead and greatly increases heel hits. My pro would hold a club at specific point to refrain me moving my body this way. Cured all my shanks with irons.
3. Wedge shanks. This was done with the help of my pro, when I suddenly got the shanks, only with my wedges all other clubs were fine. Have someone hold a soft object close to your hands at setup. In the forward part of the swing you should not hit this object. The cure for me was to focus on keeping hands at same path, or as my pro put it (shouting in the forward swing), "Pull them in for Gods sake man!"

After the above (and truckloads of practice balls) I've both cured my shanks and have created a great feel for hits/misses, and mainly it all relates to the first point, Stance. It is so important and was the main culprit in my shanks dilemma. Hope it helps but my main point would be to visit the pro you trust to help you with this, and be patient, this is not a mental issue it is purely technical.

[JML22]

ya i think it was my setup i was just too far onto the toes of my feet
annoying how i coudlnt figure that out yesterday and how it all of a sudden started happening

[Frito]

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.

The tension thing is 100% of what causes my shanks. Try doing the club waggle once you adress the ball making sure your hands /biceps/triceps ect are relaxed.

[grandaddy510]

i've been fighting the shanks the last few weeks and i think i've figured out the problem. it seems that my shoulder rotation started getting too flat, and then starting the downswing with my shoulders out racing my hips and coming over the top for the shank, or for the high on the club face inside. now im rotating more around my spine with left shoulder pointing down, and firing my hips on the downswing, almost feeling exaggerated so theres no way the club can come over the top. this has resulted in better ball striking than i ever have had. no more shanks and the joy of seeing the ball mark back on the the sweet spot

[Brakkus]

Overswinging for me if I get the shanks.I went through a period of it for a few sessions until I realised I was getting over confident and started to gun it too early.Went back to basics and I could feel my balance move from my foot arch at set up to my finish where my weight would finish out towards the toes.I had engaged my legs too much very subtle change.Sometimes you can be set up fine but then your mechanics break down during the swing.Pretty much all the causes and cures are on this thread but only you can really feel your swing.

It's all about listening to your body,it's possible if you can let go of the frustration and judgement of your swing.

[soloredd]

I get the shanks when I get lazy. I think I start moving too close to the ball. Fortunately, a good tip on here has provided the best remedy. I place some kind of item (club head cover, bucket, etc) about 2" on the outside of the ball. If I stand too close, I'll hit the item. So this gets me back to my normal position.

Sometimes they just happen out of nowhere, too. I can hit 10 great shots, shank, then 10 more great shots. But I'm at the point now where I don't worry about the shank, it doesn't affect me. Before I would dwell on it and just make it worse.

[drpanakos]

I definitely do much better when I play without any pressure. my golf buddies seem to think I am disingenuous (sp?) when I tell them how I did when they are not around.

[Diggity T]

Ok, yall.  The shanks is just what it is.  Don't fight it cause it will get worse.

I've actually just walked away and to come back the next day with 0 problems.

I actually wrote a rap about it called "I've Got the Shanks".  It's a spoof about

being perfect and it's just a part of golf.  I used to get very hyper if anyone

said the word, but not any more.  It's one of the full circle things that happen

like in life.

[MS256]

Well I guess it was bound to happen but I got the shanks again today for the first time in about 5 years. Used to be a consistent problem for me.

Tried all of my old "tricks" to try to fix it but although EVERYTHING worked for a shot or two NOTHING worked for more than that, except to try to hit the ball absolutely as hard as I could hit it (which I did more to take out some frustration than anything else).

I am looking for a bright side and the only thing I can hope for is that when I used to get the shanks it was usually just before I started hitting the ball better than ever.

Bad thing is that I had worked really hard to change some things this winter and until today it seemed to be working very well.

[ay33660]

My shank was caused by attempts to "close" the club face at impact.

My instructor put some impact tape and also video taped the point of impact and discovered that my shank was actually a double hit caused by my super closed club head causing the ball to hit the the face of the club and then sliding down to hit the hosel. At first he didn't trust what he saw on the video so he put the impact tape on to support what he saw.

Now my instructor has me feeling like I am hitting the ball with a slightly open club face but in reality it is actually square at impact.

Now that I have discovered this website the closest thing for me that I have seen to help me visualize this is the "PureStrike Key #4: Diagonal Sweetspot Path" example.

[MS256]

My shank was caused by attempts to "close" the club face at impact.

My instructor put some impact tape and also video taped the point of impact and discovered that my shank was actually a double hit caused by my super closed club head causing the ball to hit the the face of the club and then sliding down to hit the hosel. At first he didn't trust what he saw on the video so he put the impact tape on to support what he saw.

Now my instructor has me feeling like I am hitting the ball with a slightly open club face but in reality it is actually square at impact.

Now that I have discovered this website the closest thing for me that I have seen to help me visualize this is the "PureStrike Key #4: Diagonal Sweetspot Path" example.

Nothing more weird in sports than the shanks (except for maybe watching Chuck Knoblauch trying to throw a ball to first base).

Couldn't resist going out in the yard and hitting some balls. Not all dead center but nothing close to a shank with 30 balls in this picture. Who knows???

A couple of hours ago all of the marks would have been right on the hosel.

[divot dave]

I found that I get the shanks when I set up with too much weight forward. This happened to me when I was trying everything I could to get my weight forward at impact to prevent hitting the ground first. I didn't realize it, but addressing the ball with weight forward was contributing to me taking my back swing with even more weight forward, and so thru the course of the swing I would actually lean out toward the ball...  shank city. This happened mostly with my wedges where I had grown accustomed to setting up with weight forward for pitch/chip shots. But it crept slowly into my middle irons as well.