The dreaded "S" word

[Rafcin]

I'm the most recent victim. playing rather decent lately didn't expect to get hit by a train last sunday. Total hopeless case of shank-attack. On one hole I managed to hit 8 hosel-rockets in a row, from adriver to a 56deg wedge.
Going away for a long weekend tomorrow with 8 rounds of golf planned....

H E L P !!!

[Wood]

I would think of anything except swinging before hitting the ball. Hmmmm, Natalie Gulbis after a birdie putt..........

[muda]

You know I'm gonna have to say something about the sh**ks before we start playing don't you. I'll need every advantage I can get.

[georgep]

8 is an impressive streak and with the driver even! I once got them bad when I was playing as the "A" player in a scramble with a couple people I didn't know well. Every iron shot was off the hosel. I started hitting half pitches and chips with the hybrid, but I was only contributing drives and putts for most of that round.

With me, it's usually swing path when I'm trying to hit draws ... getting it trapped inside and then almost leading into the ball with "el hoselo." Try the Mike Weir drill where you take the club straight back halfway and then back down before you swing. The club should be parallel to the ground and your target line when halfway back.

The midround fix for me is to purposely swing outside-in and hit all fades/slices. Good luck! They are frustrating.

[iacas]

Easy fix Rafi: hit the ball further towards the toe. That should do it.

No, Josh hasn't paid me a dime (the cheap bastid! ).

[mediaguru]

This can be a disease that is hard to shake. I s*d one in the biggest city tournament and it brought me to my knees. For the next 3 days I hit bucket after bucket of s*ks.

I had to enlist my local pro who fixed me in about 1 minute. All he told me was "make sure you are standing on the balls of your feet"... Worked like a charm.

[Rafcin]

thanks to all for the friendly advice (except for you Erik ).
I'll report after my long weekend and let you know which one worked (or didn't).
Hey Wood, can I replace Natalie with Michelle, or would it qualify as a pedophilia???

[Wood]

Hey Wood, can I replace Natalie with Michelle, or would it qualify as a pedophilia???

Ummm, that depends on which state you live in. Being in Virginia, I don't have to mention our cousins to the west..... J?K all you Mountaineers!!!

If you need to make that replacement (Michelle for Natalie), I would also recomend taking your IPOD to the couse so you can listen to Michael Jackson's Greatest Hits while you "go for it in 2."

[muda]

Erik- Great tip! Just cause I'm a nice guy, I'll give 10% of any winnings off of rafi this weekend. Rafi, follow Erik's wisdom.

I think it's a safe bet that I've just jinxed myself and I'll rattle off a dozen or so shanks now.

[Maverick]

I end up s'ing it when:

1. Get tense and for some reason start crouching up on the ball, getting to close.

2. The tip by Erik is numero uno! I intentional try to make an effort to hit it off the toe for a few shots and end up dialing it back in.

[iacas]

I end up s'ing it when:

And he thought I was joking! Peh!

[sungho_kr]

well what i do when i find a sh__nk on the range, I stand a little taller, make sure my weight is in the middle of my feet (between toes and heel) and step a half inch away from the ball, this is the best i can do but its been working, hope it helps. btw i use to hit these tiny northwestern blades which felt really nice but once in a while i would shank and i would think someone lit my hands on fire

[muskegman]

I compiled a list of links a while back when I was struggling with the same thing. Hope this helps...

Ritson-Sole
ALPG Tour
Free Golf Swing Tips
Peter Krause Golf

[golfchief]

Know this is to late,just got my computor running again, but you may be putting to much grip pressure on and throwing the swing off line. It's always the little thinks that we over look.

[Rafcin]

a short lesson with the impact bag hopefully took care of it... it has something to do with my left hand leading away from my body at/after impact. Of course it still happens now and then, but I know what I have to do to correct it now.
It's much better feeling than "I've no clue what's wrong"
Thanks for all the pointers.

[iacas]

a short lesson with the impact bag hopefully took care of it... it has something to do with my left hand leading away from my body at/after impact. Of course it still happens now and then, but I know what I have to do to correct it now.

I still think the only pointer you needed was mine: just hit the ball further towards the toe. It makes sense.

Glad you've worked through it. I wouldn't want you to pay for my golf AND lose all your money to me in two weeks...

[Rafcin]

I still think the only pointer you needed was mine: just hit the ball further towards the toe. It makes sense.

of course it makes sense, the point is not WHAT to do but HOW to do it ;)

I think the biggest difference in "current vs. desired" swing was that my arms were too close to my big belly at the setup, they had to go out a bit during the downswing.. voila. Feels very uncmfortable when I make the effort to push them away at the setup, but so far last 5 rounds only 1 skunker... I can live with that

Glad you've worked through it. I wouldn't want you to pay for my golf AND lose all your money to me in two weeks...

Don't you worry about that. By the time we're playing I'll have my updated "post-shank" handicap and you'll give me a loooooot of strokes. I might actually make money on that visit

[Chas]

When I s****, it's usually because my balance has gone off during the swing. Usually I'm in good balance at address (easy enough) and in the backswing, but I sometimes tend to let my weight move forward onto my toes too much on the downswing - resulting in a s*****d or a chunked hit. Check this out, it might be a problem for you as well. Concentrate on keeping your weight fairly evenly spread between the heels and balls of your feet the whole time. Works for me.