This cant be happening, the sh**ks???

[MellowYellow]

Oh man, I can't believe this.

I had this happen to me once about a year and a half ago. My score is generally in the mid to high 90s, I was just starting to occasionally hit the 80s when suddenly I couldnt hit a ball, I started makeing more and more changes to try and just make contact until I couldnt even hit a ball more than 20 feet. I finally realized what I was doing wrong when I was on a course, did a practice swing and felt that feeling from before when i would swing a good 5 iron, i was so excited I said to hell with my friend who was out and quickly addressed my ball and hit it and FINALLY made a great solid athletic shot. After that it kept getting a bit better and more consistent. Then I was watching the Masters a few weeks ago and somehow I realized that when I was trying to be safe and affraid of mishitting I over corrected and was not getting the full turn and wrists in. Since then I've been striking the ball better than I have in my life, been going out as much as possible and loving golf again.

Then last Monday I'm finishing my round, hit a nice drive on 16 and have a good shot of finally breaking into the 80s again, I go up and hit my 2nd shot fat, no biggie the ball was below my feet, it's a bummer, but I havent had a mishit like that all day and it was a weird lie. So I go for about a 80% sandwedge and TOTALLY shank it, it goes flying to my right and makes a weird flight path. I was a bit bummed, but I seem to shank my sandwedge a LOT lately, it's weird, but as of late if I was above about 50% I would just hit an easy PW, I chip on go on to the next hole and suddenly that was it... I could NO LONGER hit a single ball. It is TOTALLY gone. I've gone to the range, to practice greens, practiced looking in a mirror everything.. it is GONE. The weirdest thing is i CAN hit my 3 and 5 wood, but my irons especially short irons are TOTALLY gone.

So anyone have any clues? I'm pretty sure it has something to do with trying to turn and get shoulders into to much and what not, but I don't know, cuz the fact that I can still hit my 5 wood good but PW is totally useless is just crazy... ahh man. I know for an outsider looking in this has to seem funny, but man when you're going through this it's got to be the most frustrating depressing thing apart from someone dying that you can come across...

[Dr. Slice]

first make sure your standing far enough away from the ball. when your doing this make sure that your not leaning over it. then dont have all your weight on your toes. Put some weight on you heels and kinda "sit back" a bit

this always helps me when i get the shanks

[Keep It Simple]

Lighten your grip pressure and keep it constant throughout the swing.

[MellowYellow]

Thanks guys, I'm going to not touch a club for 2 or 3 days at least and hoping that my old muscle memory resumes, because some how just hitting that ONE bad shot engrained that swing in my muscle memory... We'll see.

[FlopScotty]

I have just gotten over the shanks. I have done some research and got help from an instructor. There can be a lot of different reasons for this and moving further away from the ball might not help at all. Post a couple of swing vids so we can have a look at it. I know how frustrating it can be so I would be glad to help;)

The first thing my instructor told me on my first lesson with the shanks was that he had seen it before and he was going to see it again from people with much lower hcp than me:=)

[J_Bone]

I had rarely ever shanked it, UNTIL these damned forums!! I read a "shanked" thread back in January and now shank it once or twice a round and even on the Range. I never posted nothing in those threads since I had nothing to offer, but not now. I want to cuss all you shankers for bringing it into my game. I'm only posting my hatred for you to help exercise the demon shanks out!

[Juice1499]

Thankfully, I have never caught this nasty illness known as the ******. My best friend last year came down with it and for an entire year, could not hit a wedge without catching the hosel. Similar to you he could hit woods fine but short irons were a disaster. This is my guess, given you are trying to get more shoulder turn lately, I am going to guess your swing has gotten a flatter in the process. Fairway woods off the deck etc. wont be effected too much by this change but your wedges will act much different. My friends problem was a drop on his backswing causing the plane to get very flat. I would continue to make a strong shoulder turn but in the process make sure that your spine angle stays constant and at the top your left shoulder is lower than your right. Just something to make sure you dont get too flat at the top. Hope this helps because I have seen first hand the frustration of,,,,,,well you know