Are the shanks real?

[uitar9]

Over the winter I took some lessons. I was shanking regularly.  He got me to stand about a ball length further away at set up. No more shanks.

[RussUK]

Yep, unlike the monsters under the bed, the shanks are real indeed. Yet to have a really bad case of them (touch wood i wont) but event the odd short period crushes the confidence.

I recently found the cure for ALL bad shots! By simply injuring my knee running around with my 2 year old son i cut 100% of all bad shots from my game!!

[jsgolfer]

I know people shank the ball all the time.  However i just wanted to know if this ever is a consistant problem.

In Tin Cup, Kevin Costner gets the shanks right before the US Open, and he cannot get rid of them.

So i guess what im asking is, do people really get that bad a case of the shanks, where no matter what all they do is shank?

Has anybody every got a case of this? I know everybody has shanked the ball, but has it ever been a big problem where you cannot get rid of them?

Im just curious if what happened in Tin Cup has actually happened to one of you or someone you know...

Yes, I've been having them for quite sometime.  I'm swaying and sliding so much laterally, that any iron shot has a chance to go right (shank) or i duck hook it.  Short irons (9I, PW, GW, etc. not as much).  Driver not as bad, working to try and cure it.

[mcanadiens]

What I experience every now and again is a particular hole that just goes completely sideways. I might have had nine decent holes and then out of nowhere come two or three foul balls. As often as not, it's gone by the time I tee off on the next hole.

[PJCdude]

Last summer on my quest to break 100 I had 3 seperate rounds where I was sitting pretty on the back 9 and then the shanks appeared. Very mentally draining but I have fixed them by not attempting to draw my shorter irons as much as my longer clubs. This has seemed to help. I've heard that shanks are due to TOO MUCH of an in to out swing path. Fundamentally better than slicing but WAY less user friendly.

[GolfLug]

Haven't read all the posts so apologize if addressed. Of all my ills I have managed to not have been afflicted with this one yet. Out of sheer curiosity, for anybody who has the shanks and would care to respond, what happens when you set up with the ball an inch away from you or an inch closer without making or thinking of any other changes? Does it gets worse better? Just trying to figure if this is a ball address positioning issue or an actual swing path issue.

[oregongolfguy]

If I don't make a good turn then I often either hit off the heel or hit a hosel burner.....

[Tgb02]

Before my first tournament I shanked every single ball in the range and didn't make solid contact once, went up to the tee box and hit a 3/4 swing 5 iron and hit it down the middle about 160 yards and left myself a 240 yard second shot but that was all I needed to get rid of them.

[shalabe]

I had them for about a week early this spring - it was a great relief to figure out the cause as I was starting to get really concerned. I was doing some weird stand-up move and my hips were basically pushing my hands out towards the ball.

[dchoye]

The easiest clubs to shank are the wedges and short irons as the hosel sticks out a lot of those clubs and I had some playing partners duck unexpectantly for those hosel rockets that shoot out sideways Long irons aren't as wayward as I hit some that manage to be long and straightish I guess cause the ball catches a lot of the face with long irons. It's impossible to shank a wood or a putter. So shank away those clubs without fear!