Shanks Shanks Shanks

[DDBowdoin]

Hey guys, I'm in crisis control. I am a true 6 index but my last three rounds have been hell on earth. For some reason I am shanking every shot! (except driver). I get on the tee hit a long and straight bomb, everything seems great then I step over the ball and instantly am feeling something wrong. I feel extremly uncomfortable over the ball now and its killing me.

I feel as if I am rushing my downswing and am just coming across the ball. I can't fix it and I am going insane. Has anyone ever had this happen? <-- ie. shot 74 one day and then out of left field you just cant hit a shot for your life, its incredibly embarressing.

I'll try to get some video of whats going on tomorrow when I'm out on the course.

[Leek]

Relax, it can happen to anyone. Here's some help:

http://www.brianmanzella.com/forum/s...ighlight=shank

[Harold]

Recently for several weeks I went through something that sounds quite similar. It was really happening quite frequently with my wedges but was striking any iron. After going through the WTF routine of moving the ball forward/backwards/closer/farther I went out to the ball shag range and continued the slaughter. After awhile of that mess I backed off and started to hit nothing but 1/4 swings. I just wanted to see the ball in the air. I didn't care how far it went. Almost immediately the ball began it's normal direction. Doing that 30 minutes three times got the comfort zone back in my swing. The only things I can attribute it to is the 1/4 swings helped pull back my full swing tempo and broke me out of what I think was my occasional tendenacy to have my swing get long to the point of casting or "going fishing" as I call it. I'm not saying you are casting but find a way just to get the ball back in the air in the direction you want it to go and work from there. Sometimes less is more. Plus it's a good way to play around with 1/4 iron shots. Of course I probably use them much more than you would but still, no practice shot that has full commitment behind it is a wasted shot. You will find the answer and then you will own it.

[iacas]

Hey guys, I'm in crisis control. I am a true 6 index but my last three rounds have been hell on earth. For some reason I am shanking every shot! (except driver).

I recommend what Harold said. Get on the range and hit less than full shots. Slowly work your way up.

In my experience, better players tend to get the shanks because they're a tad too close to the ball and they don't have room to operate. Sometimes that feels as though they're rushing - because they have to get stuff out of the way in order to swing through. Make sure your arms are fully extended. Sometimes I've set up closer to the ball than I'd like because my arms aren't hanging naturally, but instead are bent a little more than I'd like. Make sure your ball position is good, too, as that can change where your arms hang and again how far you are from the ball. But outside of those little tweaks, hit the range, start with 1/4 swings, and work your way up.

[DDBowdoin]

I'm trying to break my swing down in parts here in this video, I'll try to get some full shots today when I'm on the course. anyone see anything?

[Leek]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grP5MJ2kdNI

Yup. You are lagging the hosel, trying to perform a sequenced release. This is the cause of 90% of all shanks

[iacas]

I'm trying to break my swing down in parts here in this video, I'll try to get some full shots today when I'm on the course. anyone see anything?

In addition to what the poster said above, you then dramatically over-exaggerate the release and the clubhead goes way to the left very very quickly as your right hand rolls over way too much. Your "finishing position" looks more like you just hit a topspin forehand in tennis than a golf ball.

[DDBowdoin]

Yup. You are lagging the hosel, trying to perform a sequenced release. This is the cause of 90% of all shanks

what do you mean by laggin the hosel? Like I said before this is something that just came out of left field. I'm heading out to the course right now with digi in hand and will return with vids.

[wolverine318]

Along with what everyone else said, personally I do what was said by Erik? and go to the range and hit less than full shots. And I also will work very hard on tempo as well. I find most of the time my temp is way off and causing the problems.

[powerfade]

I have been dealing with this horror as well for about the past 2 months. My October index just broke into single digits (9.2) but I was facing this crisis.

For me it was on wedge shots (7:30, 9:00, and sometimes full no coil 10:30 swings). I was consistently contacting the ball on the face close to the hosel. One in 15-20 shots would hit where the hosel meets the face - a shank. My swing felt the same this whole time. I checked ball position, setup position, path, angle of attack, tempo/pace. The swing always felt right but the ball contact was too far inside.

Just this morning I was at the practice area and unknowingly gripped the club a little further down than I had been. It felt different, yet familiar. I noticed my right thumb was covering the "P" of "PING". (YEAH!!!) That had always been my choke down grip position on wedges! For some reason I crept up the shaft effectively making the club longer with the same setup and swing. To me it now makes sense that with the club being a little longer, it was enough to cause me to make impact closer to the hosel.

I was hitting beautiful wedge shots for about 45 minutes before having to go to work.

This may not be your issue or cause, but in my case, if I had reviewed all the fundamentals sooner I might have avoided some embarrassing shots and the blow to my confidence. I can hardly wait to get back out on the practice area and especially the golf course to confirm this.

[Diggitydog]

I had the shanks a couple years ago as well. BTW, they are confidence destroying like nothing else in golf. Ugliest shot that can be hit.

My issue was on over the top move that was causing me to get close to the heel.

Are you taking divots after the ball right now? That was the other indication that my swing path was outside to in and causing heel strikes. Make sure your hitting the ball in the middle of the face when it's not a shank, otherwise it could be a swing path issue.

[Leek]

what do you mean by laggin the hosel? Like I said before this is something that just came out of left field. I'm heading out to the course right now with digi in hand and will return with vids.

Lagging the hosel vs. lagging the sweet spot. Imagine an ant is on your clubhead. As the club comes down, if you lag the sweetspot, the ant can see the ball. If you lag the hosel, the hosel blocks his view. One good way to learn this is to take a club and draw an ant face or a happy face on the sweetspot. Make sure the eyes can see the ball.

In your case, the cause is a sequenced release. This means you flip the club open on the backswing, start down with the shaft or hosel and try to snap the club closed through the ball. That's what Iacas is commenting on when he says you look like a topspin forehand. Try to take the club back with no rotation, let the folding of the right arm and the cocking of the left wrist open it. No turning the left arm. It will arrive in the same place, but now you can swing on-plane with no topspin motion, just the normal closing from pivoting through the swing. You can get much more detailed information by clicking on the thread in my earlier post.

[Leek]

I have been dealing with this horror as well for about the past 2 months. My October index just broke into single digits (9.2) but I was facing this crisis.

I'm glad you resolved this. I'm not sure why it worked. Do you space yourself from the ball before you take your grip?

[powerfade]

No, I have both hands on the grip before I place the club behind the ball, aligning it to my intermediate target. I then position my feet (the spacing) and let them chew while I position my hips and shoulders. I give it a few waggles, checking the target, then go.

I agree, you wouldn't think that it wouldn't matter what length shaft I'm using. Theoretically, should I have been hitting them fat instead of on the heel? Not so.

Maybe it has more to do with my increased spine angle at address due to the increased choke down? All along I kept thinking the problem was caused by increasing the spine angle on the down swing. (I'm 6'3" in shoes). Maybe by choking down further, I'm at a spine angle that won't let me increase it anymore?

[TourSpoon]

My buddy has this same issue. He was three under going into the 14th hole, a short par three, and shanked the tee shot right into the scrub unplayable. It came out of no where. Luckily he reteed, put it on the green, two putted and ended with a 71. He is still kicking himself.

His deal is that he has a flat swing and sometimes with the short irons, especially wedges, he stays flat and puts the hosel right on the ball.

[DDBowdoin]

hey guys, took some shots today at the course. Erik is there any way I can upload the vids directly on here or do I have to go through youtube?

[iacas]

hey guys, took some shots today at the course. Erik is there any way I can upload the vids directly on here or do I have to go through youtube?

You can't post them directly to here, no, unless you want to post the videos on some filesharing site or something. You can do that and link to them.

There's a lot of free or really inexpensive web storage out there...

[Guest]

Hello all, im Jarryd
Seems as though we all seem to be doing the same thing!

I was told i was standing to close to the ball, and therefor the club face didnt have time to shut to its ordinary position causing the club face to be open and the ball to have side on impact with the club face pushing it majorly right / left if ur left or right handed!

Cheers