The dreaded shank!!

[jamiesmith900]

Hi all,

ive post another my swing vid as again I'm massively struggling with the worst shot on golf no matter what I do how I swing it's straight off hosle even with driver it's really pushing me to give up when I'm on I strike as good as any low handicapper is there any solid drill to get rid of this I'm desperate now all advice appreciated thanks??

[boogielicious]

39 minutes ago, jamiesmith900 said:

Hi all,

ive post another my swing vid as again I'm massively struggling with the worst shot on golf no matter what I do how I swing it's straight off hosle even with driver it's really pushing me to give up when I'm on I strike as good as any low handicapper is there any solid drill to get rid of this I'm desperate now all advice appreciated thanks??

I replied to the post.

[Smidd4]

1 hour ago, jamiesmith900 said:

Hi all,

ive post another my swing vid as again I'm massively struggling with the worst shot on golf no matter what I do how I swing it's straight off hosle even with driver it's really pushing me to give up when I'm on I strike as good as any low handicapper is there any solid drill to get rid of this I'm desperate now all advice appreciated thanks??

I suffered from this for about 3 weeks last year and fixed it in 10 minutes at the range. I put a head cover outside the ball and tried not to hit it. Worked like a charm. Good luck to you, I know how frustrating it is. 

[freshmanUTA]

1 hour ago, jamiesmith900 said:

Hi all,

ive post another my swing vid as again I'm massively struggling with the worst shot on golf no matter what I do how I swing it's straight off hosle even with driver it's really pushing me to give up when I'm on I strike as good as any low handicapper is there any solid drill to get rid of this I'm desperate now all advice appreciated thanks??

Tee up a ball and place your driver at address with the ball in the middle of the head. Place a box of balls or a headcover in front of the toe of the driver, when you swing try not to hit the balls/headcover/water bottle/ whatever.

[vangator]

If you hit your ball off the driver hosel, all I can suggest is to don't close your eyes when you swing.  That means your swing path is off by a couple of inches at least and in the opposite direction as an iron shank.

[allenc]

3 hours ago, Smidd4 said:

I suffered from this for about 3 weeks last year and fixed it in 10 minutes at the range. I put a head cover outside the ball and tried not to hit it. Worked like a charm. Good luck to you, I know how frustrating it is. 

This didn't work for me back when I had this problem.  I actually got to where I would miss the object but shank anyway!  Obviously I was adjusting by completely opening the face to slide it in there and still hit the hosel.  Addressing it normally then trying to hit it on the toe helped some, but it would often lead to other mishits such as fat shots.

3 hours ago, vangator said:

If you hit your ball off the driver hosel, all I can suggest is to don't close your eyes when you swing.  That means your swing path is off by a couple of inches at least and in the opposite direction as an iron shank.

What do you mean?  The hosel is on the heel of all clubs.  When I had the shanks I would hit the heel of irons and drivers alike.  Obviously the ball flies a bit different when you do it with a wood.

My opinion is the only way to "fix" it for real is to work with a pro to change your swing.  Obviously your current swing has "shank" as one of the possible misses and you sometimes get in a funk of continuing to miss that way.  Even if you somehow get out of that funk the shanks will always loom.

[Ernest Jones]

3 minutes ago, allenc said:

This didn't work for me back when I had this problem.  I actually got to where I would miss the object but shank anyway!  Obviously I was adjusting by completely opening the face to slide it in there and still hit the hosel.  Addressing it normally then trying to hit it on the toe helped some, but it would often lead to other mishits such as fat shots.

What do you mean?  The hosel is on the heel of all clubs.  When I had the shanks I would hit the heel of irons and drivers alike.  Obviously the ball flies a bit different when you do it with a wood.

My opinion is the only way to "fix" it for real is to work with a pro to change your swing.  Obviously your current swing has "shank" as one of the possible misses and you sometimes get in a funk of continuing to miss that way.  Even if you somehow get out of that funk the shanks will always loom.

Agree with trying to hit it with the toe of the club. Should help "fix" it for now. Long term, you probably have some work to do as @allenc said. 

[jamiesmith900]

Yeah they strike right on driver face just below hosel, irons are right in corner of face and hosel paint shows glancing across face sometimes I think face is open at Impact you can see club flying outside target line if I try keep inside that fat shots follow that's why thought o had early release 

[vangator]

2 hours ago, allenc said:

This didn't work for me back when I had this problem.  I actually got to where I would miss the object but shank anyway!  Obviously I was adjusting by completely opening the face to slide it in there and still hit the hosel.  Addressing it normally then trying to hit it on the toe helped some, but it would often lead to other mishits such as fat shots.

What do you mean?  The hosel is on the heel of all clubs.  When I had the shanks I would hit the heel of irons and drivers alike.  Obviously the ball flies a bit different when you do it with a wood.

My opinion is the only way to "fix" it for real is to work with a pro to change your swing.  Obviously your current swing has "shank" as one of the possible misses and you sometimes get in a funk of continuing to miss that way.  Even if you somehow get out of that funk the shanks will always loom.

I'm not trying to pick you or anything like that.  With an iron, a shank means hitting the hosel, but usually because the ball is just moved laterally toward the hosel.

I'm looking at my driver right now.  The driver face is flat across the entire face, so the hosel should never be hit unless it ball is teed up so high that you would go completely under the ball if the swing path were proper.  If you had an offset driver, I guess the hosel could come into play.  Don't own one of those, so I'm only going from what I've seen with others.

Generally you'd call the shot that you're talking about with your driver as a heeled shot.  You generally never refer to a wood as being shanked.  If you hit the hosel of a wood, you basically hit it off the shaft.

When I've shanked a shot, it was due to a slightly bent left arm at address.  When I swing, it straightens and shanks.  Also could be you're too close to the ball.  I also would line the ball up more toward the toe.  The shanks go away as mysteriously as they appear.

[DrvFrShow]

Here's an interesting video showing one possible cause of the shanks. I notice that I shank the ball when I first start loosening up, and again when my back gets tired. I've had a problem with my butt coming off "the wall" so perhaps I do that when my back gets tired. This is an indication that I need to hit core muscles in the gym as well as work on form.

[jamiesmith900]

Thanks all some great advice it's strange when I set up in posture I can say to myself god this feels wrong like I'm inevitable going to hit a shank it's the most oddest feeling 

[allenc]

1 hour ago, vangator said:

I'm not trying to pick you or anything like that.  With an iron, a shank means hitting the hosel, but usually because the ball is just moved laterally toward the hosel.

I'm looking at my driver right now.  The driver face is flat across the entire face, so the hosel should never be hit unless it ball is teed up so high that you would go completely under the ball if the swing path were proper.  If you had an offset driver, I guess the hosel could come into play.  Don't own one of those, so I'm only going from what I've seen with others.

Generally you'd call the shot that you're talking about with your driver as a heeled shot.  You generally never refer to a wood as being shanked.  If you hit the hosel of a wood, you basically hit it off the shaft.

When I've shanked a shot, it was due to a slightly bent left arm at address.  When I swing, it straightens and shanks.  Also could be you're too close to the ball.  I also would line the ball up more toward the toe.  The shanks go away as mysteriously as they appear.

I hear you.  I know it's not called a shank when you do it with the driver and the ball likely goes straighter.  What I and I think the OP were referring to is that when we have the shanks, we can make pretty much the same mistake with the driver which ends up being an awful shot as well.

[Tindalla24]

On ‎2‎/‎27‎/‎2016 at 3:27 PM, jamiesmith900 said:

Thanks all some great advice it's strange when I set up in posture I can say to myself god this feels wrong like I'm inevitable going to hit a shank it's the most oddest feeling 

Have you tried to look at your balance in your feet?  I have run into the same issues with my golf swing throughout my career, and my high school coach once said when he has too many beers , he tends to get the weight at setup too much over the toes.  This can make it seem like you are going to shank before you take the club back.  Almost like you are crowding the ball.  I have consciously place more weight in my heels once I set up and this helps me feel more "away" from the golf ball.  Plus, for me, it helps me use the ground more and my compression in my downswing feels more solid.   

[Gunther]

Had to respond to get this off my feed cuz just seeing the word shank will cause me to do it next time out.  We're not allowed to utter the word amongst my golfing buds.

Typically, when this happens to me it means I'm sliding my head and shoulders forward.  I use a swing thought to keep my head behind the ball;  usually corrects the problem.

Good luck.

[jamiesmith900]

3 minutes ago, Tindalla24 said:

Have you tried to look at your balance in your feet?  I have run into the same issues with my golf swing throughout my career, and my high school coach once said when he has too many beers , he tends to get the weight at setup too much over the toes.  This can make it seem like you are going to shank before you take the club back.  Almost like you are crowding the ball.  I have consciously place more weight in my heels once I set up and this helps me feel more "away" from the golf ball.  Plus, for me, it helps me use the ground more and my compression in my downswing feels more solid.   

Hi bud

thanks for tips sometimes feels like I'm on my toes but probs because of my set up with knees and feet not open at addres and head movement all contribute to the horrid over the top swing like @mvmac has told me it makes sense it's going to be long road I've had it for so long now head down power on ?

[jamiesmith900]

13 minutes ago, Gunther said:

Had to respond to get this off my feed cuz just seeing the word shank will cause me to do it next time out.  We're not allowed to utter the word amongst my golfing buds.

Typically, when this happens to me it means I'm sliding my head and shoulders forward.  I use a swing thought to keep my head behind the ball;  usually corrects the problem.

Good luck.

Thank you 

yeah makes sense as in my swing vid like @mvmac and @iacas says its allover the place hard to keep it still lol