Struggling with shanks

[omelette]

I've been playing for a couple of years and was feeling recently that I was finally starting to improve until a few weeks ago when I started shanking the ball pretty badly. I've had this in the past and it's eventually gone away but it sucks and takes all fun out of the game!

Anyway, I went for a lesson with the pro at my club and he said it was the hardest thing to fix as there are so many reasons why someone shanks. He couldn't see why I was doing it so basically just gave me loads of things to change about my swing (stronger grip, ball further forward, stand more upright, stick out bum, weight more on heels, take club back straighter and more closed, keep back arm connected, rotate hips more on downswing, swing fron inside)

So I've gone away for a few practice sessions trying all these things but there's so much in my head now and I'm still shanking, or at least hitting towards the heel a lot.

Now I don't doubt that these are things that would improve my swing but it feels like too much to work on at once. Should I try going to a different pro? Should a good pro be able to look at my swing and tell me why I'm shanking?

Edited August 12, 2017 by omelette

[Valleygolfer]

Yes he should be able to tell you. Post a video in your swing thread and maybe we can point you in the right direction.

[boogielicious]

@omelette,

I agree with @Valleygolfer, take some video of your swing. The shank can have several causes. We would be just guessing without video.

[downbylaw11]

I'd never been a shanker in my life until a few years ago when I started making a serious effort to dial in my swing.  Taking too many practice swings at home without any ball striking feed back really ruined me for a while until I was able to get things going again. the problem magically returned again this year and it took me 3 or 4 range sessions to the point where I wasn't scared to hit a ball.  I was honestly like that scene in tin cup where mcavoy hits shank after shank not knowing what the hell was happening.  I would begin my range visit with about 10 straight shanks before I would start hitting the ball well. I would usually just take a longer club and start going after it as hard as I could to sort of 'get the bugs out' and free up my body. I think my problems mostly stemmed from a few things.  

-standing too close to the ball

-leaving the clubface so open at impact that my body would try to compensate by slicing across the ball

-coming out of my posture during the downswing too early to look where my shots ended up. 

 

but mostly it was a mysterious thing because I would shank shank shank, and then it would be gone for the rest of the range session.  each time I went back, I would start off shanking, but less, before hitting good shots.  it eventually went away for the most part but I always make sure I'm fully stretched before I practice, and that I've taken several full hard swings, so I have somewhere to go speed wise when I start hitting some nice easy wedges.   

but still my biggest fear in golf is being on the first tee without a proper warmup where I know for a fact I've struck the ball well a few times.  the course I play on the weekend has a par 3 first hole with houses lining it, and if I havent had a proper warmup, I'd say the chance of me hitting a house is about 50% 

[Vinsk]

16 hours ago, omelette said:

I've been playing for a couple of years and was feeling recently that I was finally starting to improve until a few weeks ago when I started shanking the ball pretty badly. I've had this in the past and it's eventually gone away but it sucks and takes all fun out of the game!

Anyway, I went for a lesson with the pro at my club and he said it was the hardest thing to fix as there are so many reasons why someone shanks. He couldn't see why I was doing it so basically just gave me loads of things to change about my swing (stronger grip, ball further forward, stand more upright, stick out bum, weight more on heels, take club back straighter and more closed, keep back arm connected, rotate hips more on downswing, swing fron inside)

So I've gone away for a few practice sessions trying all these things but there's so much in my head now and I'm still shanking, or at least hitting towards the heel a lot.

Now I don't doubt that these are things that would improve my swing but it feels like too much to work on at once. Should I try going to a different pro? Should a good pro be able to look at my swing and tell me why I'm shanking?

Welcome my friend, welcome to the king of shanks. I've had them infect my game since  April of 1990. It all started with a sand wedge I bought when I thought my game was really developing. My college buddy was a great player ( I caddied for him in a couple of US OPEN qualifiers). I was out in a field by my house one day and hit my first memorable shank. I've never suffered from slices, hooks, tops by any degree that they ruined my round. But the shanks have plagued me all these years with deadly unpredictable consistency lol.  In one session I've been recorded as hitting shanks by:

Closed face too inside out , closed outside in, open too inside out, open outside in and of course...relatively straight path to ball target line...but with the hosel striking the ball with deadly accuracy. There are 2 things I can do that will get me back to hitting nice shots again. Unfortunately one of them I can't seem to reproduce on the course as it requires an object.

First: Make absolutely certain you are not tense. Loosen those arms and shoulders. This is critical.

Second: Use a board, headcover (I'm sure you've heard of this) and place it just on the other side of the ball from you close enough to where at address your club will hit the board/headcover should your club move away from you.

Keep hitting balls relaxed and not hitting the object. Do it long enough and something will get your groove back. Then take a deep breath and hit some without the object there. I hope this helps. 

[downbylaw11]

are you shanking all your clubs or just wedges? it is my understand that it is most common with wedges, and it seemed to appear for me after I bought a new lob wedge and would start off at the range by hitting that. 

I just saw this video online that has a neat drill that might be worth trying, and I think it could also have other benefits too. 

 

http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/videos/long-game-tips/why-do-i-shank-my-wedge-shots

[Hategolf]

Woooow. I thought I was a rarity.

Since I got serious about my swing and started working on it, I experienced the Shanks. I shanked a full buckett a full round, chips, pitches, wedges, irons...you name it. It takes me a few days to get rid of them. 

The shanks have affected the way I swing...it has created insecurity, tension, shorten my swing and restricted my lower body movement. Yup, all to prevent a shank. If it wasn't for the shanks I would be a single digit handicapper.

So I have being study the issue on and off. First you need to understand what kind of shank you got. 

Swinging in to out shank? , out to in? lack of release shank? Too close to the ball shank? Other? Yup, there are several types and reasons that cause it.

Mine is mostly a combo..coming too far from the inside and my left (right for righty) knee moving towards the ball during the down swing. But I had a lack of release shank before while working on lag.

*Posture is number one. But you need someone to video you. Turning your hips while keeping your butt out can be tricky.

*An in to out swing is actually fairly easy to fix. There are many drills online to help you taking the club away in the upswing with the club more in front.

*The lack of release shank can be fix with a more relax grip and proper forearm rotation and without loosing the connection.

*To test if you are getting too close to the ball watch a video of how far to the ball you should set up. And check if you loose your balance forward from time to time, you might just be leaning forward in the downswing.

*  Check your right shoulder in the down swing make sure you are not throwing it at the ball on the downswing.

*Learn to stay connected..throwing your arms out towards the ball during the downswing creates all kinds of problems.

The shanks suck and people who rarely experience them they don't understand what a struggle it is to swing with the thought that they can show up any time. My biggest petpeve from those folks is when they tell me.."you are over thinking it"...it makes me want to put them in my shoes..lol.

Search videos about the shanks but don't settle for the simple "stand further from the ball"...there is a lot more to it..not everyone has the same shank problem.

Good luck.

Edited August 13, 2017 by Hategolf
More info.

[downbylaw11]

there are videos on youtube you can watch that are compilations from year to year of shanks from pga/lpga tour pros that may or may not make you feel way better about your situation.  they can happen to anyone.  one thing i found that helped me get rid of them during any given session was to not even look at the result of my shot.  simply concentrate on keeping my head down through impact and beyond would help me see what the strike felt like if that makes any sense.  i think most of my shanks come from excitment, or just a general sense of expectation that im going to hit a good shot and the desire to look up and watch my ball flight.  

[Hategolf]

http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/videos/long-game-tips/why-do-i-shank-my-wedge-shots

That drill is not enough to fix a shank if the problem is an in to out swing issue.

Diagnose the type of shank is first IMO.

[Patch]

Shanks. I know what those are. Seen em', and done em'.. 

Mine are caused,  most of the time, because I am swinging to much in to out. Too much of an angle into the ball. Plus pretty much always with a wedge. Since I know what the root cause of my shanks probably is, I can usually remedy the swing problem pretty quickly. 

[b101]

We've all been there - I tended to have it with partial wedges when I was using my arms as opposed to whole body in sync. I'd have practice sessions where I'd hit 7 or 8 shanks and just leave, knowing if I came back later in the day, it'd be ok again. Never had them in a round thankfully. Whenever I do get them, I try to stand a little further away from the ball and make a few swings really focusing on body rotation. Good luck solving it!

[omelette]

Thanks for all the great replies! It's nice to hear from others who know what it's like when you stand over the ball and feel scared to hit it!!

I actually played a friendly round yesterday and didn't shank anything so that's something! But I think there were some close ones and because I'm tense I'm still making bad contact sometimes.

At one stage I was just shanking chips and pitches but at the moment it's all my irons and actually worse with longer ones. Plus I'm sometimes hitting my woods and driver off the heel.

I once tried the suggestion of putting a head cover next to the ball but ended up hitting the head cover and having the embarrassing walk down the range to retrieve it so am always nervous of doing that one!

I'd just like to know what I need to work on in my swing. When I read articles on the internet and watch videos there seems to be so much information and I feel like I've tried everything at some point. I'll try and get a video of my swing uploaded later.

[Marty2019]

This happened to me on the range 3 days ago.  Right out of the blue, shank, shank, shank.  Worst range session of my life.  And this was just a couple of days after playing 18 holes and hitting the ball pretty well for me.   It was very demoralizing. 

I've googled "why am I shanking" and looked on youtube and watched various videos about what causes shanking and how to cure it, and like everyone else has said in this thread, there are a multitude of possible reasons. 

What I'm going to try to do is just go back to basics.   Next time I go to the range, I'm just going to put the shanks out of my mind and try to make a basic relaxed swing, concentrating on some of the things I ought to be working on, getting into the right positions, etc.   Just try to slow it down, relax, etc.  

But anyway, good thread.  

 

[Valleygolfer]

Speaking of shanks, I get them all the time on the range. 99 percent of the time I don't bring them to the course. Except for yesterday when I shanked my driver and fw's all round. What a fiasco.

[mcanadiens]

Had em for a month and a half to start the season after a grip change.

It sort of sounds like a band-aid, but I just started lining up shots off the toe. It at least prevented the most destructive shot in golf most of the time to start.The exceptions have generally come when I'm either rushed or frustrated.

As I regained confidence, the position of the ball has moved gradually back toward the center of the club face.

[Marty2019]

I fixed my shanks today.   Last time I went to the range, shank shank shank.  But I am of the firm belief that band-aids like "stand further away from the ball" are not the way to go in cases like this.  The thing to do is, go back to basics and just try to get a good swing.  

So it took me about 10 or 15 shots, including 5 or 6 pure shanks, but I figured it out.  I just had a fundamental swing problem.   By fixing my fundamental swing problem, I got rid of the shanks and then I hit one after another really nice shots. 

My fundamental swing problem was, I was coming over the top, but at the same time I was trying to get my swing more down the line.  If you come over the top you have to chop down on the ball or else you can't make contact at all, because if you don't chop down on the ball, you will either miss the ball entirely or at the very least, you will hit the ball off the heel or the hosel, and that's a shank.  Coming over the top while trying to get my swing more down the line was what was causing my shanking. 

So I tried to make sure that on the down swing my hands come down instead of out, so then I am able to swing less outside-in, more down the target line and less toward left field.   My shanks went away and I hit lots of really nice pure shots.  I even hit some really nice shots with my 5-iron, which is my worst club. 

So, just thought I'd share that.  Maybe it'll help somebody who is struggling with shanking the ball. 

 

Edited August 14, 2017 by Marty2019

[omelette]

I've started a swing thread and posted a video of my shank (as horrible as it is to watch!!)

I haven't found standing further from the ball or lining up with the toe work for me although I guess different things work for different people.

Edited August 14, 2017 by omelette

[wannabe]

Yesterday.  Ouch.  Good thing my station was toward the left end of the range.

I only hit a small bucket of balls, but a good third of them were shanks.

Never really fixed the problem, but tomorrow is another day, and I have some ideas, similar to others stated.

One I'll use for sure is the obstacle outside the ball -- I'll use a tee.

Edited August 17, 2017 by wannabe