A nasty case of the shanks!

[Buckeyebowman]

Thank God it's not me! It's my buddy's Son. He's had something creep into his swing that has him hitting everything dead in the neck! I fixed him once before, not of this fault, but he was doing something so obvious and easy to see that it was a breeze to correct. This has me baffled!

So, he wants me to watch him at the range and offer suggestions. I try all the usual stuff. Maybe you're crowding yourself, stand further away. Make sure your hands come through in the same place they were at address. Then I tried what might be the oldest fix. He had a fresh dozen in the cart, so I went and emptied a sleeve. Had him address the ball and placed the empty sleeve about a half inch off the toe of his 9 iron. OK, hit the ball without hitting the sleeve. Didn't the poor, afflicted SOB nail that sleeve dead center, while catching the ball on the hosel! He did this repeatedly!

I am at a loss. I finally told him that he might need to contract the services of a certified PGA teaching pro and have him take a look. He told me he couldn't afford it. I told him he couldn't afford to throw away golf money hitting the ball like that! I mean, he was hitting 9 irons off a short tee, and the divots were ENTIRELY outside of the ball! I've never seen anything like it.

This kind of reminds me of iacas' thread in Swing Thoughts (I think), where he said that bad swings are repeatable and nearly indistinguishable from good ones. I can not spot what this kid is doing wrong.

If anyone has any ideas about this, I'd appreciate hearing them.

[Vinsk]

A case of the shanks? Well my friend...I’ve had them for over 20 years. But for a normal person, as I assume he is, he’s gotta put a 2 X 4 down and place the ball close enough to where If he swings outside he’ll slam the board. Not a headicover. Ya gotta put something there that you’ll absolutely change the picture to avoid hitting it. 

[Patch]

Best he has a pro swing guru see what's up. 

I shank shots every so often. Maybe a couple every 3-4 months.  Luckily they don't last very long. Most of my shanks are with my LW. 

First thing I check is my one piece take away. Make sure I am not taking the club back too much inside. 

If it's not my take away, then I immediately start chipping the ball, and work my way to short pitches, then a longer pitches, and so on. 

There has been a couple of shanking episodes where, I took a break from the game for a day, or three. When I came back they were gone. 

I have read that when a golfer gets a bad case of the shanks, their swing can have so many problems, that they might have to start from scratch, relearning their swing. I saw a list of possible causes for the shanks. It was pretty lengthy. 

I have also heard that shanking is contagious. Anyone posting, or reading this thread should not be surprised if they shank a ball in their near future..................

[billchao]

5 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Then I tried what might be the oldest fix. He had a fresh dozen in the cart, so I went and emptied a sleeve. Had him address the ball and placed the empty sleeve about a half inch off the toe of his 9 iron. OK, hit the ball without hitting the sleeve. Didn't the poor, afflicted SOB nail that sleeve dead center, while catching the ball on the hosel! He did this repeatedly!

The part in bold is a little confusing, but I read it as he was still shanking the ball with the sleeve there, without hitting the sleeve?

If so, he's hitting it so far off the toe that he's hitting weak flares right. Put something on the inside of the ball instead of the outside.

[iacas]

2 hours ago, billchao said:

The part in bold is a little confusing, but I read it as he was still shanking the ball with the sleeve there, without hitting the sleeve?

Huh? He said he nailed (hit) the sleeve every time.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Huh? He said he nailed (hit) the sleeve every time.

It was 5:00 AM 😉

[MarvChamp]

When/if I shank, according to those who have seen it, I come from the inside and almost stop before hitting the ball with my body, not allowing my arms to close the club face a bit. And/or addressing the ball too far back and too closed to my target. Instructor said "Just stop that! Look at a mark on the back of the ball and hit it!" Kind of shocked me into not overthinking it. Good luck, -Marv

[The Recreational Golfer]

I can shank when I hit a wedge. It took me years to figure out that on the backswing I would let the club ride away from me a bit at takeaway instead of going straight back from the ball. Now the hosel is in the swing path, not the center of the clubface and there's nothing I can do about it. Check this, that your buddy's son is taking the club straight back.

There are several shank cures out there, and this is the only one that worked for me, so here it is added to the list of things to try.

[Buckeyebowman]

15 hours ago, billchao said:

The part in bold is a little confusing, but I read it as he was still shanking the ball with the sleeve there, without hitting the sleeve?

If so, he's hitting it so far off the toe that he's hitting weak flares right. Put something on the inside of the ball instead of the outside.

Maybe I didn't express myself correctly. No, he caught the sleeve dead in the center of the clubface! He's whacking the ball right on the hosel!

13 hours ago, iacas said:

Huh? He said he nailed (hit) the sleeve every time.

Yep! Baffled me too!

[billchao]

13 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Maybe I didn't express myself correctly.

Oh no, it wasn't you. I can't read sometimes.

[Buckeyebowman]

Don't know what happened to the rest of my reply in post #9, but there was a whole lot more! I suspect the problem is on my end!

[Buckeyebowman]

Here's how weird it got. After the range session we played 9. I was anxious to play as I hadn't been out in a while, he thought he might be able to work something out on the course. So, I'm watching him as well as trying to manage my own game.

In his bag he carries an Adams Idea 3 hybrid, that he bought from a local course about a month ago. It had sat in their lost & found for much of last year, so they decided to throw it on the shelf "for sale". He paid 20 bucks for it. On one shot he hit the ball dead center in the hosel, damaged the shaft inside the hosel, and the head flew off! It went fluttering down the fairway!

Admittedly, the club could have been damaged previously, but this just sort of capped off the day!