shanking tee shot

[golfshooter]

Ok, the scariest shot in the book has now entered my game. I am shanking 8 out of 10 tee shots! I am not confident enough to even play with my local social club. I've tried moving the position of the ball forward and back, closer and further from me, changed the height of the tee. The only thing I've found that makes any difference is to shorten my backswing to horizontal. Help

[bdbl]

Re: shanking tee shot

Have a look at this.

A simple description of what causes a shank, a drill to work on and, just to let us know we are not alone, a video clip of Tiger shanking a shot into the woods.

[BrianW]

Re: shanking tee shot

If I ever get a visit from Mr S. Hank I revisit the attached video. In my case it is always caused by swinging out to in and the culprit is my right shoulder working out in the downswing bringing the hozel closer to the ball.

Hope it helps you too.

http://www.ritson-sole.com/golf-tips...shank-no-more/

[golfshooter]

Re: shanking tee shot

thank you Brian,I have found that site to be wonderful and is a resource any golfer beginner or otherwise would find informative.my shanking problem is cured for now.

[golfshooter]

Re: shanking tee shot

I am having chonic shanking problems again. It is bizare as soon as I solved the fade problem with my club swing, shanking returned to my irons. I have tried everything I can thing of; keeping my right shoulder up, swinging in to out, out to in, raising the tee. lowering the tee, standing closer, further away, fast swing, slow swing.........
I know it's shanking because I can see the scuff marks on the hozel.
The ball either squirts off to the right, left or straight. I never know which way it will go so I didn't even play my club game today.
I start my practice with some iron shots; they sail perfectly straight, then some woods; nice and straight, back to the irons; and there's the shank from then on.
I feel like it's one step forward, three steps back!
Help!

[LowPost42]

Re: shanking tee shot

Try this out:

At address, hover the club at the ball, where you want to hit it on the face. Hold it there - then swing. Don't ground it again!

Another option - if you've got the ball tee'd up 1/2 ball (or more) above the face, and want to ground your club behind the ball, line up so that it looks like you're going to toe it. By the time you swing through, you'll be back to the center again.

Failing both of those, use radical therapy: Setup so that the hosel is lined up with the ball. You read it right. Your subconcious won't let you hit with the hosel. (I used this same idea as a temporary fix for my slice - I'd setup with the face wide open, and be forced to close it on the way through!)

[golfshooter]

Re: shanking tee shot

Thankyou LowPost42.
After exhaustive experimentation I have discovered that the fix to stop fade of my drivers was causing shanking of my irons; that is hitting out to in with my clubs and then using the same swing was causing me to shank my irons. Returning to a neutral swing for the irons has the ball travelling rifle straight.
Discovering this myself may offer help to others who have been visited my Mr S Hank.

[AussieGolfBoy]

Re: shanking tee shot

golfshooter, you should use the same swing with your irons to hit your driver if you are now hitting them straight....

any out-to-in shot is nasty and is good to get it out of your game asap. took me a year to get over it after a lesson to stop me from doing it. 2 years on and i can say i've recovered.

i don't even use the shot when i want a fade.

[golfshooter]

Re: shanking tee shot

golfshooter, you should use the same swing with your irons to hit your driver if you are now hitting them straight....

any out-to-in shot is nasty and is good to get it out of your game asap. took me a year to get over it after a lesson to stop me from doing it. 2 years on and i can say i've recovered.

i don't even use the shot when i want a fade.

Thankyou......think I might invest in a lesson and then back to the practice range for me.

[ben hogan]

Re: shanking tee shot

Is not necessarily an out to in path, other things can attribute to
the shanks...

[golfshooter]

Re: shanking tee shot

Thanks Ben, useful video.
I have also found another helpful way after losing my cool one day. Didn't bother to tee up and found it is almost impossible to shank off the ground. Desperation, I know, but it broke the cycle.
Peter

[golfshooter]

Re: shanking tee shot

I know I said I would invest in a lesson, haven't got any spare cash at the moment so would still appreciate some help.
Shanking or slicing 50% of iron shots, having altered the height of the ball, standing closer or further away, changing my grip, setting up with the toe, setting up with the hosel, many and varied swings,watching endless training videos, attempting to hook the ball, and what amazes me is that through all these changes I still manage to hit the hosel. I would love to have that reliability with a legitimite stroke! Not teeing the ball reduces the problem to about 70/30 from 50/50.
Funny thing is, it hasn't invaded my wood shots.
Any advice, suggestions, links, etc would be appreciated. I'm becoming desperate and can't even bring myself to play a club game.

[LowPost42]

Re: shanking tee shot

Everybody's got a camera - get a buddy to take a still of your setup down the line as you hit on the course. Get a few DTL and a few face on. Post them here (or host them at a site like photobucket and link to them). It could very well be that your hands are too close to your groin - and you've got absolutely no room to get closer to your body, so as you swing your arms lift off your chest, your hands move away, and come hell or high water, you're shanking it.

The quick test is to feel like you're reaching for the ball some with your arms and hands at setup - and then see if you're still shanking it.

[golfshooter]

Re: shanking tee shot

I was browsing through the ritson-sole website after my impassioned plea this morning, http://www.ritson-sole.com/golf-tips/ and found a piece on weight shifting during the swing. I followed the technique explained and have had, I believe, success! I even hooked a few which was so welcome after shanking everything.
It's obviously going to take some time to break the bad habit that I have formed but I am confident that I now know the cause and solution as the shanking returned if I stopped using the training technique.
I hope this is of some help to others; it certainly was for me.

[BrianW]

Re: shanking tee shot

I was browsing through the ritson-sole website after my impassioned plea this morning, http://www.ritson-sole.com/golf-tips/ and found a piece on weight shifting during the swing. I followed the technique explained and have had, I believe, success! I even hooked a few which was so welcome after shanking everything.
It's obviously going to take some time to break the bad habit that I have formed but I am confident that I now know the cause and solution as the shanking returned if I stopped using the training technique.
I hope this is of some help to others; it certainly was for me.

In my post #3 here I suggested a great video from that site. I know all shanks are not caused by an out to in path but I think they are in most cases. Another help is to place a block of 4x2" wood an inch or two to the side of your ball on the range, you will be forced to hit on an inside path.