Shanking Misery!

[JohnP]

I am in the golf doldrums, my game was really starting to get together, I am a 15 handicapper and have shot several rounds recently where I played to 7,8 and 9.

Everything seemed to be going fine until - one day whilst practicing out the back (I use two old range mats at each end of the garden about 30 yds apart) using my 56 and 60 degree wedges - I hit one at right angles into the side fence, I tried to put this out of my mind and tried another - result another Shank, I even hate typing the word, it really is a disease. I must have hit 60 balls and none of them went straight, previous to this I had been chipping perfectly for six months - landing 99 percent of the ball on the mat - which is a good thing because they bounce off the patio over my neighbour's fence otherwise!

I had a case of the shanks about a year ago which totally destroyed my confidence and game, they followed me from the range (where they began) to the course, eventually, I could not hit a shot in from 100yds without shanking 50 per cent of them.

I got rid of them by playing the ball off my back foot, and hooding the clubface more until my confidence returned, I didn't like doing this as it produce shots that went to the left and with a low ball flight but, it did produce results - I didn't shank one for the next six months.

Well, now they are back with a vengeance, completely out of the blue, it is always with the short irons, I practice with the 56 and 60 all the time, but once the shanks start, it can go all the way down to the 7 iron and nothing will stop it, I have to leave the range and come back in a few days (when they might dissapear again)

I am at a point now where I don't know what to do - shall I just leave things alone for awhile (my wife says it is my body telling me to stop playing golf - ha ha)

Sorry for the rant Guys - but any suggestions gratefully appreciated.

JohnP

[GreeBoman]

Re: Shanking Misery!

I had them for a while on my short shots
I discovered that I was rolling my wrists/clubface way open on the way back.
As you take your backswing keep the clubface outside of the wrists for longer
#
| -->
| -->
%
So if # is your clubface and % your hands make sure that as you swing back you dont rotate too early and let the clubface get closer to your body too soon. I guess you could call it the one pieve takeaway.
It worked for me.

[mr3856a]

Re: Shanking Misery!

I feel your pain, JohnP. It got so bad for me this year that I stopped playing mid-summer for like 6 weeks. The cause is the hasel of your club contacting the ball before the clubface - ie a way, WAY wide-open clubface.

But fear not! This can and will be overcome!

My solution was to simply strengthen my lefthand grip so that I could see 3 knuckles on my left hand (being a righty). Give that a shot.

The other thing you can do to find out which hand is causing the face to be open is to take two clubs - one in each hand - and take your normal grip and stance (take your normal lefthand grip on the first club and your normal righthand grip on the second). Holding the two clubs together side-by-side, slowly take your normal backswing with both clubs at the same time and then slowly come back to your impact position. What you will likely find is that the clubface on one of the two clubs is going to be open. Maybe they will both be open. Either way, you will figure out which hand is the culprit.

Whichever it is, strengthen the grip on that hand a touch and have another go. No guarantees, but this did the trick for me.

If what I said doesn't make sense, let me know. It's the same as you would do by taking two clubs and swinging them to warm up, the only difference is that you aren't holding two clubs with both hands, but rather one club per hand.

I've been there, and we'll get you out of it.

Mike

[chessbum]

Re: Shanking Misery!

A well known, quick fix for the shanks is to try hitting the ball off the TOE of the club. You can use this when you are on the course and you have nothing else to fall back on.

Give it a try,

Chessbum...

[ubizmo]

Re: Shanking Misery!

I think it's important to know whether the shank is a hozel shank or a toe shank. I get this syndrome but it's always a toe shank and the cause, apparently, is not soling the club properly, so that the toe hits the turf and pulls the club face open. That's my story anyway, and I'm sticking to it.

[JohnP]

Re: Shanking Misery!

Thanks for the tips Guys, I am working on not rolling the wrists too much and it appears to be working, - this problem always first appears with the lob wedge and once I get the shanks it magically transfers to all short irons for a while.

The short term fix seems to be to stop hitting balls for a day or so then start off again with the pitching wedge, after I get some confidence back with this, start with the 56 and 60 again - after which all is fine again - until the next shank!

I am sure that stopping the wrists rolling will prove the long term cure, I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again

[JohnP]

Re: Shanking Misery!

Here's a quick update. I have found that lifting my head a little and keep a straighter upper back is helping things, also, I am setting the weight back on the heels more, I tried the old (golf) balls under the toes trick to ingrain this feeling, who knows, it's possible that I was just allowing the head to drop too much and had too much weight forward..early days, you can never tell when these damn things might rear their ugly head again!

Fingers crossed..playing tomorrow.

[jscerbo]

Re: Shanking Misery!

Shanks have several causes, moset of them are fundamental. The shot is missed at setup. Most likely you are standing too close to the ball. Your club travels outside the target line putting the hosel in line with the ball instead of the clubhead. Stand straight with a club in your hands, with your club elevated in front of you. No let your arms drop until you feel slight pressure on your upper torso. Now bend forward forward from the hips until the club is soled on the ground. This is the correct distance from the ball. Your hands should be about four to six inches away from your pelvic area.

[nickwbryant]

Re: Shanking Misery!

we have all shanked a short shot in our time i'll bet! I had the problem a few times and the cure for me was postural as you seem to have worked out and as jscerbo mentions. I was too close to the ball.

Anyway if your posture is good a great tip from Nick Faldo is to keep your lead arm in contact with your chest throughout the shot - almost control the pitch with your torso. That really helped my pitching consistency.

nick

[GoBucks]

Re: Shanking Misery!

Shanks have several causes, moset of them are fundamental. The shot is missed at setup. Most likely you are standing too close to the ball. Your club travels outside the target line putting the hosel in line with the ball instead of the clubhead. Stand straight with a club in your hands, with your club elevated in front of you. No let your arms drop until you feel slight pressure on your upper torso. Now bend forward forward from the hips until the club is soled on the ground. This is the correct distance from the ball. Your hands should be about four to six inches away from your pelvic area.

S****ed a whole lotta balls off the hosel last year, I'm about a 12 handicap and I had my hands too close to my body. Finally figured that out at the end of the season, moved my hands farther from my body and am back to hitting my shots pure again.

[killer]

Re: Shanking Misery!

my advice to you would be to ask somebody to check your swing from the rear as shanking can come from a very flat swing path,you see i know this because i used to have a very flat swing and this type of swing causes the hands to roll open and as you start the d/swing your hands can lag behind you and youwill not be able return the club head squere
try holding a club slightly behind you with the face open and just turn back through the swing and you should see what i mean.a quick fix while you are playing is to keep your weight slightly more on your heels as you will find its very hard to shank this way

i used to shank quite often until i stopped swinging flat hope this helps as the old shanks are soul destroying.

[tomallinder]

Re: Shanking Misery!

I remember playing in a tournament some years ago... One of my playing partners laid the ball up nicely near a lake. The green was on the other side of the lake about 100 yards away. He shanked his first one into the lake, then dropped... another shank into the lake. The rest of us just stood there and watched as he shanked 9 balls into the water. Then he was out of balls and had to withdraw. An amazing thing.

I shank occasionally and find that its because my swing path is too much from the inside.

[Oddsfellow]

Re: Shanking Misery!

A couple of things i have seen work for shankers in short game shots, is firstly to conectrate on keeping the upper left arm going across the chest. Short game shankers quite often get disconnected here.

The second item is the hips. Take a normal short game stance then twsit your right hip slightly until you feel definite resistance down the inside of the right leg. Then swing as normal. This is particularly useful for those who shank when coming from the inside as the hips will have tendency to block the natural path and hence force the hands out.

[chessbum]

Re: Shanking Misery!

Hey Killer,

Can you define in clearer terms just what you mean when you say a "Too flat swing"? I am ASSUMING you mean a very "laid off" swing??

I am just curious because I think what you are saying makes sense but because I am not sure about "Flat swing" I don't understand yet.

Thanks,

Chessbum...

[MPLAVLEGL]

Re: Shanking Misery!

AH!
The mystery of the shank!!!!!
It will go as mysteriously as it appeared just keep working on hitting balls and dont become OBSESSED with the shanks.
They are like the yips the more you think about them the worse they become.
I know a guy that saw a witch docter.....................