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Shank and causes

jimnycricket65

jimnycricket65

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I have seen shank on wedges. The recent changes are the path of my hands are closer to my pant zipper area and lighter on gripping. I will figure it out eventually but what are common causes of shanks that I should be paying attention to.
 
I get the shanks when I lift my hands away from me in the backswing causing a disconnect.
 
The pro says the cause can be coming over the top... I am not convinced.
 
I think it's happens to me when I try to go easy thru the ball. When (not if) I get the shanks. I just make sure I'm aggressive with my swing.

I'm no expert though.
 
jimnycricket65 said:
The pro says the cause can be coming over the top... I am not convinced.
Click to expand...

He's right that's a frequent cause. The player gets the club behind him on the backswing, gets stuck inside and with nowhere to go, comes over the top and hits the ball with the hosel. That's certainly my most frequent reason for shanking.

Whether it's your cause or not, it'd be hard to say without video for someone to evaluate. Another common cause is standing too close to the ball.
 
Shanks are a result of hitting the ball
Off the hosel. This is done by leading into the ball with the heal. No particular swing shape cause it more than another
 
I have never had a real big problem with this but, I have hit a lot of close to (I hate the S word) lateral shots this year while taking lessons.most of them were from really ugly swings where I had to manipulate things to get back to the ball. I agree there is no one swing flaw that causes them too.

Could be flat, over the top, not getting the club on plane, casting, hanging back, over swing, getting stuck, not enough separation in hips and shoulders, almost any swing that causes you to have to manipulate your body and hands to get back to the ball to hit it.
 
Let me know if you figure it out. I haven't played in a month because of it
 
I had (and somewhat continue to have) a nasty bout with the shanks that I found NO easy cure for. At one point, my pro would just walk out to the range and help me only because he knew I was so incredibly infuriated. I tried taking time off, practicing non-stop, changing my grip, name it. I tried drill after drill, and finally found one that really helped. It's a 2 ball drill, so line up 2 golf balls beside each other in a line perpendicular to your target line, with a couple inches separating them. Line up to the ball closest to you, but after you are 'set,' slide the club away from you to the other ball. Take a normal swing but try to strike the inside ball. This isn't a quick-fix initially, so spend a lot of time on it. Hope this helps!
 
99% of the time shanks are caused because you are ball-bound. And when you shank it once you'll just become even more ball-bound with the determination to not shank again. Focus on swinging to the target and not at the ball and you will be on your way to eliminating the dreaded hosel rocket. Here is a great video explaining this:

 
Here is the shank cure I found this 2014 season:

Several weeks ago I played my first round of the year and shanked my 9 iron on the 16th hole. Naturally I proceeded to shank my approach shots on 17 and 18, and then just about every ball on the range that evening with my short irons. I couldn't sleep that night. Went back to the range the next day and tried all the tips - grip the club lighter, see more knuckles on the right hand, make sure I wasn't too close to the ball, focus my weight on the middle of my feet, did drills to re-route my swing path to the inside and eliminate any over-the-top moves, etc., etc., etc. I must have had 15 swing thoughts and none of them worked. It was information overload. THEN IT HAPPENED! I saw my shadow on the ground at address and noticed a big space between my elbows and torso. I was creeping farther away from the ball out of fear. My arms had become disconnected from my body. So I exaggerated pressing both elbows against my torso, which moved me about 3 inches closer to the ball. I felt like I was holding a towel under each armpit. My only swing thought was to brush my right elbow against my torso at impact. At this point I was really searching and wasn't expecting a positive outcome. Took a half swing 9 iron and hit it pure! Then took a full swing 9 iron and hit it pure also. Ran to the first tee and played 3 holes - par, birdie, par. This reconnection had me feeling my larger muscles helping my arms turn and square the clubface instead of throwing the hosel at the ball. "Effortless power" was restored. It was like my swing suddenly felt "unlocked". I've played 16 rounds since and haven't shanked once. It feels fantastic to only have 1 swing thought and the shanks don't even enter my mind. This has translated into hitting all my clubs better and on target again. The best thing is that I don't have to change my grip or swing because the fix is simply at address and my swing takes the proper path automatically.

My dad got the shanks 2 weeks ago and couldn't break out of them. I went to his house and we swung an alignment rod in his yard. I had him connect his elbows to his torso like I did and he immediately heard the beautiful "swish" sound that had disappeared. He also hasn't shanked a shot since. Golf became fun again for both of us.

I was amazed when I watched slow motion swings of Dustin Johnson on TV this week and saw how he tucks in his right elbow at impact and stays connected. It was confirmation that what I was doing was correct and not a trick/gimmick. I'm lucky that I only suffered for a couple of days. When a shank happens again, I feel that I'll be able to fix it on the next shot and restore confidence immediately.
 
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A shanks is when it goes dead right and you hit off the hosel instead of the sweet spot

secret is don't hit on the hosel , stay more towards the sweet spot
 
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ehamady.6 said:
Here is the shank cure I found this 2014 season:

Several weeks ago I played my first round of the year and shanked my 9 iron on the 16th hole. Naturally I proceeded to shank my approach shots on 17 and 18, and then just about every ball on the range that evening with my short irons. I couldn't sleep that night. Went back to the range the next day and tried all the tips - grip the club lighter, see more knuckles on the right hand, make sure I wasn't too close to the ball, focus my weight on the middle of my feet, did drills to re-route my swing path to the inside and eliminate any over-the-top moves, etc., etc., etc. I must have had 15 swing thoughts and none of them worked. It was information overload. THEN IT HAPPENED! I saw my shadow on the ground at address and noticed a big space between my elbows and torso. I was creeping farther away from the ball out of fear. My arms had become disconnected from my body. So I exaggerated pressing both elbows against my torso, which moved me about 3 inches closer to the ball. I felt like I was holding a towel under each armpit. My only swing thought was to brush my right elbow against my torso at impact. At this point I was really searching and wasn't expecting a positive outcome. Took a half swing 9 iron and hit it pure! Then took a full swing 9 iron and hit it pure also. Ran to the first tee and played 3 holes - par, birdie, par. This reconnection had me feeling my larger muscles helping my arms turn and square the clubface instead of throwing the hosel at the ball. "Effortless power" was restored. It was like my swing suddenly felt "unlocked". I've played 16 rounds since and haven't shanked once. It feels fantastic to only have 1 swing thought and the shanks don't even enter my mind. This has translated into hitting all my clubs better and on target again. The best thing is that I don't have to change my grip or swing because the fix is simply at address and my swing takes the proper path automatically.

My dad got the shanks 2 weeks ago and couldn't break out of them. I went to his house and we swung an alignment rod in his yard. I had him connect his elbows to his torso like I did and he immediately heard the beautiful "swish" sound that had disappeared. He also hasn't shanked a shot since. Golf became fun again for both of us.

I was amazed when I watched slow motion swings of Dustin Johnson on TV this week and saw how he tucks in his right elbow at impact and stays connected. It was confirmation that what I was doing was correct and not a trick/gimmick. I'm lucky that I only suffered for a couple of days. When a shank happens again, I feel that I'll be able to fix it on the next shot and restore confidence immediately.
Click to expand...

I have been trying to find a cure for this issue for two years as it has come and gone over and over and lately it has been a struggle. I found this thread and this post and this was exactly my problem. Thanks so much for sharing this, even though it was a long time ago. Ha ha
 
Great tip, will have to try this..
 
I'm trying to almost loop my swing out on the backswing, and drop my right shoulder and bring my hands and club more from the inside. When I come over the top instead of from the inside, I've had a few hosel shanks.
 
Another swing tip for those struggling with this evil blight upon the golf swing is to think of not letting your right knee move towards the ball as you swing through.
 
My shanks tend to happen when my back is hurting. My weak core and hip flexors will sometimes cause me to thrust my hips toward the ball as I near impact, leaving me very little room to get the club on the right path.

This is a very common problem with many golfers, so might be an area to check.
 
I shanked continually with my wedges on a golf trip to France 4 years ago . Couldn't figure it out for quite some time. It turned out that I was getting ball bound but the main reason for me was too much weight pressure on my front foot . For some reason when I put weight pressure on my front foot , my shoulders and hips turn closed and my swing path was affected badly ( too much in to out).

So for me, If I do put pressure on my front foot I've got check that my shoulder and hip alignment is not compromised. Problem is I keep forgetting, so now I just keep my weight pressure centred in my stance and 'cut the dandelion stems' or 'swing the clubface to the target or over an intermediate target' (haven't shanked my wedges for over a few years now - thank god!).

Might be worth getting some impact tape to see if you are shanking or not and to what extent.
 
I find myself shanking when I come too inside on the downswing. I look at my divot after a shank and I find a sharp V gap in the ground which is the hosel hitting first at impact. I correct this by moving my swing more outside to inside and naturally it corrects it for me instantly.
 
I'm not admitting to reading this thread... but thanks
 
For the past month or so I have been dealing with this, albeit I have been playing with a wrist injury as well which didn't help.
A lot of the common fixes I had found did not really help me. However the best visual/drill I found was a Butch Harmon one:

If you yank the club down from the top with your hands and arms, you move it away from your body. This causes contact on the heel because the clubhead swings across the ball from outside the target line. To fix heel hits, you need to keep the club to the inside. Close your stance, and focus on hitting the inside portion of the ball, swinging out to the right

Has worked for me and helped get me back to hitting the ball solid again. Such a frustrating thing to deal with especially when this is not something I typically ever deal with.
 
I've been dealing with some shanks recently, and I discovered that I was getting my weight to far out on the balls of my feet, even towards my toes on some shots. This caused me to get a little closer to the ball at impact, thus hitting the hosel.
 
i've struggled with these over the last couple months. Last night, I went and played a practice 9. I changed my grip from interlock to overlap. It worked for last night.
 
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