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Why are wedges easier to shank?

wadesworld

wadesworld

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We all know shanks can happen with any club. However, I think we'd all agree that it's FAR easier to shank a wedge than any other club.

What's the technical reason?

My guess is that because the club is so upright, it's far easier to either get too flat and get the toe too far up, or to get too upright and thus get too close to the ball.
 
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THey are?!! Great now I've got to get THAT out of my head before my next round. Thanks.

I used to have a problem shanking my mid irons more and seldom shanked my other irons for some reason. I realized what was going on when I went to Edwin Watts for a fitting one time for some irons. They taped up a couple of irons for me and said to warm up while they gathered some other brands for me to try. I noticed the contact mark on the ball was consistently just inside of the hozel. Now I just line up with the golf ball out by the toe of the club and no more shankypoos for me!! May not be the right fix, but it worked for me!!
 
I disagree. All my clubs are easy to shank.
 
I think it is with wedges, you're so focused on being precise. And wham! Shank!
 
Why are wedges easier to shank?

Perhaps the shorter shaft makes you think that you need to be closer to the ball. Then you take a rip with your crowded setup and whamo(!) shanksville!
 
I think it's a combination of things...one, it's more upright, so compared to a more laid-off swing, the shank/hosel gets is closer to the swing plane. two, you're more likely to open the face, which puts the hosel closer to the ball. When you're opening the face way up, the hosel simply has more chance to strike the ball before the face of the club. Lastly, any worries about using a less-than-full swing are magnified, which means you might quit on the shot, or try to back off...that is, you might feel like the clubhead is moving too fast for the distance you want the ball to go...and it that happens anytime during any part of the swing, you either chunk the shot, or your hands slow down, but the clubhead doesn't, so it passes the hands; the classic flip. This also tends to point the hosel at the ball...and off it goes.
 
The wedge is probably the only club I've never shanked. But I reckon opening the clubface while not adjusting your stance will leave a greater risk of shanking it.
 
The simple answer wade is that the wedge tends to swing with the arms vs the shoulders. This can make it susceptible to the laterals due to the variance in distance, short action and holding the face open.
 
I think also that we hit the wedge from shorter distances and sometimes decelerate on the downswing attempting to steer the ball vs. hitting through the ball with a natural pronation. But what do I know, I have the ability to shank any iron!
 
For me, it's because I feel like I have to try to get more touch of a wedge. Wedge shots are closer shots so I tend to try to make a precise shot as opposed to hitting the shot I know I can.
 
I have no idea but can confirm that I only really shank wedges also. Guys I play with find it very amusing that I beat them by 15 shots per round and have more shanks in a round than they do in a month !
 
I can shank an iron just as easily as a wedge (and do)
 
Tadashi70 said:
The simple answer wade is that the wedge tends to swing with the arms vs the shoulders. This can make it susceptible to the laterals due to the variance in distance, short action and holding the face open.
Click to expand...

I would add the possibility that a lot of people decellerate through impact with wedges and get too armsy.


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dizzyg12 said:
I would add the possibility that a lot of people decellerate through impact with wedges and get too armsy.


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Click to expand...

Fwiw, deceleration is inline with fat shots not shanks.
 
Tadashi70 said:
Fwiw, deceleration is inline with fat shots not shanks.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, I just know that when I get them it always seems that I'm holding back the swing and not accelerating through, maybe it's not deceleration bit more of a stiffness and trying to control the swing with my arms and not my body rotation.


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dizzyg12 said:
Fair enough, I just know that when I get them it always seems that I'm holding back the swing and not accelerating through, maybe it's not deceleration bit more of a stiffness and trying to control the swing with my arms and not my body rotation.


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Click to expand...

My guess is the decel and you're moving into the ball. So I guess it aids in the dreaded chilli pepper
 
For me they are not easier to shank but they are easier to blade or hit a fat shot with
 
We always setup with too much weight on left foot and wide open stance ( right handers) . And address with big forward shaft lean , basically presetting a shank or a wide open face impact . I improved by having a normal 50/50 weight set and a square stance with no hands forward address . Shanks and dubs left immediately . Nice pitches and chips after that lesson
 
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