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A Weird and Terrible Case of the Shanks

Acuna

Acuna

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Sep 24, 2013
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Location
Austin, TX
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long irons
Man, I have been having an issue and it is driving my c-r-a-z-y: I have the shanks with my 6 and 7 irons. 8 iron through my wedges, no problem. 5 iron (Cleveland Altitude) no issue. 3 and 4 hybrids no issue. Driver and 3 Wood looong and straight. I have been trying to work it out with tempo and a shorter backswing and am even seeing a pro about it. A lot of it (it seems) is mental and I feel like I have to crush it with the seven and so I rush my down swing and take my hands back behind my body.

The seven iron used to be one of my favorite clubs. Now I manage my game so that I avoid 7 and 6 iron distances if at all possible. For example, I will hit an eight iron when I know the seven iron is the right club because I would rather be just short and have a chance at a pitch and a putt as opposed to being off in no man's land with the seven. Or say I hit a shorter club off the tee so that I will just use a longer club on my approach instead of the seven iron.

Don't get me wrong, I am no crack shot golfer but I also wasn't completely terrible. Any advice on getting this issue out of my system. I am tempted to hit the course with just a seven iron and make myself use it until I can hit it well again.

One issue that I think might be causing this (but again, why with just those two clubs) is that I am doing a lot of distance running to train for a race and so my back is pretty tired/stiff from that.... I usually swing better when not running this much.

Thanks!
 
Acuna said:
Man, I have been having an issue and it is driving my c-r-a-z-y: I have the shanks with my 6 and 7 irons. 8 iron through my wedges, no problem. 5 iron (Cleveland Altitude) no issue. 3 and 4 hybrids no issue. Driver and 3 Wood looong and straight. I have been trying to work it out with tempo and a shorter backswing and am even seeing a pro about it. A lot of it (it seems) is mental and I feel like I have to crush it with the seven and so I rush my down swing and take my hands back behind my body.

The seven iron used to be one of my favorite clubs. Now I manage my game so that I avoid 7 and 6 iron distances if at all possible. For example, I will hit an eight iron when I know the seven iron is the right club because I would rather be just short and have a chance at a pitch and a putt as opposed to being off in no man's land with the seven. Or say I hit a shorter club off the tee so that I will just use a longer club on my approach instead of the seven iron.

Don't get me wrong, I am no crack shot golfer but I also wasn't completely terrible. Any advice on getting this issue out of my system. I am tempted to hit the course with just a seven iron and make myself use it until I can hit it well again.

One issue that I think might be causing this (but again, why with just those two clubs) is that I am doing a lot of distance running to train for a race and so my back is pretty tired/stiff from that.... I usually swing better when not running this much.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Sounds like, as my instructor once put it, "you're getting stuck." I had a similar problem, where I was opening the face in my takeaway, and then "getting stuck" with my right elbow through impact leaving the face open (causing the hosel to come to the ball first.)

We worked on a lot of release drills, and voila! Problem solved.
 
Call Romeo
 
Whenever a quick case of those come on, I allow my lower body movement to power the clubhead moving through the swing and I feel the lower body and chest moving the club. When I do that bad thing, it's the arms causing the issues.
 
Shanks come from a change in space during the swing. Typically its as simple as the right knee moving forward on the down swing instead of toward the ball. this little move is enough to get your path moved out away from you and contact with the hosel of the club. Make sure your right knee is moving inward toward the golf ball and not straight out from the body.
 
Tadashi70 said:
Shanks come from a change in space during the swing. Typically its as simple as the right knee moving forward on the down swing instead of toward the ball. this little move is enough to get your path moved out away from you and contact with the hosel of the club. Make sure your right knee is moving inward toward the golf ball and not straight out from the body.
Click to expand...

I'm going to keep this in mind when I play again. Front 9 on Sunday had a few rockets with wedge and it messed with my head


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I'm sure someone would say this is terrible advice, and I probably shouldn't give swing advice to anyone, but when I get the shanks I take the problem club (or clubs) out on the range, address the ball with my feet pressed together, and just start hitting the ball. For whatever reason you don't shank it and actually hit it surprisingly well with your feet together..then I incrementally move my feet a little bit further apart as I take more swings and with the same swing thought until they're back to normal. Generally the shanks are gone by the time I'm back to normal swings...of not, I put my feet back together.

A case of the shanks is all mental so there's no right or wrong answer but an old club pro gave me that years ago and it works for me.
 
Odd that it occurs with just those two clubs. My shanks will not discriminate when they arrive. Usually a combination of the "getting stuck" mentioned above and me being determined to hold lag and really crank one by not releasing too early. I have decided that for me it is best not to consciously think of release point, lol
 
hopnstop said:
Odd that it occurs with just those two clubs. My shanks will not discriminate when they arrive. Usually a combination of the "getting stuck" mentioned above and me being determined to hold lag and really crank one by not releasing too early. I have decided that for me it is best not to consciously think of release point, lol
Click to expand...
I feel your pain. I've been living in Shanktown for six months. I've now had three clean rounds in a row and my scores are again respectable. What did it for me was realizing I was incorrectly trying to hit at the ball rather than swinging through to the target. Mechanically it was stopping a rearward hip slide and getting that rear hip to go more back. Then just realizing the shaft isn't a bat and it shouldn't make contact with the ball, but slide below it instead.

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Thanks for posting this. The last few weeks (happen to coincide with new irons I just purchased) have been pretty rough for me as well.
I have never experienced the shanks but it has gotten a hold of my complete iron game. Before this situation I was already a close heel striker. The last 2 weeks have just been painful to play. I lost 11 balls in one round Monday - and this was after starting par, par, birdie (and some very nice contact).
The shanks have nearly completely taken the joy out of the game and the excitement of getting new irons.

I have so many thoughts about what it could be. I have watched so many videos. Read so much over the last 2 weeks.

In the end, I have decided to just take a mental break for a few days and scheduled a swing eval at Golftec.
For the record, I have used a couple of local pros for lessons before. Trying to recall some of the cues they have given me, but right now I just cant seem to make the correction.
I only chose golftec because of the video analysis and I am big on video feedback. Hoping its a good decision.

Its quite frustrating. I have never put more time into golf as I have in the last 6 months and to not be able to hit a ball properly bums me out.
I know I have swing issues....but have always been a decent ball striker.

Anyway - just wanted to say thanks for posting. Hopefully I can get through this soon and get back on focusing on the improvement.
 
Well I went to the range before work this morning and hit about 50-60 shots total. First with my wedges to confirm that was all good, and then some eight and nine irons, which were also still good, and then my sevens. Still bad but not as bad. I am trying to "swing easier" with my seven iron and focus on making the swing, and not hitting the ball. I then hit my hybrids and woods. All of those continued to check out for the most part.

Afterwards I played a few holes on the way back to my house. I went bogey (kind of topped by drive and had about 200 in and missed the green, then chipped on and two putted), bogey (this hole is always a bogey or worse for me, the hardest hole on the course, my strategy went as planned), bogey (a par five, hit seven iron for my second shot that I hit fat (but at least it went straight!), my last approach with an eight iron was short of the green by a foot due to misjudging the wind and I chipped on for a two putt). I probably could have played the par five with a driver and then a three wood or hybrid, but I wanted to work on my iron shots.
 
interesting to see results so specific to two clubs. sounds like it's more mental than anything else. though i suppose it could be a swing weight thing.

i tend to shank my wedges more than any other club, but it's always a setup issue. ball too far back, alignment severely closed, and i'm dead. if i pay attention and get those right, i'm usually in pretty good shape.
 
Follow up:

Was finally able to get with my pro to work with me on this issue. It was all in my rhythm and not taking a full turn on my backswing. By the end of the lesson I was hitting my seven iron well again. And of course, all the other clubs in my bag are still working just fine.

I got a couple of really good swing thoughts to help me as I groove my swing.
 
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