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A day of NOTHING but shanks

Michael24Miller

Michael24Miller

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Location
Raleigh, NC
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Went out Tuesday and had my most productive ball-striking day of the summer at the range. Matter of fact, the past month has just been great for me and my confidence. Then today happens. Went through four small buckets (this is a lot for me and what I usually hit) and hit a variation of this shot every single time. I don't know if it's fatigue or what, but something just seems weird for me to all the sudden lose my swing that I've worked at all summer in one day. Any quick, initial response to these two 9 iron swings that I took? Really anything will be appreciated. This was during my third bucket and I was (clearly) getting very frustrated. Just doesn't seem right that a swing you work months, and years on can just disappear.

 
We might as well be best friends. Went out Tuesday and had the best ball striking of the season. Went out today to continue to work on it and I shanked every single club, I couldn't miss Tuesday. I don't want to give faulty advice but one thing might be casting the club at the top so its in different position after you start your down swing. Happens to me all the time, if only I could fix it.
 
The one thing I have found to help when I'm not making as good of contact it just hit almost 40%-50% shots with like a 7 iron and shorten the swing. I usually just swing till the club get's parallel to the ground and then stop after contact once the club is about parallel to the ground. This whole time all I'm really focused on is making contact, getting the ball about belt to chest height off the ground and making sure I'm starting the ball of straight. Hope that gives you a little to think about. I know it can get really frustrating when the swing that was working goes away, the other thing I try and keep in mind is getting rid of any tension. My swing killer is to much tension.
 
What my club pro suggested was to place a head cover under my left armpit and try to keep it there as long as I can, what this does it it keeps your arms close to your body for so when you come down with the club you don't have a chance to extend your arms in front of you so much that can cause shanks. Practice with this and even your takeaway will feel smooth and connected if that makes sense-be careful you may notice some toe shots at first but once you get the hang of it it will hopefully eliminate the shanks

Now Leaving Shanksville population 0
 
My untrained eye didn't see anything. Your swing actually looked pretty decent to me. I suggest something that involves a tumbler, ice and a 3 to 1 ratio of libation to mixer. Repeat for effect.
 
ahhh man, I feel your pain. I find myself doing it when I try to get cute. In other words...swing away! I tend to cats when I try to steer the ball.

Also, when I dont turn my wrists I see it a lot. Make an exaggerated wrist turn at impact.

good luck man, very frustrating!
 
This comment is only in relation to your shank issue man...
Review the video. Put your cursor/arrow where your knees are at address. Play the swing forward until impact. Now look where your knees are in comparison. They are much closer to the ball, particularly your right leg. Do the same thing on your butt, it moves in an inch or two closer to the ball (only need about an inch for a shank to happen). Finally, looks like you are late on posting up onto your left leg.

Now look at a pga player's swing... say Adam Scott. Put the cursor on his knees at address and impact and see the difference (make sure it was a still camera).

Your body is just getting in the way. Indeed, look at where your hands were at address... at impact, you cannot get back to that position because your legs now take over that spot.

Not that is part of the cause. You need to know the fix. Something that seems to work for a lot of people is simply putting something (an aligment aid, tee, etc) just on the outside of the ball (opposite side of where you stand). Make it close enough so if you were to hit just a bit towards the toe, you will hit that item. Do that long enough, and your body will self-correct after hitting it enough times.
 
Take deep breath, maybe even take a day off! Your swing looks pretty good to me and when this happens I take a day off and go back at it the next day. It is tough but try not to think about it.

Start with some 1/4 shots and work your way up and you will be just fine man
 
I was being flippant before but in all seriousness I would not change a thing. One brilliant way I screw up my swing for lengths on end is to over analyze a single bad session then implement 'fixes' which just make things worse. Go have some cocktails and give yourself enough space to clear your mind. Come back another day and try again.
 
Must be a Michael thing because I did the EXACT same thing today. Through 2 small buckets - nothing - stayed on the target line and only a small handful even resembled the flight of a 9-iron. hard to think that one month ago I shot my best round of the summer.....
 
Thanks for all the quick input guys. I do think (for a golfer like me and I'm sure a lot of this forum) days like this are bound to happen, but just gets incredibly frustrating when ball after ball is the same as the one before. Maybe a few days off will do the trick.
 
There are a lot of possible shank causes. Here was mine:

I realized that I had my weight on the balls of my feet, causing my body to lean forward into the ball during the swing and sometimes really hitting a bad shank.

I now make a conscious effort to keep my weight "center back" on my feet. Not completely on my heels, but more I do feel my weight in my heels more then the balls of my feet for sure. Since I've made this change, I have hit zero shanks and really improved my ball striking.
 
I have GOT to get it through my head to keep my wrists loose and let them break to hinge sooner or I do the same thing. If i hit two or three with bad contact in a row I just take a deep breath shake it all out, tell myself I want this iron to go high in the air and I don't care how far it travels, and what do you know step back in and hit a high draw just as desired.
 
Your standing quite close to the ball and at impact you don't commit to it. That's my opinion though. Hope you can get that fixed!
 
TitliestVokey said:
Your standing quite close to the ball and at impact you don't commit to it. That's my opinion though. Hope you can get that fixed!
Click to expand...


This is something I have always had struggles with (the standing too close). It's just always felt more comfortable for me, but I do realize it could cause some issues. Any drills to fix this and allow myself to feel more comfortable standing a little further away?
 
interlooper said:
This comment is only in relation to your shank issue man...
Review the video. Put your cursor/arrow where your knees are at address. Play the swing forward until impact. Now look where your knees are in comparison. They are much closer to the ball, particularly your right leg. Do the same thing on your butt, it moves in an inch or two closer to the ball (only need about an inch for a shank to happen). Finally, looks like you are late on posting up onto your left leg.

Now look at a pga player's swing... say Adam Scott. Put the cursor on his knees at address and impact and see the difference (make sure it was a still camera).

Your body is just getting in the way. Indeed, look at where your hands were at address... at impact, you cannot get back to that position because your legs now take over that spot.

Not that is part of the cause. You need to know the fix. Something that seems to work for a lot of people is simply putting something (an aligment aid, tee, etc) just on the outside of the ball (opposite side of where you stand). Make it close enough so if you were to hit just a bit towards the toe, you will hit that item. Do that long enough, and your body will self-correct after hitting it enough times.
Click to expand...

I am seeing the same thing as looper. You are creating the club head to bottom out further away from you than it is at address which means you are dead squaring the ball with the hosel. At least your clubface is square, that's a very, very good thing. For some reason you are just getting a little "forward" on the backswing. Unfortunately, I am no swing guru or certified teacher so I might suggest posting your OP in the "ASK the Pro" section so some of the guys from GolfTEC can take a look at it.
 
tequila4kapp said:
My untrained eye didn't see anything. Your swing actually looked pretty decent to me. I suggest something that involves a tumbler, ice and a 3 to 1 ratio of libation to mixer. Repeat for effect.
Click to expand...

agreed. Some days you just need to move on and forget about it. it happens, if you've been happy with your swing till now, then try to shake it off. Occasionally you just get out of a norm, maybe you're a bit stiffer than normal, or w/e.
 
Must have been a THP thing today I had the same problem trying hit full wedge shots was chopping and pitching great couldn't hit a full shot to save my life!!!
 
Alright so went out last night and literally hit every ball perfectly. Then I go to the range to warm up a little before doing 18 today. I never made it to the course. Another day of shanking like crazy. You would think that muscle memory would allow me to continuously swing accurately. Anyways, I took two videos and put them side-by-side in iMovie to ask you guys, once again, if you see anything. Swing on the right is the shank. I know this could just be fatigue or putting too much through my mind, but I'm wired to try and fix this stuff as soon as I notice it. Any suggestions would be great.


 
"This video is private"
 
Your video is locked and can't be viewed. You'll need to change that before we can view it.
 
Well, didn't even realize that. I guess when you export from iMovie to Youtube the default video is Private. Changed it up so should be viewable now.
 
I was golfing last month and lost 11 balls in one round. I feel you.
 
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