# Shanking wedges?



## tsped83 (Feb 10, 2014)

Guten Abend!

Hope one of you nice chaps can help me out with a problem I have that creeps in to my game and practice sessions with rather concerning regularity. Shanking my wedges. Oh yeah, bummer.

If I set up to hit a full shot with my 52' wedge, taking (what I believe to be) the same stance and posture as hitting an iron, I often end up shanking the wedge with naturally horrible consequences. The annoying thing is, the next time around I might flush one out of the middle! This sketchy form gives me no confidence with hitting my 52/56 wedges unless I'm chipping greenside. Any ideas on what might be causing/contributing? 

Appreciate a video might help but alas, I don't have the means...


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## Wabinez (Feb 10, 2014)

I found I started to recently, but on 1/2 and 3/4 shots. I diagnosed within that I was breaking the wrists, so was always introducing the heel of the club to the ball first and there was El Ho-Sel to clatter the ball at a heart-breaking angle!  If i stopped the wrist break, everything was fine and crisp again.

It may or may not be your particular issue, however, it may help!


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## garyinderry (Feb 10, 2014)

surely you can get a lend of a phone with a camera on it!


my mate took a video of himself this week hitting a hossel rocket.   his hands were really close to his body. he had very little room to swing.  he ended up coming over the top and catching it flush out of the hossel.   with the short clubs your hands naturally move closer to the body.  make sure you have at least some room to swing. 


other thing was, he addressed the ball in the heel.  this is a common mistake people make as their point of view distorts the balls position. it looks in the centre of the clubface but quite often its nearer the heel.   this happens a lot with the driver as the ball being on a tee makes this worse.


without a video, its guesswork at best!


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## One Planer (Feb 10, 2014)

I'll go with a pure guess that you have gotten sloppy with your rotation. 

Your hands/arms are moving away from your body and out rather than around. 

Happens to me when my rotation gets a but leggy. Usually towards the end of a long session.


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## the_coach (Feb 10, 2014)

tsped83 said:



			Guten Abend!

Hope one of you nice chaps can help me out with a problem I have that creeps in to my game and practice sessions with rather concerning regularity. Shanking my wedges. Oh yeah, bummer.

If I set up to hit a full shot with my 52' wedge, taking (what I believe to be) the same stance and posture as hitting an iron, I often end up shanking the wedge with naturally horrible consequences. The annoying thing is, the next time around I might flush one out of the middle! This sketchy form gives me no confidence with hitting my 52/56 wedges unless I'm chipping greenside. Any ideas on what might be causing/contributing? 

Appreciate a video might help but alas, I don't have the means...
		
Click to expand...


With all your other irons + wedges what your normal ball fight & direction? 
Do you often hit fat shots with your short irons and wedges?
Is the normal shot shape pattern the same with the 7i through to sand wedge as it is with the 6i through to 4i or 3i and finally what's the normal shot pattern with hybrid, 3 metal, driver? 

Do you know what your normal full swing path is in relation to target line?
Do you normally address the ball in the middle of your club face?
How wide roughly is your stance with your 52, shoulder width or less than, are your feet square to your target line or open to target line? Where in your stance is your ball position, closer left heel? middle? nearer right heel?

At address where is the handle of the club and your hands in relation to where the ball is. ie, are your hands in front of the ball position, if so how many inches, is the handle/hands/shaft more of a vertical line to the ball.
At address when you look down are your hands/handle over your toe line?

Can you swing in a full swing to the top of your backswing and swing through to impact keeping your spine angle you set at address and more or less keeping your vertical head height the same?

Last with the 52 if there was a coin around 1 foot behind the ball directly in line with your ball target line when you take the club back would the club-head pass directly over it, inside the coin & nearest you, or outside the coin? Do you abruptly break your wrists and lift the club as you take the club back or do you take the club back with quiet hands so around about where the coin is would the club-head be just a few inches from the ground?

Without a vid, if you can answer all, or most of these questions, I should be able to help you. (Questions aren't a wind-up)


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## the_coach (Feb 10, 2014)

tsped83 said:



			Guten Abend!

Hope one of you nice chaps can help me out with a problem I have that creeps in to my game and practice sessions with rather concerning regularity. Shanking my wedges. Oh yeah, bummer.

If I set up to hit a full shot with my 52' wedge, taking (what I believe to be) the same stance and posture as hitting an iron, I often end up shanking the wedge with naturally horrible consequences. The annoying thing is, the next time around I might flush one out of the middle! This sketchy form gives me no confidence with hitting my 52/56 wedges unless I'm chipping greenside. Any ideas on what might be causing/contributing? 

Appreciate a video might help but alas, I don't have the means...
		
Click to expand...

In the meantime while your thinking about the answers to all those questions, ha! 

A shank usually happens because you take the club away and on the downswing to impact the arms and hands move away from your body towards the ball target line, therefore the club-head moves further away from you as it approaches the ball so contact is now at the heel, socket of the club not middle of the face.

Two things to do. take your address position, take your right hand off the club staying in you address posture make a fist with your right hand, still in address posture make sure there is room between your left hand and your left thigh for your right fist to fit in between without touching your left hand and grip and you left thigh.
Once you've seen how where this place you left hand and handle of the club in relation to your legs, it's likely now to be a little further away from you legs than your used to but don't move it back (comfortable is what you've been doing wrong in golf rather than being correct)
Get used to feeling the new position of hands arms and club with that little bit more space there.
then place two balls about 1" apart one directly behind the other but further away from you so they look like this  :
 :
^ you'd where the arrow is looking at the two balls.
You address the ball furthest away from you, and starting with hip height to hip height swings. take the club away from the ball furthest away from you but strike the one nearest to you.

If you have the usual reason for shanking after you got used to this drill (it may take a few goes) it should cure you completely as long as you remember the new address position giving yourself more room between hands and legs and being able to maintain this when you're playing and practicing, whilst also remembering the reason it happens in the first place as explained above.

If this doesn't cure you, you will then be a golfer who has the case of the more unusual way to shank, thats slightly more difficult to address easily and then you'd have to answer the questions in my previous post, unless you're able to put up a vid, from DTL and face on.
Good luck


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## Maninblack4612 (Feb 11, 2014)

Speaking of my own shank, it happens if I forget to pivot on the downswing and use just the hands & arms. Not maintaining the spine angle & rising out of the shot also does it. If I have a problem I go back to Stan Utley's great book "The Art of the Short Game" and follow his advice.


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## tsped83 (Feb 11, 2014)

the_coach said:



			In the meantime while your thinking about the answers to all those questions, ha! 

A shank usually happens because you take the club away and on the downswing to impact the arms and hands move away from your body towards the ball target line, therefore the club-head moves further away from you as it approaches the ball so contact is now at the heel, socket of the club not middle of the face.

Two things to do. take your address position, take your right hand off the club staying in you address posture make a fist with your right hand, still in address posture make sure there is room between your left hand and your left thigh for your right fist to fit in between without touching your left hand and grip and you left thigh.
Once you've seen how where this place you left hand and handle of the club in relation to your legs, it's likely now to be a little further away from you legs than your used to but don't move it back (comfortable is what you've been doing wrong in golf rather than being correct)
Get used to feeling the new position of hands arms and club with that little bit more space there.
then place two balls about 1" apart one directly behind the other but further away from you so they look like this  :
 :
^ you'd where the arrow is looking at the two balls.
You address the ball furthest away from you, and starting with hip height to hip height swings. take the club away from the ball furthest away from you but strike the one nearest to you.

If you have the usual reason for shanking after you got used to this drill (it may take a few goes) it should cure you completely as long as you remember the new address position giving yourself more room between hands and legs and being able to maintain this when you're playing and practicing, whilst also remembering the reason it happens in the first place as explained above.

If this doesn't cure you, you will then be a golfer who has the case of the more unusual way to shank, thats slightly more difficult to address easily and then you'd have to answer the questions in my previous post, unless you're able to put up a vid, from DTL and face on.
Good luck 

Click to expand...


Yowzer! A lot of questions! But thank you for taking the time, much appreciated!

I'll try the drill you've suggested and report back, thanks. Thinking about it, when hitting full wedges, my arms may drop more vertically, straight down, as opposed to slightly away from me, making my shoulders feel quite rigid, if that makes sense? Good or bad?


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## Imurg (Feb 11, 2014)

garyinderry said:



			surely you can get a lend of a phone with a camera on it!


without a video, its guesswork at best!
		
Click to expand...

I shank the occasional wedge too...

But I can't do it to order so I'd need to spend the best part of a day filming myself, putting myself under pressure to try and recreate something I don't want to do in the first place..â€¦

I'll take my chances..


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## One Planer (Feb 11, 2014)

Imurg said:



			I shank the occasional wedge too...

But I can't do it to order so I'd need to spend the best part of a day filming myself, putting myself under pressure to try and recreate something I don't want to do in the first place..â€¦

I'll take my chances..
		
Click to expand...

You need one of these pal:

http://www.direct-golf.co.uk/golf_w...ward_anti_shank_wedge_golf_wedges/p14287.aspx

:thup:


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## Imurg (Feb 11, 2014)

Gareth said:



			You need one of these pal:

http://www.direct-golf.co.uk/golf_w...ward_anti_shank_wedge_golf_wedges/p14287.aspx

:thup:
		
Click to expand...

Not for 80 quid I don't!!


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## One Planer (Feb 11, 2014)

Imurg said:



			Not for 80 quid I don't!!
		
Click to expand...

Just take and angle grinder and a blow torch to the Callys then! The principle is sound :smirk:


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## garyinderry (Feb 11, 2014)

Imurg said:



			I shank the occasional wedge too...

But I can't do it to order so I'd need to spend the best part of a day filming myself, putting myself under pressure to try and recreate something I don't want to do in the first place..â€¦

I'll take my chances..
		
Click to expand...


one swing would do fine.  it is just to have a look at the set up.   catching a S****k on video can be quite tricky.  they can be illusive and pop up when you least expect it. :mmm:


tell me this, when you hit these "odd ones", is it full swing shots like the OP or kind of long pitch shots.   I used to play with a chap who quite regularly would sh**k these pitch shots.   one of his many faults was he would be looking at the flag as me made contact!  he was in such as rush to see the result he wasn't looking at the ball.


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## lex! (Feb 11, 2014)

Happens to me if I try and force it. Have to remind myself to swing as easy as poss, just using pendulum momentum of club, and, as per previous comment, *must* watch the ball.


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## Imurg (Feb 11, 2014)

garyinderry said:



			one swing would do fine.  it is just to have a look at the set up.   catching a S****k on video can be quite tricky.  they can be illusive and pop up when you least expect it. :mmm:


tell me this, when you hit these "odd ones", is it full swing shots like the OP or kind of long pitch shots.   I used to play with a chap who quite regularly would sh**k these pitch shots.   one of his many faults was he would be looking at the flag as me made contact!  he was in such as rush to see the result he wasn't looking at the ball.
		
Click to expand...

Appreciate what you're saying but if the occasional shank comes from 1 sloppy setup/swing out of 30, seeing one of the decent ones isn't going to help. You need to show the setup/swing that results in the shank. And that could take a long time to find.

My problem is through a loss of concentration, thinking its an easy shot, full, half or short...


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## dontfancythisputt (Feb 11, 2014)

I had a very similar issue early last year that only occured when playing short irons and wedges, particularly if it was'nt a full shot.

My error turned out to be a complete lack of hand/arm rotation at impact. The front of my left hand was almost pointing at the sky at impact. 

The problem was that I was looking at all the usual shanking cures but I wasnt really shanking it. (the horror shot results was however identical!)The lack of hand rotation was presenting the bottom edge of the club to the ball at 45 degrees.

A pro later told me that the half shots made the matter worse as there was no natural momentum to rotate the hand correctly.

The problem was cured by making sure that my hands and arms rotated fully on all shots. - there are of course time when leaving the hands open at impact is required but i havent built up the confidence to try this again yet!


Just a thought and something that may or may not be of use.


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## garyinderry (Feb 11, 2014)

Imurg said:



			Appreciate what you're saying but if the occasional shank comes from 1 sloppy setup/swing out of 30, seeing one of the decent ones isn't going to help. You need to show the setup/swing that results in the shank. And that could take a long time to find.

My problem is through a loss of concentration, thinking its an easy shot, full, half or short...
		
Click to expand...


you could see the danger signs in my friends set up even if he had rescued the shot and not hit the sh**k.   that's why I asked for the video from the OP.  he also seems to hit them more than yourself.  that should be easier to diagnose and fix.


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## London mike 61 (Feb 11, 2014)

Come to think of it, if I shank a shot it's usually a half pitch and I think this is easy and don't really concentrate on the shot . Hence when the ball flies off at a peculiar angle I'm shocked to say the least. There are some great comments on here so I think I might have come closer to understanding what I need to do to stop it.


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## titleistho (Feb 13, 2014)

awsome posts by the_coach.

OP, you might also consider you are early extending- any driver heel shots or shank a long iron occasionaly?


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