It never rains, it pours...

[RollinThunder]

As of late, I've been playing the best golf I have done. I'm hitting the ball well, my short game is coming on, and last week I won my first competition.

I went to the range for my practice session, and out of my bucket of 100 balls, the first 70 were fine. Irons were crisp and straight, and I was even pureing a 4i off the deck. The hybrid and 3W were sweet and straight, and confidence was high. I did notice a slight tendency to pull a few shots, but apart from that, I was hitting the ball beautifully.

Then, out of nowhere, I shanked my 6i. A horrible cracking sound, followed by a very weak flight, spiralling about 50 yards to the right, and about 100 yards forward. I reloaded, and bang, another one. "Come on, calm down", I thought to myself, and I reloaded. Crack, the same again. It was starting to get a bit scary. I switched to my 8i, to try something with more loft, and crack, the same again. I poured half a dozen balls in front of myself, and thought "right, just swing and don't even give yourself time to think, just go for it". By that time, confidence was at an all time low, and it had taken it's toll on the mind. The head was going up, weight was everywhere except the middle of the feet, and the arms seemed to be doing what they liked, which ensued in half a dozen balls of shanks and tops. Like a fool, I poured some more, with the same, devastating results. I should have just gone home there and then, as my mind had gone into self-destruct mode, and taken my body with it.

I checked my grip: nothing wrong as far as I could see, and I was taking practice swings on the mat, focussing on the thud between the club and the mat, then quickly introducing the ball, with no time to think, and the same again; a shank. I just didn't know what was happening. In the space of 10 minutes, I'd gone from being able to choose a target with a 4-iron, to barely even getting the ball off the mat with an 8-iron. I could have cried. I should have changed my name by deed poll to Shanky McShank, and packed my bags to open up a lamb shank butchery in Shankill.

Just out of curiosity, I tried my hybrid. Amongst the shanks and tops, were massive pulls. I gave my 3W a whirl, knowing that I couldn't shank that one, and again, two massive pulls. I'm aware of the link between shanks and pulls, and upon getting home I checked my stance in the mirror. Just as I suspected, my natural set up had progressed to the shoulders being wide open at address, resulting in the dreaded shanks and pulls. I had a swing with a club at home, and already with the shoulders more closed, it felt much better.

I'm not playing at the weekend, so I've got a bit of time for some reflection, but no doubt with my head full of newly-researched drills, I'll end up at the range on Saturday morning. I think I'll watch a film to take my mind off it. I was thinking The Shawshank Redemption 😄. I need to redeem myself after all of those shanks!

What a horrible game eh!

 

[MC72]

As of late, I've been playing the best golf I have done. I'm hitting the ball well, my short game is coming on, and last week I won my first competition.

I went to the range for my practice session, and out of my bucket of 100 balls, the first 70 were fine. Irons were crisp and straight, and I was even pureing a 4i off the deck. The hybrid and 3W were sweet and straight, and confidence was high. I did notice a slight tendency to pull a few shots, but apart from that, I was hitting the ball beautifully.

Then, out of nowhere, I shanked my 6i. A horrible cracking sound, followed by a very weak flight, spiralling about 50 yards to the right, and about 100 yards forward. I reloaded, and bang, another one. "Come on, calm down", I thought to myself, and I reloaded. Crack, the same again. It was starting to get a bit scary. I switched to my 8i, to try something with more loft, and crack, the same again. I poured half a dozen balls in front of myself, and thought "right, just swing and don't even give yourself time to think, just go for it". By that time, confidence was at an all time low, and it had taken it's toll on the mind. The head was going up, weight was everywhere except the middle of the feet, and the arms seemed to be doing what they liked, which ensued in half a dozen balls of shanks and tops. Like a fool, I poured some more, with the same, devastating results. I should have just gone home there and then, as my mind had gone into self-destruct mode, and taken my body with it.

I checked my grip: nothing wrong as far as I could see, and I was taking practice swings on the mat, focussing on the thud between the club and the mat, then quickly introducing the ball, with no time to think, and the same again; a shank. I just didn't know what was happening. In the space of 10 minutes, I'd gone from being able to choose a target with a 4-iron, to barely even getting the ball off the mat with an 8-iron. I could have cried. I should have changed my name by deed poll to Shanky McShank, and packed my bags to open up a lamb shank butchery in Shankill.

Just out of curiosity, I tried my hybrid. Amongst the shanks and tops, were massive pulls. I gave my 3W a whirl, knowing that I couldn't shank that one, and again, two massive pulls. I'm aware of the link between shanks and pulls, and upon getting home I checked my stance in the mirror. Just as I suspected, my natural set up had progressed to the shoulders being wide open at address, resulting in the dreaded shanks and pulls. I had a swing with a club at home, and already with the shoulders more closed, it felt much better.

I'm not playing at the weekend, so I've got a bit of time for some reflection, but no doubt with my head full of newly-researched drills, I'll end up at the range on Saturday morning. I think I'll watch a film to take my mind off it. I was thinking The Shawshank Redemption 😄. I need to redeem myself after all of those shanks!

What a horrible game eh!

Check your wrists aren't turning in too quickly on the takeaway, try and concentrate on using your big muscles more....takeaway starting with left shoulder turning.

 

[chris1976x]

I'm new to golf...so not really positioned to give advice. But as being new to golf this happens to me all the time, I will start off hitting the ball crisp and clean and straight and then one bad shot will lead to a load of bad shots. What I finds gets be back on track is going back down again. I will hit about 6 chip shots, then 6 pitch shots and then I can do the full swing shot again. Its what gets me my timing back once I completely lose it.

 

[Bratty]

You could try the Tin Cup method: put your cap on back to front, put all your change in your right pocket, and stick a tee peg behind your left ear.
Romeo was never wrong about stuff like this!
Sorry to hear you've got them, but I reckon the newbie's advice is pretty good. It works for me too.

 

[jamielaing]

I got the shanks out of nowhere last year. I got some advice which I will never let myself forget as it is a great fix. Set up as normal and then 'sit back in your stance'. Basically bend the knees a bit more and stick your backside out. Stops you hitting these horrible shots. Do this a few times and it seems to correct it's self. These things are in the mind.

 

[MendieGK]

A quick pull is a natural adjustment to a shank as you are naturally ensuring the toe overtakes the hell to stop the shank.

 

[Paul77]

We use instict to kick a football. No one taught us. We didn't get lessons. I use the same instict to hit a golf ball. Shanks for me usually come out of being too close to the ball. Natural forces on the downswing throw the club out in front of me so at address I started extending out to the ball. That way I would never shank it. Worked well.

Everyone has a different way of visualising how the head meets the ball, and when you find it, you tend to be able to swing it anyway you want and still strike the ball. I often delibertly swing all ways up at the range to see how crazy I can go with it. Shanks usually come out of trying a stupid shallow path in to out with a high loft club.

 

[RollinThunder]

You know what it's like, once the mind goes, that's it. In hindsight, I should have just gone home, and tried again with a fresh mind a few days later, but I was so desperate to redeem myself, that I demoralised myself even more. Unfortunately, when I'm swinging badly, I get the blinkers on, and I just want to replicate what I was doing earlier, when I was swinging well. Anyone will know, when timing's off and confidence is low, this is nigh-on impossible to do, and I should have just built myself up again like mentioned.

Looking back on what I was doing, I had a quick swing this morning when I was fresh, and MC72 is bang on. The first thing to move on my backswing were my wrists. Certainly not the big muscles. As a result, I think this caused my shoulders not to turn, and combined with my already open stance, it was just asking for a big out-in swing path. I also imagine that the big movement with wrists also causes them to stick out further than they should do upon contact, and therefore hit the ball with the hosel.

It's not the end of the world, and normally I come back stronger after the shanks, as they keep me on my toes. They're just bloody annoying, but I'll have another crack tomorrow morning

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

You know what it's like, once the mind goes, that's it. In hindsight, I should have just gone home, and tried again with a fresh mind a few days later, but I was so desperate to redeem myself, that I demoralised myself even more. Unfortunately, when I'm swinging badly, I get the blinkers on, and I just want to replicate what I was doing earlier, when I was swinging well. Anyone will know, when timing's off and confidence is low, this is nigh-on impossible to do, and I should have just built myself up again like mentioned.

Looking back on what I was doing, I had a quick swing this morning when I was fresh, and MC72 is bang on. The first thing to move on my backswing were my wrists. Certainly not the big muscles. As a result, I think this caused my shoulders not to turn, and combined with my already open stance, it was just asking for a big out-in swing path. I also imagine that the big movement with wrists also causes them to stick out further than they should do upon contact, and therefore hit the ball with the hosel.

It's not the end of the world, and normally I come back stronger after the shanks, as they keep me on my toes. They're just bloody annoying, but I'll have another crack tomorrow morning

...yet...

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Been prone to more than the odd outbreak of these, especially on my pitching. My fault is always the weight moving forward onto the toes in the swing and so moving the path that bit forward. Back to checking the posture and set up and feeling the weight more in the laces and not the toes usually gets it back and working. Very scary when it happens and panic mode is never far behind

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Been prone to more than the odd outbreak of these, especially on my pitching. My fault is always the weight moving forward onto the toes in the swing and so moving the path that bit forward. Back to checking the posture and set up and feeling the weight more in the laces and not the toes usually gets it back and working. Very scary when it happens and panic mode is never far behind

Chatting with my brother about this this morning - he had a doze of them that were due to weight forward on his toes - and because of this to maintain his balance in his back swing he laid the club flat - and that led to the s***s.