S h a n k s

[JV24601]

I'll cut to the chase quickly here. I get the shanks for a couple of weeks every year. The rest of the year I can't hit one if I try to.
When I have them I can't not hit one.

I've seen many pro's when I've had them and some can't fix it, others almost can.
My swing traits and lesson points have been:

• Very closed club face on take away
• Use arms and shoulders too much and not larger muscles
• Don't attack the ball on impact

When I have them as well I'm losing balance with nearly every shot.

HELP? Anyone????

I'm off 10 handicap too and have shot many 3, 4, 5 overs, so I'm capable.

I know it's difficult to tell without a video, but does anybody have an idea what it could be?

 

[lex!]

With me it's exactly as you write in bullet 2 of your post. All arms and hands and no body rotation, no big muscles.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

With me it's exactly as you write in bullet 2 of your post. All arms and hands and no body rotation, no big muscles.

That was me also.

 

[SocketRocket]

Make sure you are turning your left hip back and pushing your right knee into your left knee in the downswing. Sounds like you are getting your weight on your toes and pushing the hozel into the ball.

 

[the_coach]

I'll cut to the chase quickly here. I get the shanks for a couple of weeks every year. The rest of the year I can't hit one if I try to.
When I have them I can't not hit one.

I've seen many pro's when I've had them and some can't fix it, others almost can.
My swing traits and lesson points have been:

• Very closed club face on take away
  
• Use arms and shoulders too much and not larger muscles
• Don't attack the ball on impact

When I have them as well I'm losing balance with nearly every shot.

HELP? Anyone????

I'm off 10 handicap too and have shot many 3, 4, 5 overs, so I'm capable.

I know it's difficult to tell without a video, but does anybody have an idea what it could be?

a ways impossible to give any kinda specific advice not knowing anything about the grip, set-up conditions even before you get to the swing motion

folks can hit a bunch of sockets from an out to in or in to out swing path but whichever there's usually a good part of the cause down to lack of connection/sync and also to the lower/upper body not really functioning good

the lack of connection/sync meaning the tempo/rhythm is a good ways off with often times ways to much of a 'hit instinct' at the ball
lack of proper function of the lower body rotating means upper body can't rotate good either which leads to balance issues

so backing up some on it all when the sockets or real bad contacts are not an issue so playing relatively well what's the norm shot pattern, trajectory, curvature?

would it be along the lines of often times straight-ish but fairly high if any pattern of shape it would be left (of target line) to right?
or not so much straight flight any, but trajectory tending to be on the low-ish side with any curvature being mild right to left to pretty heavy right to left?

good starting point would be to analyze just why there's a real closed face on takeback, so first off the conditions of the 'hold' on the handle

for instance if the face remains real closed and is coming back to the ball way closed the brain is going to instinctively look to ways to try to square the face up to try to get ball to the target

so the motion that goes along with that coming into impact is going to have to be a ways of a 'stand-up' hips losing the pelvic angle spine angle being lost some so moving towards the ball

- so weight to the toes while also raising up the handle a bunch to make the shaft near to vertical to be able to get the face angle anywheres near to square through impact

- unfortunately those to actions also move the body, arms and shaft further out presenting the heel to the ball - coupled with falling off balance forwards onto the toes

 

[the_coach]

this is a good general type drill to start to get the arms, upper body, lower body working in sync with good rotation the 'large muscles' of the core (abs) & back orchestrating the tempo/rhythm of the whole motion
(could use any similar size ball)

object of using a ball is to keep the distance at address set-up between the elbows a pretty constant one also throughout the motion
so the initial 'triangle shape' between the arms does not get larger, no extra separation of the elbows any, through either the takeback or at impact or throughswing

some stuff to consider taking from the vid as a key to be able to do this drill successfully is the ability to stay in the posture angles both in the takeback and then back into impact
this is possible through good rotation of the hips and the upper body and as the core and chest rotation governs the motion there's no independent hit with the arms/hands
the motion back and motion through are both happening at pretty ways constant speed no extra 'hit' acceleration at impact, so speed of overall motion 'appears' to remain smoothly constant

just one thing to consider if the norm hold on the handle is overstrong then the likelihood is good crisp contacts are all going to go leftfield when/if you first try this out
- thing to do would be to get used to the overall motion, staying in posture and allow the balls to go leftfield with decent contacts they would still all pretty much start off going the same ways to roughly the same distance with this small swing motion
- then just ease the strong hold in the lead or trail hand or both off some by rotating whichever hand or both counter-clockwise some on the handle which will then start to straigthen out the shots to be online a ways better

(remembering from the outset with the grip in general that the handle needs to lie 'low' in both hands at the base of the fingers, and not 'up' well in the middle or top of the palms)

[video=youtube;EuMMcSY8BIc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuMMcSY8BIc[/video]

 

[JV24601]

the_coach - can I just say thank you so much for taking the time to respond in such a detailed way.
Everything you have said has made sense and the video was great.
I actually have a soft ball similar to the pad on the lanyard in the video. I could use that.

Having watched lots of videos lately my issue is definitely with disassociation as I am using my hands and arms to hit the ball and not getting any lag.
The video will help to use things in unison and I will be trying this when I get to the range at lunchtime today.

Thank you once again, very kind of you to take the time and help.
I'll let you know my progress on this thread.

 

[the_coach]

no problem hope it's of some help goin forwards

with doing any kinda drills good to consider the whole purpose is to 'train' the different swing intentions & motion so first off it's common to get a bunch of weird contacts that's all about the brain getting used to producing different motion

thing is to make sure the right motion really is being produced in the training drills being done

and fro sure 'feel to real' is a real difficult training partner

so as to why it's for sure better to vid yourself during training sessions so you can compare as you continue through the weeks and compare say in this case to the vid posted

just need to shoot face-on from center fone lens at hands height and square to the target line so from the same angle the vid is shot from
and then also from dtl (down the line) viewpoint fone lens level with the hands and directly behind them looking at right angle & parallel to the target line

the face on view will give you reference as to how the condition of the arm swing to body/hip motion is and hands leading forwards leaning shaft into impact along with the shape of the throughswing

the dtl view will give you a reference to the swing path and clubhead/shaft swing direction through impact - for instance a check that the path is not being dragged inside as soon as the takeback starts - sometimes helps if this is an issue to place a small coin approx 8" straight back from the ball and with the connected takeback the clubhead travels towards the coin not dragged way inside it

so with the vids you can yourself monitor with some rigor what's really going down in the training sessions

 

[JV24601]

Thanks again the_coach

Definitely will film and watch it for feedback.
I have the tripod etc., so it can be easily setup.

My session yesterday was productive and the advice and diagnosis/self-diagnosis was correct.
The shanks stopped. But I am still using my arms too much despite it not feeling like I am (feel to real).

Anyway, I'm hopefully on the right track again and thanks for your continued advice.