The Dreaded Shank

[rapper]

I have played today and put about 6/8 shots on my score due to hitting my wedge off the hosel around the green sending the ball way to my right..
What causes this and how do you remedy it.....it seemd to be destroying my card all the time......

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I have played today and put about 6/8 shots on my score due to hitting my wedge off the hosel around the green sending the ball way to my right..
What causes this and how do you remedy it.....it seemd to be destroying my card all the time......

Saw this recently. Might help https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuWjvOC2ERY&t=619s

There are a number of reasons though and my usual fault is moving the weight onto the toes in the swing so moving the path forward to present the hosel. If they persist, get a lesson. Quickest way to find your particular fault and a fix

 

[the_coach]

thing is unfortunately there's a bunch of ways that can lead to a socket - know it's the old obvious answer but a pga pro would spot your particular issues in a matter of moments

so without seeing exactly what the swing is like can only suggest a couple of things to consider

generally most folks that turn up on the lessons tee with this issue & particularly if it's a more common problem with the wedge game

then the initial root cause most often stems around a grip hold issue & the first 2 feet of movement of the club aways from the ball
meaning the grip hold issue is mostly around the handle being high up in palm of the lead hand along with that lead hand being a ways too weak (often times also along with a too strong hold with the trail hand)
then that initial motion aways from the ball has the lead hand roll over the trail hand which is a motion that both opens up the the club face a bunch & also takes the club head on a path a good ways too far inside (so early on the club head is moving behind the heel line)

with the shorter swing length of the wedge swing there's no ways given those takeback conditions that the club face can be 'squared back up' so the foremost part of the club head coming to ball is the heel - often times too the hips a ways too square with this at strike & weight then also too much up on the toes

so real important the initial takeback of the club head is not the lead hand/wrist rolling over the trail hand with the clubehad coming a ways inside
place a tee on the ground around 12" straight ways behind the ball & look to take the clubhead directly over the tee & at the same time have the club face stay looking at the back of the ball for those 12"

plus you should find the following 2 vids a bunch useful

 

[the_coach]

[video=youtube;cRE5l1r6EDk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRE5l1r6EDk[/video]

 

[the_coach]

[video=youtube;qpvZM_fHp5s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpvZM_fHp5s&frags=pl%2Cwn[/video]

 

[Jamesbrown]

Go on the range and hit balls out the toe.

 

[Beezerk]

Were the shanks with pitch shots, kind of half swing?

 

[shortgame]

Absolutely without getting technical - just hit a few dozen in practice out of the toe

 

[Matty6]

Suffered with this on my wedges over the winter. Had a lesson and turns out MY issue was that my shoulders were way too open at address. Now I just make sure my shoulders are in line with my target. Such a simple fix for me, and now I’m back hitting my wedges well again.

 

[rapper]

yes that's when it happens....

 

[bobmac]

On the first part of your backswing does the club go straight back or inside and round your body?

 

[Beezerk]

yes that's when it happens....

Mine was a very simple fix, I had the ball way too far back in my stance and I’d shank all my small pitch shots which involved wrist hinge. Read an article in a recent GM mag about ball position on pitch shots, moved the ball forward and they disappeared straight away.

 

[patricks148]

On the first part of your backswing does the club go straight back or inside and round your body?

when i've had them Bob, this has been my problem, too far to the inside at the start of my back swing.

 

[TigerBear]

I have played today and put about 6/8 shots on my score due to hitting my wedge off the hosel around the green sending the ball way to my right..
What causes this and how do you remedy it.....it seemd to be destroying my card all the time......

Started doing this recently.

Strangely only with my higher lofted irons and particularly bad with my wedges.

No idea where it's come from and it's absolutely killing my round.

Help!

 

[Albo]

I go through bouts of this, mine is pretty much always partial shots with lifted clubs. My fear is say a 70yard shot, usually would take my gap wedge and 3/4 it. However, as happened this week they sometimes shank and shank badly, playing my courses little par 3 course stood on a tee which is 80y and I must have hit 20 shots, not a single one of them hit the green (and I’m supposed to be a single figure handicap). 2 I managed to pull left the other 18 were cold shanks. Oddly full shots almost never shank!
Went home Wednesday night depressed and crawled into a bottle of whisky, awoke yesterday and thought about what I was doing and what might be causing it, realised I was taking the club away much too much on the inside, and on partial shots I didn’t have the time or space to get the club back to anything like a decent position and was in effect pushing away from my body due to the inside takeaway arc - at least that was my theory - so I went to the range yesterday got a bucket of 50 balls. First 20 hit with gap wedge varying the distance between 40y all the way to full and ensuring I took away what felt like very outside (realistically it’s probably neutral) and not a single one of them shanked. Then took a shot with an inside takeaway and sure enough a cold shank, the next 29 all partial to full and not a single shank amongst them. Then went out and played the par3 not one shank up to the point where I got to the nemesis tee from the day before, same 80y partial shot, landed safely aboard the green and lipped out the birdie putt. Even went for a few holes in the evening and again not a single shank.
So for me, it’s an inside takeaway, remedy is feeling like I’m taking away outside

 

[bobmac]

So for me, it’s an inside takeaway, remedy is feeling like I’m taking away outside

That's probably the most common reason for shanking

 

[Mockba]

I had this with wedges. Turns out I was moving my weight into my toes thus moving the club forward at impact.

The feel I do now is that my heels are pushed down throughout the whole swing.

 

[JonnyGutteridge]

I’ve accepted that shanks are part and parcel of the game, being someone who delivers the club from the inside.

My strike pattern on my clubs is marginally towards the heel. I never get close to the toe. The problem with that is, you’re not far from danger and a shank is always in the locker for me, even if i’m on fire.

There’s a good drill which helped me - basically this:

I think the key thing is you really want to be feeling hitting slightly on the “inside” of the ball - not the back of the ball. Without that thought, I think it’s difficult to make the adjustment.

 

[HPIMG]

My playing partner suffers from the shanks but a really good golfer but under 100 yards he’s shanking bad. His problem is his weight is all on his toes sometimes he will stumble forward and he knows what’s he’s doing wrong but for some reason struggles to fix it.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I was an inveterate shanker and I had no idea why, why? Well partly because I hadn’t a clue about how I swung a golf club. Indeed so correlated was my shanking with the specific way I swung a club that none of the usual, many and varied remedies sorted it for long. I had to get a pro look my swing. He instantly saw the problem and why, and what I had to do to fix it.

That was 18months ago and I am still working on getting it right, but thankfully I have got it sufficiently right for a shank to, pretty much, be a thing of the past. But I had to change/reverse my swing path, a swing path I had very deeply engrained over a period of near 40yrs. And that’s tough…believe me.