unmentionables ... enter if you dare!

[garyinderry]

last friday i hit an shank of an 8 iron and i must have hit 30 in total since. before this i had never encountered this problem. its gone on now for a week. what are the root causes and most importantly how do i get rid/over this problem.

through my own research ive found differing opinions on what causes the shank. open clubface and closed face. which is correct?


this needs sorting. im heading for another round tomoro morn then after that if it continues im going to go to the course on my own to work it out and for my playing partners safety.

 

[JustOne]

Forget the clubface, your hands are moving away from your body through impact so it hits the hosel. You're possibly cramped at address so move your hands away from your thighs a bit more at address so it gives you a little more room on the downswing to swing your hands in to.

 

[ScienceBoy]

plenty of vids on youtube, video jug and crossfield both cover it well.

I had it at the range but weirdly didnt take it out on to the course, turns out it was all the visual cues in the bay that made my swing shonky. I cured it by laying down some alignment sticks.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Had a shank out of a bunker today. Not happy as that area had been gettin better. Not sure where it came from

 

[garyinderry]

Forget the clubface, your hands are moving away from your body through impact so it hits the hosel. You're possibly cramped at address so move your hands away from your thighs a bit more at address so it gives you a little more room on the downswing to swing your hands in to.

could poss be this. will give it a whirl! i hope its this as it would be an easy fix.

 

[DaveM]

Main reasons. Stood to close to ball, Balance to far forward, so swaying forward on downswing.Swingpath to much in to out. Most likely be told I'm wrong. But these are all things I have done at one time or another. So I would check your setup. As all these things stem from that.

 

[garyinderry]

all good food for thought here. i just cant really put my finger on it. last week i wouldnt even have to think. i could hit balls all day with my eyes closed now this has popped up. absolute madness!

 

[bobmac]

What have you been working on recently, swing wise?

 

[DCB]

So many different possibilities. It's not ideal asking and getting responses on here. Really need to see the swing and see whay you are doing during the swing.

Best bet is go and see your Pro he'll sort it out easily and give you a drill or two to work on.

 

[duncan mackie]

as intimated there are a number of possible causes - and probably the most inappropriate issue to self diagnose!

on top of what's listed already - standing too far away from the ball such that you dip your body towards the ball through impact (and sometimes go too far); adjusting your grip during the swing so that the club gets seriously closed at impact so ball hits face and hosel at the same time.

 

[garyinderry]

i havent really been working on any swing changes. possible candidates so far ..


-hands too close to the ball
-slightly in to out swin with closed face.



the first time i hit one i was trying to hit a straight shot to a pin tucked in on the left side of a green. i usually fade the ball so must have made adjustments to attempt this then hit the unmentionable.

 

[brendy]

Gary, get professional advice asap (Bob ). I had them on and off for 18 months or so and while it is a pretty destructive shot, I managed to adapt my game as much as possible to giving myself full shots to the green (managed 6 small cuts last year with them).
I sent a short clip to Bob just on the off chance it was blatantly obvious to a pro and he sorted me out with one suggestion. Looking at it, I knew something was wrong but not being conversant with the whole mechanics of the swing and needed someone to point it out. Shanks be gone.

 

[JustOne]

i havent really been working on any swing changes. possible candidates so far ..


-hands too close to the ball
-slightly in to out swin with closed face.

Neither of which (generally) cause the shanks

 

[garyinderry]

signs of recovery today. only hit one macbeth when i tried to hit a punchy 7 iron. i started aiming right with my irons today and was drawing them nicely. i might have grooved a more in to out swing without realising it happened. got a bit of my confidance back on the back 9 today and manged to shoot +12 in the medal. should make the buffer. still not convinced i can play a cut with confidance which was my stock shot.

will get time to play some practice holes by myself this week to make sure i can cut the ball like i used to. anyway a vast improvement from this last weeks worth of golf. its been tough going!

 

[SocketRocket]

Its normally due to lagging the hozel into the ball with an open clubface. The problem is often created by fanning the clubface open in the backswing.

 

[garyinderry]

article i read by butch harmon ... thoughts please.

SHANKS, AND THANKS
As a young professional just getting started, I walked out to the range to give a lesson to one of our older members.
"What's the problem?" I asked.
"Shanks," he said.
"Oh?"
"Every shot."
"Well, let's have a look."
And for the next 20 minutes, he shanked every shot. I did everything could. I talked to him about setup and weight transfer, about spine angle, and about the role of the arms in relation to the shoulders and torso. We talked about wrist cock, hinge, lag and the position of the chin at impact. And he still shanked every shot.
A half-hour into the lesson I decided I couldn't charge the guy. I also knew I needed help if I was going to survive to teach another day. So I went into the shop and said, "Dad, I need your help. My lesson's got the shanks, and I've got no idea what to do."
He could have quietly walked out to the tee to help me, but that wouldn't have been Dad. "Sooooo, Butchie's got a shanker and can't get him squared up, huh?" he shouted so loud that everyone in the shop and a few people in the locker room could hear. "Need me to come bail you out, huh?"
"Dad, could you just help the guy? He's about to quit, and so am I."
Dad laughed the entire way to the range. When he got there, he watched my student take one swing, and said, "To stop shanking, you've got to understand what causes a shank in the first place. Most people assume that the clubface is open and that the hands are in front of the ball. They think this causes you to make contact where the clubface meets the hosel. In fact, the opposite is true. A shank is caused by a closed clubface. You release the club early, throwing it at the ball on the way down. This shuts the clubface and traps the ball between the hosel and the ground, causing it to shoot to the right--a shank. Because people think they've got the clubface open, they work hard to close it, which only exacerbates the problem. The more closed you try to get it, the more likely you are to hit a shank."
Then Dad held the club and guided my student through several half-swings, taking the club back hip-high and through hip-high, keeping the clubface square and maintaining the angle of his left arm and wrist through impact. Five minutes later, the guy was hitting it right down the middle.
"How'd you do that?" I said. "You watched the guy shank one shot, and you knew exactly what he was doing."
"No, I knew what he was doing before I stood up from behind my desk," Dad said. "The ball tells you everything you need to know. A shank is a shank. I knew the guy was hitting it with a shut clubface before I walked out here. The only question left was, what did I need to tell him to get him to stop?"
"I didn't know you shanked it because of a closed clubface," I said.

"That's because you've never had to figure it out for yourself to keep from starving to death," he said.

 

[JustOne]

You can shank the ball many ways but GENERALLY it's with an out-to-in swing with a closed clubface as that's the way MOST club golfers swing (so it crops up more often).

however this line in your above 'Harmon speech' is wrong....

"This shuts the clubface and traps the ball between the hosel and the ground, causing it to shoot to the right"

the ball is NEVER trapped against the ground it leaves the face in approx 1/2000th of a second. Unless you top it (which I don't think has ever been tested!)

If you do happen to swing dramatically in-to-out then you're problably going to do it with an open face and the hosel leading... that is IF you are in-to-out and don't just THINK you are :thup: People who THINK they are in-to-out actually get trapped on the way down and throw the club to the outside... shank!

Mostly it's from throwing the club because the hands are too close to the thighs at address and unless you can clear your hips/legs out of the way fast enough your hands will have to move away from your body (or cause you to throw the club and/or early extend).

 

[garyinderry]

cheers for the input. your a fountain of knowledge pal. ill be conducting my own research into this through the week in an effort to rid myself of this affliction! understanding it is the first step to getting over it!

 

[garyinderry]

what i would really like to see is some shanks on those high speed cameras that ended the debate on ball flight laws. that would be perfect.