Shanks! SORTED after a few years of struggles

So.... for the last few years I have had sporadic battles with shanks. Instructors haven't identified the root cause but like most people they come when I'm "tense" and repeat when frustrated and even more anxious = more shanks.

Posture I feel is good in the sense my weight is on the balls of my feet.... tried strong grip as an alternative to my weak grip.

What I do absolutely believe it is - is my release or lack of and what happens in the impact area..... my mate who is a 4 handicapper said I needed to "stay in the shot" when I played with him..... I never really understood that.

Then last night after losing a good few balls I focused on keeping my head stationary behind the ball and the feel that the chest is either closed or remaining looking at the ball through the downswing as I bring my arms hard through the impact area....... it felt powerful, and the clubhead was whipping through with my eyes watching the hands fly past...... moved on to the par 3 where I usually lose a few when stalking and hit 3 pure powerful strikes on the green.

I have looked online to see if anyone has anything to support this feel and theory.... it seems to have elements of montes no turn cast drill, and Mike benders/Zach Johnson - fire the arms and feel like the chest is looking at the ball. But nothing mentions "moving the body ahead of hands or not keeping head centred/back" as a cause.

I had some success with pulling the butt in towards left thigh to help square up face (exit left) but I feel that maybe not keeping my head back and chest square through impact may be the key....

Kind regards...

I agree keeping the head behind the ball is an anti shank move. But be careful you dont become too static and strand your weight on back foot.

Another move is to keep your right foot heel planted longer. People who push off with the right foot (get on toes) immediately looking for power will early extend and shank. Keep right foot in contact with ground longer than usual to avoid shank.

And finally pressure shift into the heel of left foot..not to toes of left foot on downswing.

If you do those it's really hard to shank it imho.

> @Hackinator said:

> I agree keeping the head behind the ball is an anti shank move. But be careful you dont become too static and strand your weight on back foot.

> Another move is to keep your right foot heel planted longer. People who push off with the right foot (get on toes) immediately looking for power will early extend and shank. Keep right foot in contact with ground longer than usual to avoid shank.

> And finally pressure shift into the heel of left foot..not to toes of left foot on downswing.

> If you do those it's really hard to shank it imho.

I've been proper grinding...... what the shanks is good for is actually making you get to address all issues with your swing....

Even with my keeping behind the ball I had shanks and I then knew it would likely be getting stuck as I roll the club flat and always have done from time to time.... the best way for me to address that is the faldo drill..... automatically I feel the club at the top and think "Ah...that's where you should be"

So today I hit about 40 balls in the nets..... faldo drill doing well. Then I noticed I could still roll it flat!!! How?!.... well.... I noticed my right elbow sneaking behind me when I believed I was swinging with the drill mixed into the swing.. which didn't actually feel wrong as it's likely some thing I've always done. So.... even with that drill.... unless you do the occasional stops at half way you can go and roll flat...

Now this is the biggest moment....... I'm sure some guys on here will say "didn't you know this?!

I took my right arm and lifted it right in front of me and lowered it to my body almost feeling as if the elbow is resting on my right rib cage. Gripped the club and felt like the arms were truly outside my body. I took a swing and "crack!".... unreal compression. Swing felt funny, not too dissimilar to what my usual one felt like..... hit about another 50 balls like this. Absolutely mind blowing.

Can anyone support this latest "eureka" moment.... is this a landmark in my game? And was the lack of right elbow in front of body a cause of my issues?

I'm not sure what exactly you are doing with your "eureka" moment, but I don't think that's the right issue to address for shanks. Good Grip, Posture and Shoulder Turn puts the elbow in the proper position. Trying to force your elbow into a certain position, I think will give you further timing / consistency problems down the road.

Think in the simplest terms. What is a shank? It's a hit off the hosle of the club. How do you hit it off the hosle? At some point you must be moving closer to the ball.

Here are the two most common shank issues I see.

1) Getting on your toes at some point. This would cause you to lean towards the ball and getting closer to the ball. Some do this at address, some do this along in the swing.

2) Reverse Pivot - this means you are leaning or pressure in the ground is towards the target at the top of the backswing. Mostly if this is the case, then your head has moved closer to the ball as well as the target possibly. Get to the top of your backswing and feel where the weight pressure is. If it's not 80+% on your trail foot, then you're probably close or even at reverse pivot status.

Your golfing friend told you to "stay in the shot". This makes me think you are doing #2 and a reverse pivot. What happens with the reverse pivot, your weight stays on the left side, which in turn makes it really easy to now lean towards the ball. When you start to come down from the top, you are reversing what you have set at the top. So now the weight is in the left side at the wrong angle and when you start your downswing you're going to essentially post early and "stand up" out of it. This causes a big over the top move. Combine that with your CoM moving towards the ball at the top and now you have to move backwards in time to not hit it on the hosle.

Easiest way to check - record or look in the mirror down the line. Mark your head position at address and see where it's at when you complete your backswing. My $$$ says you'll see your head is moving forward toward the ball. You have been focusing on keeping your head from not moving away or towards the target. You might not realize that you are now moving towards the ball.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

> @wagolfer7 said:

> I'm not sure what exactly you are doing with your "eureka" moment, but I don't think that's the right issue to address for shanks. Good Grip, Posture and Shoulder Turn puts the elbow in the proper position. Trying to force your elbow into a certain position, I think will give you further timing / consistency problems down the road.

> Think in the simplest terms. What is a shank? It's a hit off the hosle of the club. How do you hit it off the hosle? At some point you must be moving closer to the ball.

> Here are the two most common shank issues I see.

> 1) Getting on your toes at some point. This would cause you to lean towards the ball and getting closer to the ball. Some do this at address, some do this along in the swing.

> 2) Reverse Pivot - this means you are leaning or pressure in the ground is towards the target at the top of the backswing. Mostly if this is the case, then your head has moved closer to the ball as well as the target possibly. Get to the top of your backswing and feel where the weight pressure is. If it's not 80+% on your trail foot, then you're probably close or even at reverse pivot status.

> Your golfing friend told you to "stay in the shot". This makes me think you are doing #2 and a reverse pivot. What happens with the reverse pivot, your weight stays on the left side, which in turn makes it really easy to now lean towards the ball. When you start to come down from the top, you are reversing what you have set at the top. So now the weight is in the left side at the wrong angle and when you start your downswing you're going to essentially post early and "stand up" out of it. This causes a big over the top move. Combine that with your CoM moving towards the ball at the top and now you have to move backwards in time to not hit it on the hosle.

> Easiest way to check - record or look in the mirror down the line. Mark your head position at address and see where it's at when you complete your backswing. My $$$ says you'll see your head is moving forward toward the ball. You have been focusing on keeping your head from not moving away or towards the target. You might not realize that you are now moving towards the ball.

> Hope this helps. Good luck.

Thanks. Great advice. I do feel that my weight can get over to my right foot at impact so will give it a look.

Ok.... time for an update.

There really is nothing like a case of the shanks for either 1. Making you want to quit the game or 2. Work on elements of the golf swing you tended to brush over in the past and not understand.

So, I had my best ball striking session by getting my left hip cleared... little did I realise that I was prone to pushing my right hip forward into its address position rather than pulling the left hip back to join the right hip " behind me". I used montes zipper drill to feel this, excellent.

Low and behold I was overly focusing on this in the medal on Saturday and the shanks returned...

Why!? So my mate who was playing well and has only been golfing a couple of years said "your club looks flat on the backswing"...... ah, I was rolling it inside.

Slept on it and went out last night... worked on 3 things.

1. Posture and making sure my hands had a full fist and thumb space from body to butt of club (it actually felt like I was reaching)

2. First move..... keep my right arm over left on backswing and club face looking at the ball till arms are parallel.... again it felt odd.

3. Downswing starts with left hip moving behind.

Hit it superb... felt like I had room and freedom, swing was more athletic.

The other thing you learn about shanks is that other golfers can seem to enjoy your struggles with them... you laugh along but it hurts!!! It motivates you to fix them too.

Whenever I start hitting shanks it's usually from having too much weight in my heels at address which then go to my toes at impact and moves my clubhead and butt out towards the ball. What helps me is to feel my butt tucked more under me at address and weight on the balls of my feet so when I transition I can push my butt backwards .

if you only have shanks occassionally and generally when you get tense, i can almost guarantee you have a stall pivot issue in some form. your arms and body turn simply arent in sync. It could be from a backswing that gets too far inside or a body that stops turning. i fight this off and on, generally on the back 9 when I have a really good round going and start thinking way to much about wanting to hit it well. AND ESPECIALLY WHEN I HAVE TO FACE INTO MY OWN SHADOW!!!! MY NEMESIS! What happens to me is my arms take over and my body slows way way down. so i have to bail out of the shot to keep from burying it fat and my arms essentially shoot the path out toward the ball and its a shank or a nasty shot with a wide open club face. Generally a swing getting a little too long plays a factor in it as well. When this happens all I can do is club up and hit essentially 9 to 3 style shots. just making smoother swings focusing on my chest turning through with my arms. after a couple holes I generally settle in and start hitting it well again.

Fingers crossed I don’t anger the Golf Gods, but I think I might have figured something out with regards to shanks.

I’ve been golfing close to 30 years and didn’t hit my first shank until a few years ago. I went into some kind of downward spiral where I could shank a whole bucket. Anyway, worked my way out of shank intensive care but they still happen occasionally, typically when I get tired on the range and lately when I play the ball off my back foot.

I was having a great range session this evening when suddenly I started shanking 50 yard low pitches off my back foot. I had been hitting for a while, especially a lot of driver swings so I was definitely getting a bit fatigued and was hitting the ball off my back foot so I just chalked it up to one of those two things. I was about to call it a night when I had a revelation.

I’ve been struggling with my driver for a while now and so was working really hard on it tonight trying to figure it out. I’ve been hitting low duck hooks or big slices and have lost all confidence off the tee.

I had been thinking about my current case of the shanks when I also got to thinking about my troublesome swing off the tee. I realized I had a similar feeling on a bad tee sheet and a pitch shank. My upper body felt like it was moving faster than my lower and with a sway to boot. I could see how this could result in my smother hooks and sweeping slices and also expose the hosel with my irons

Hmmm. A light bulb clicked. What if I focus on keeping my head behind the ball at impact? That would have to keep my upper body from moving too fast, or swaying laterally otherwise causing some OTT mess.

I set up for a 50 yard pitch, again with the ball off my back foot. I pitched, focusing on keeping my head behind the ball. Struck it pure. Then again. Pure-ish. All said and done. I didn’t hit another shank the rest of the range session.

After getting the shanks out of my system I turned my focus to my driver. Trying to maintain the same “keeping head behind the ball at impact” swing thought, I took a few swings. Solid. Straight-ish. I took a few more swings. Again solid and straight-ish. At this point I had hit maybe 5 or 6 swings and it was already the most driver swings in a row I deemed satisfactory in a long time.

I decided to really tear into one and put the swing thought under pressure. Damn. It was the best I hit my driver in forever.

Over the course of the next couple of hours, I would alternate between tee shots, punches, and pitches. It was probably the closest I’ve ever felt to being in the zone in my golf life. Just that one swing thought, “keep your head behind the ball at impact” and I worked through the bag like I never really have before.

Use the two ball drill at the range; should solve your problem in no time.

> @burnsniper said:

> Use the two ball drill at the range; should solve your problem in no time.

Brilliant drill... what it's good for is helping you to identify the feel you need to miss the top ball and hit the lower ball.

It's like addressing the ball at the hosel... you make a conscious effort to make space.

I believe I had 2 things going on.... rolling the club inside which meant I early extended and presented the hosel. I also fired my right hip forward n downswing rather than pulling left hip back.

Played 9 holes twice now and hit it brilliant.

Two swing thoughts

1. Keep right arm over left on backswing like making a huge putt. Club face looking at the ball. If I stay connected and do this it turns my hips and gets a 90 degree shoulder turn.

2. At the top, the left hip moves behind to instigate the downswing.....

How does that sound?

> @elthrill said:

> if you only have shanks occassionally and generally when you get tense, i can almost guarantee you have a stall pivot issue in some form. your arms and body turn simply arent in sync. It could be from a backswing that gets too far inside or a body that stops turning. i fight this off and on, generally on the back 9 when I have a really good round going and start thinking way to much about wanting to hit it well. AND ESPECIALLY WHEN I HAVE TO FACE INTO MY OWN SHADOW!!!! MY NEMESIS! What happens to me is my arms take over and my body slows way way down. so i have to bail out of the shot to keep from burying it fat and my arms essentially shoot the path out toward the ball and its a shank or a nasty shot with a wide open club face. Generally a swing getting a little too long plays a factor in it as well. When this happens all I can do is club up and hit essentially 9 to 3 style shots. just making smoother swings focusing on my chest turning through with my arms. after a couple holes I generally settle in and start hitting it well again.

>

>

I kinda agree with this. For me the feeling is I get scared to open up, my right elbow pins to my side, the left forearm rotates and I turn..... it all feels very safe...... but the club is wrapped well behind me.

Get the armpits gonna get and let the arms move away on target line, club face facing the ball and the hips will automatically turn, at halfway up the right elbow folds and you are set! Lovely shallow divots.... been thinking a few shots but I'd take a thin after the shanks!!!

> @RobertBaron said:

> Fingers crossed I don’t anger the Golf Gods, but I think I might have figured something out with regards to shanks.

>

> I’ve been golfing close to 30 years and didn’t hit my first shank until a few years ago. I went into some kind of downward spiral where I could shank a whole bucket. Anyway, worked my way out of shank intensive care but they still happen occasionally, typically when I get tired on the range and lately when I play the ball off my back foot.

>

> I was having a great range session this evening when suddenly I started shanking 50 yard low pitches off my back foot. I had been hitting for a while, especially a lot of driver swings so I was definitely getting a bit fatigued and was hitting the ball off my back foot so I just chalked it up to one of those two things. I was about to call it a night when I had a revelation.

>

> I’ve been struggling with my driver for a while now and so was working really hard on it tonight trying to figure it out. I’ve been hitting low duck hooks or big slices and have lost all confidence off the tee.

>

> I had been thinking about my current case of the shanks when I also got to thinking about my troublesome swing off the tee. I realized I had a similar feeling on a bad tee sheet and a pitch shank. My upper body felt like it was moving faster than my lower and with a sway to boot. I could see how this could result in my smother hooks and sweeping slices and also expose the hosel with my irons

>

> Hmmm. A light bulb clicked. What if I focus on keeping my head behind the ball at impact? That would have to keep my upper body from moving too fast, or swaying laterally otherwise causing some OTT mess.

>

> I set up for a 50 yard pitch, again with the ball off my back foot. I pitched, focusing on keeping my head behind the ball. Struck it pure. Then again. Pure-ish. All said and done. I didn’t hit another shank the rest of the range session.

>

> After getting the shanks out of my system I turned my focus to my driver. Trying to maintain the same “keeping head behind the ball at impact” swing thought, I took a few swings. Solid. Straight-ish. I took a few more swings. Again solid and straight-ish. At this point I had hit maybe 5 or 6 swings and it was already the most driver swings in a row I deemed satisfactory in a long time.

>

> I decided to really tear into one and put the swing thought under pressure. ****. It was the best I hit my driver in forever.

>

> Over the course of the next couple of hours, I would alternate between tee shots, punches, and pitches. It was probably the closest I’ve ever felt to being in the zone in my golf life. Just that one swing thought, “keep your head behind the ball at impact” and I worked through the bag like I never really have before.

This is something that worked for me too....

This case of the shanks has made me address a few things wrong with my swing

1. Rolling club inside

2. Throwing right hip out on downswing

3. Not staying in the shot (see earlier post)... which is what you found. Staying behind the ball is a powerful feeling. The arms are getting pulled through by the hips turning. I focus on keeping my head centred till the arms have gone past.

The first time I ever shanked a ball as I mid handicap golfer they came in buckets! I must have it 40 in a row! I was mortified and had no concept of what was happening. I got a lesson from the new pro, he took a look and I shanked 10 or so in a row. He smiled and said, "Lets work on some other things I see and we will worry about that shank later". He squared up my alignment, widened my stance a bit, moved my ball position a bit more forward, and had me making swings down the path which my feet, knees, hips and shoulders were now aligned and I started hitting it the center of the club face and the lesson continued from there. It taught me other problems in my swing brought the shanks on and being mindful that if my swing gets out of my window a shank is a red flag and to immediate check my fundamentals.

Sometimes a quick fix is in order though....if you are looking for a quick fix to get out of it, I've found its very difficult to shank a ball with a closed club face. Whatever works for you to feel like the club has released prior to impact may get you out of it in an emergency but, long term get with a reputable teaching pro.

I have a PhD in Shankology. My index ranges from 5-8 but every year for the past 10 years I get a bad case out of nowhere that are devastating. I have the good fortune to be able to be around and play with an LPGA professional who has helped me immensely--and believe me I've tried everything. What I've learned from her is the following:

- No matter what club in the bag you are swinging you have to have relaxed and tension free arms and shoulders (duh).

- The MAJOR culprit of the shank for me starts with the takeaway. Shankers tend to either take the club back inside (rolling it) or they pick the club up in an outside motion. She has me doing nothing but practicing a one piece takeaway. Nine times out of 10 this solves my problem because I've gotten sloppy on the takeaway, have to re-route the club on the downswing and my hands move out towards the ball--SHANK.

- Third cause for me is not making a full enough shoulder turn which relates to "keeping the head behind the ball". if I don't make a good enough shoulder turn I tend to lunge and spin a little forward--SHANK.

It really was amazing to watch myself on video when I've gotten the shanks and realize how much the takeaway matters. YMMV.

> @Stiff said:

> I have a PhD in Shankology. My index ranges from 5-8 but every year for the past 10 years I get a bad case out of nowhere that are devastating. I have the good fortune to be able to be around and play with an LPGA professional who has helped me immensely--and believe me I've tried everything. What I've learned from her is the following:

> - No matter what club in the bag you are swinging you have to have relaxed and tension free arms and shoulders (duh).

> - The MAJOR culprit of the shank for me starts with the takeaway. Shankers tend to either take the club back inside (rolling it) or they pick the club up in an outside motion. She has me doing nothing but practicing a one piece takeaway. Nine times out of 10 this solves my problem because I've gotten sloppy on the takeaway, have to re-route the club on the downswing and my hands move out towards the ball--SHANK.

> - Third cause for me is not making a full enough shoulder turn which relates to "keeping the head behind the ball". if I don't make a good enough shoulder turn I tend to lunge and spin a little forward--SHANK.

>

> It really was amazing to watch myself on video when I've gotten the shanks and realize how much the takeaway matters. YMMV.

The major culprit I massively agree with - rolling the club inside is a very damaging first move which is a disaster for the swing. The problem is you can't feel it or see it as it's happening behind you. For me the most effective way of knowing you arent doing it is to feel the club face looks at the ball all the way to the half way back position and the right arm stays above the left.... it feels like you are making an exaggerated putting stroke backswing... but I feel like as I'm doing this my right hip gets out the way and the right elbow folds after what feels like an extremely wide takeaway.

I feel the whole "inside takeaway to stop slicing or to get a nice draw" is the culprit.

ultimately unless you are just standing ridiculously too close to the ball, 99% shanks are related to getting out of sequence between the pivot of the body and the arms. Arms are moving in a nature too far behind or too far ahead of the pivot. yes, sucking the club inside is a damn good way to start shanking it, because you cant get your arms back out in front of you fast enough. This is why most shanks happen with your shorter clubs, like wedges. the club gets inside on the backswing and you have no chance to get it back in front of you on such a short controlled swing. and its shank city. Also notice, most people will shank more on a ball that sits above your feet slightly. Thats the easiest lie to get your clubhead sucked too far inside. you'll body stall and throw your hands at that ball so easily, because your arms get disconnected. ball well below your feet is also easy to shank.

Making a full turn to where your back points to the target seems to help me when I have a shank creep up.

Also keeping the club face looking at the ball on the backswing helps.

> @aquapig said:

> Making a full turn to where your back points to the target seems to help me when I have a shank creep up.

> Also keeping the club face looking at the ball on the backswing helps.

Yep.

One of the most confusing instructions for me is golfers being told to keep their right knee flexed to get torque on the "shoulder turn"

... it's a misleading phrase which leads to false turns . If you "allow" your hips to turn freely then your shoulders will be 45 degree turned, then when your sternum moves then your shoulders will be 90 degrees turned..... all without focusing on turning your shoulders....

For me- allowing my lower body below belly button to feel lifeless and unrestricted when I move my hands away from the ball with my arm pits feeling connected seems to get my right hip turning.... if I keep the club face looking at the ball as long as possible and right arm above left then the right elbow folds nice and late enough to get width. By which stage the backswing is all but done.... even if I lift the club at this point it will be in a far better position than when I roll the club flat.

At this stage I need to be mindful not to throw my right hip forward but to clear the left side by pulling the left hip back.... straighten the left knee to get more snap.

I'm going to spend hours working on my one piece takeaway. The anxiety of an important shot needs to stop this crazy "roll the club and rotate" scenario.

@MonteScheinblum has a great video of not turning which actually proves that you turn without focussing on turning. The zipper drill reinforces the piece around getting the left hip to move back and not the right hip moving forward. How many years have I fired my right hip forward in order to get the left hip back..scary.

Get closer to the ball with a slight open stance and have the ball left of center.......take the club straight back, up and through. Weight on left side 60/40 and keep head still.

Ok..

So went out tonight.... shank city.

Why!

Ok... I had 10 days away on holiday. Stood over the ball and went through my processes.... "don't roll club flat... keep right arm above left"..... shank again.

My brother said I was rolling the club flat. I never felt like i was.... I noticed I never felt comfortable in my grip... that it never felt like my right hand was over my neutral left... it was like my left hand was neutral and right hand was strong. This is normal for me.... I usually have games where when the right hand is aligned to the left with the left thumb feeling like it's pinned and it's natural and good things happen.

So.... I focussed on the grip and tried to get the right hand over the left more.... the takeaway and swing felt automatically better. No more shanks.

Ok.... went back out. First 2 shots in nets were awful... shanks. Calm down......

Take a step back... grip the club properly, take a few repeated practice swings.... feel the arms go up and down and not around.... feel the left hip go back and get out of the way on transition of downswing - and not right hip going forward.... bingo.

It's a combo of a few things going on but ultimately they all depend on the following.

1. Solid posture and grip where the right hand isn't strong

2. Takeaway with the arms feeling like the elbows are squeezing together and the club face looks at the ball... this prevents me rolling club inside

3. Downswing starts with the left hip moving backward which stops me early extending.

Once this bedded in I really focused on getting my elbows closer, almost like my arms were one unit. Hit some unreal strikes.

Trying to reinvent your swing to fix a shank is difficult. Doing it on the range is useless. The minute you step on the course with some pressure you'll creep back to old habits.

The difference between a dead center strike and a shank is an inch to an inch an a half. You only need to recalibrate your strike a mere inch. You can do it by trying to hit the toe. The feel of a center strike to a shanker is going to be like off the toe. Once that feel is engrained you won't have to think about it anymore. Lots of amateurs have funky looking moves such as early extending but they don't necessarily shank.

> @dap said:

> Trying to reinvent your swing to fix a shank is difficult. **Doing it on the range is useless.** The minute you step on the course with some pressure you'll creep back to old habits.

>

I got rid of the shanks on the practice range. My case was probably worse than many, and Fort Worth Pro gave me enough help to right the ship.

> @HitEmTrue said:

> > @dap said:

> > Trying to reinvent your swing to fix a shank is difficult. **Doing it on the range is useless.** The minute you step on the course with some pressure you'll creep back to old habits.

> >

>

> I got rid of the shanks on the practice range. My case was probably worse than many, and Fort Worth Pro gave me enough help to right the ship.

>

What I meant was a complete overhaul of your swing is difficult. You might be able to do it on the range but you will likely to revert back to old habits under pressure. Can it be done? Of course with a lot of time and dedication but a simpler way is just to recalibrate your strike an inch by hitting off the toe. Most shank remedies follow this line of thought such as the inside ball drill and yes this recalibration needs to be done on the range to build back confidence.

> @dap said:

> > @HitEmTrue said:

> > > @dap said:

> > > Trying to reinvent your swing to fix a shank is difficult. **Doing it on the range is useless.** The minute you step on the course with some pressure you'll creep back to old habits.

> > >

> >

> > I got rid of the shanks on the practice range. My case was probably worse than many, and Fort Worth Pro gave me enough help to right the ship.

> >

> What I meant was a complete overhaul of your swing is difficult. You might be able to do it on the range but you will likely to revert back to old habits under pressure. Can it be done? Of course with a lot of time and dedication but a simpler way is just to recalibrate your strike an inch by hitting off the toe. Most shank remedies follow this line of thought such as the inside ball drill and yes this recalibration needs to be done on the range to build back confidence.

>

Yes, it definitely took time and dedication. But any other change would have been a band-aid, at least for me.

But it wasn't a complete overhaul. Basically was two changes.

> @HitEmTrue said:

> > @dap said:

> > > @HitEmTrue said:

> > > > @dap said:

> > > > Trying to reinvent your swing to fix a shank is difficult. **Doing it on the range is useless.** The minute you step on the course with some pressure you'll creep back to old habits.

> > > >

> > >

> > > I got rid of the shanks on the practice range. My case was probably worse than many, and Fort Worth Pro gave me enough help to right the ship.

> > >

> > What I meant was a complete overhaul of your swing is difficult. You might be able to do it on the range but you will likely to revert back to old habits under pressure. Can it be done? Of course with a lot of time and dedication but a simpler way is just to recalibrate your strike an inch by hitting off the toe. Most shank remedies follow this line of thought such as the inside ball drill and yes this recalibration needs to be done on the range to build back confidence.

> >

>

> Yes, it definitely took time and dedication. But any other change would have been a band-aid, at least for me.

>

> But it wasn't a complete overhaul. Basically was two changes.

>

>

I don't think mechanics is always the reason for shanks. Even pros with model mechanics can sometimes struggle to return the center of the clubface to the back of the ball. Go to any driving range and watch average players hit balls. Lots of funky moves. Early extension, coming off the tushline, OTT. You name it but they don't all shank. They mightn't hit the ball straight or solid but most don't shank.

if your grip is really strong in the left or trail hand you will have a tendency to roll that hand too far underneath on the backswing. This can cause a way open clubface that leads with the hosel into the ball. This game is so damn hard because for every problem there are hundreds of reasons.

> @dap said:

> I don't think mechanics is always the reason for shanks. Even pros with model mechanics can sometimes struggle to return the center of the clubface to the back of the ball. Go to any driving range and watch average players hit balls. Lots of funky moves. Early extension, coming off the tushline, OTT. You name it but they don't all shank. They mightn't hit the ball straight or solid but most don't shank.

>

dap, I'm not saying that mechanics are _always_ the reason for the shanks. But I believe certain moves increase the likelihood of a shank. iteach posted some videos of pros hitting out of the sand that demonstrated it just this week.

I had it bad. Would not wish it on anyone.

> @HitEmTrue said:

> > @dap said:

> > I don't think mechanics is always the reason for shanks. Even pros with model mechanics can sometimes struggle to return the center of the clubface to the back of the ball. Go to any driving range and watch average players hit balls. Lots of funky moves. Early extension, coming off the tushline, OTT. You name it but they don't all shank. They mightn't hit the ball straight or solid but most don't shank.

> >

> dap, I'm not saying that mechanics are _always_ the reason for the shanks. But I believe certain moves increase the likelihood of a shank. iteach posted some videos of pros hitting out of the sand that demonstrated it just this week.

>

> I had it bad. Would not wish it on anyone.

>

>

>

>

>

I agree with you on this. Early extension and coming over the top increases your likelihood. I would say the vast majority of amateurs have these faults but most manage to at least get the clubface onto the ball which leads me to believe hand eye coordination can compensate. An occasional shank is different to chronic shanking. Justin Rose probably has only a few per year which is hardly an issue. Rosey is actually an excellent bunker player. A chronic shanker is hitting everything off the hosel consistently. In actual fact a shankers swing is actually very precise and consistent which leads me to believe it's more a hand eye coordination issue that needs recalibrating. I would go this route before swing changes to fix a shank. I wouldn't call it a band aid. More an adjustment.