The down side of dedication

I don't know why golf chooses to punish me for practicing too much and trying too hard. It never fails. After playing successfully several days in a row, I get half-way into a round and for no apparent reason, I suddenly start hitting shanks. I'm powerless to stop it. I do exactly the same thing I did hundreds of times before, and without warning the ball goes squirting off to the right. It's frustrating, and it's frankly embarrassing.

I feel my blood start to boil. There's nothing I can do but calmly apologize to my playing partners and walk back to the clubhouse. Sometimes I'll plant myself on the range, determined to cure my ills, but nothing ever works. If I visit a PGA Professional, I get told I think too much or that I'm too smart for my own good or some other personality shortcoming.

I never had this problem in previous years. It seems to be the gift of increasing age. The only thing that works is to stuff my clubs in the garage and take a few days off. Then, like magic, everything returns to normal.

Odd.

Have you tried CBD prior to/during a round?

Shanking is just the result from barely catching the hozel. The ball just has to barely touch the hozel for a shank to happen. It happens to everyone from time to time, even the pros. Next time, don't panic and just understand that the difference between a flush shot and a shank can be tiny. Set up the ball on the toe of your club and hit it again. If that doesn't work, set it up on the toe again and then try and make contact on the toe of the club. The important part is to not panic. It's not some glitch in your swing.

I too battle the shanks. Like you say they just happen out of nowhere. Over the past few years, I have come to realize that when it happens, I not even squaring the club up. I am literally swinging the club through the zone fully open. I know that is probably not what you are doing, but something to keep in mind!

Whenever that word creeps up, it reminds me of US Open and Players Champion, James Frederick Simpson who has been know to hit a wayward shot on occasion.

[youtube.com/watch?v=AIo-9zikK_I](

> @matthewb said:

> Have you tried CBD prior to/during a round?

^^^^THIS^^^^^

I buy it in bulk. I rub it all over any exposed skin and then put 3 tbs in my cereal before my round. I then rub some on each of my club faces. During the round I put some on my finger and then dot my nose. CBD oil is a game changer, 50 years from now that's all that will be found at grocery stores.

If that does not work, take the club way outside for one backswing and keep your weight off your toes. But try the CBD first

> @"rich s" said:

> > @matthewb said:

> > Have you tried CBD prior to/during a round?

>

> ^^^^THIS^^^^^

> I buy it in bulk. I rub it all over any exposed skin and then put 3 tbs in my cereal before my round. I then rub some on each of my club faces. During the round I put some on my finger and then dot my nose. CBD oil is a game changer, 50 years from now that's all that will be found at grocery stores.

>

> If that does not work, take the club way outside for one backswing and keep your weight off your toes. But try the CBD first

Exactly. If CBD cures everything I’m told it cures, then eliminating the shanks will be easy peasy.

It happens to me when I get tired or lazy on wedge shots. Right knee kicks towards ball on downswing and ball goes laterally. It's a hard problem to self diagnose in the moment. Takes some work to get everything rotating properly again.

> @MountainGoat said:

> I don't know why golf chooses to punish me for practicing too much and trying too hard. It never fails. After playing successfully several days in a row, I get half-way into a round and for no apparent reason, I suddenly start hitting shanks. I'm powerless to stop it. I do exactly the same thing I did hundreds of times before, and without warning the ball goes squirting off to the right. It's frustrating, and it's frankly embarrassing.

>

> I feel my blood start to boil. There's nothing I can do but calmly apologize to my playing partners and walk back to the clubhouse. Sometimes I'll plant myself on the range, determined to cure my ills, but nothing ever works. If I visit a PGA Professional, I get told I think too much or that I'm too smart for my own good or some other personality shortcoming.

>

> I never had this problem in previous years. It seems to be the gift of increasing age. The only thing that works is to stuff my clubs in the garage and take a few days off. Then, like magic, everything returns to normal.

>

> Odd.

I assure you, if shanks are the result, you are NOT doing the exact same thing as you did a hundred times before. Not to be mean but you sound like you are your own worst enemy and in your own way of moving forward. If a mechanical fix is needed, blood boiling isn't going to help fix anything. You need self-control and to calm yourself so you can better address the ball with a good swing.

Fixing a swing hiccup as we play is more common than most people are aware of. The difference is better golfers know how to adjust on the fly. These days I seldom practice so the first few holes I have to see what I have to work with and adjust on the fly. The cost is usually a hard-fought par or bogie. Usually, by the 6th hole, I find my swing and all is good.

Advice I always give for shanks worked for me. I have incorporated the Monte 2 ball drill into my PSR much like Zach Johnson. Address ball, practice swing 2 balls inside of ball, swing away. Zach looks like he may move his feet forward a fraction of an inch, mine don't move.

What made me think of this was another poster asking Monte if it was OK to add TBD to PSR and he approved. The other was Mark Crossfield stating that the sooner you hit a ball after getting a feeling the more likely you were to get it right. For me the two ball drill then, BAM hit ball ASAP, was a shanks silver bullet.

What used to be at the front of my thoughts and happen ALOT now doesn't come to mind and RARELY happens. Changed my life.

Even using this in your PSR for a temp fix mid round, if you don't want to make it permanent, may save a round and a lot of aggravation.

Aim more left and keep your right arm straight.

They don’t seem so bad if you just refer to them as snap fades.

> @GolfWithdrawals said:

> Shanking is just the result from barely catching the hozel. The ball just has to barely touch the hozel for a shank to happen. It happens to everyone from time to time, even the pros. Next time, don't panic and just understand that the difference between a flush shot and a shank can be tiny. Set up the ball on the toe of your club and hit it again. If that doesn't work, set it up on the toe again and then try and make contact on the toe of the club. The important part is to not panic. It's not some glitch in your swing.

No, don't do that. You have migrated over time to standing too close to the ball at setup. Simply move back from the ball slightly.

Shanks can come from several different causes. Like the above, standing too close to the ball. Down swing is coming from to far inside and the hands are moving in front of the club. Weight shift onto the front part of the foot, which brings you closer to the ball.

I feel your pain brother. A couple of years ago, I had a bad case of the shanks. They came out of absolutely nowhere and lasted for more than a month.. I was scared Sh**less every shot I had to hit with any iron. Then they disappeared just as mysteriously as they came. I have no idea what happened.

There's only one sure fire solution to the shanks:

New irons.

Id say that it definitely sounds like you are overthinking it. If it makes you feel any better, it happens to us all. Just the other day, I went to do my weekly range session but had a lot of stress and worries on my mind and my range session was a distaster. Shanks, tops, fats, pushes, etc.

I remember someone said this.... shank is so darn near close to a perfect shot.

Maybe because in the forged blade age, the sweet spot was closer to the heel ( hostel ).

Frankly, if you suspect aging has anything to do with it , it probably did. All you could do is to check on yourgolf swing fundamental, and take care of your health.

Golf is a game requires such precision, even miss the golf ball by mm will cause adverse effect on the result.

There can be so many cause for the shank, best to have another pair of eyes or use of video to spot the culprit.

> @Loki said:

> > @GolfWithdrawals said:

> > Shanking is just the result from barely catching the hozel. The ball just has to barely touch the hozel for a shank to happen. It happens to everyone from time to time, even the pros. Next time, don't panic and just understand that the difference between a flush shot and a shank can be tiny. Set up the ball on the toe of your club and hit it again. If that doesn't work, set it up on the toe again and then try and make contact on the toe of the club. The important part is to not panic. It's not some glitch in your swing.

>

> No, don't do that. You have migrated over time to standing too close to the ball at setup. Simply move back from the ball slightly.

Sure, this is a possibility as well, but I wouldn't discredit the advice from a class A pga professional whos been teaching for 40 years...

How many times do you need to hear that your your own worst enemy before you believe it?

OP here. I didn't mean for this to turn into a tutorial on the shanks. I merely meant to express my continual wonderment that in my life, like love-making, golf doesn't benefit from increased dedication, study and practice. Although we're all inspired by tales of Hogan practicing from sun up to sun down, my experience is that such a level of practice not only doesn't help, it frequently hurts. In my case, it leads to a kind of golf impotence.

I almost always play better if I don't play as often. For me the key word is "balance". There seems to be an ideal balance of practice and rest that's needed. In the present case, if I play too often, I get a spontaneous case of the shanks. This problem doesn't relate to my mood or anything else for that matter. I don't need CBD to calm down, because I wasn't agitated to begin with. It just starts for seemingly no reason. It's like suddenly falling down the stairs. You went up and down just fine every day previously, but today you just fell. No reason.

Do I get upset? Sure. I'd get upset if I saw my house burning down, too. But, that doesn't mean that my mood caused my house to catch fire. I used to get horribly frustrated by this problem. I'd spend hours on the range trying to figure it out. Now, I just rest and let it pass.

When someone asks me "what is it about golf that is so frustrating?" my ready answer is: "The fact that you can do the exact same thing twice in a row and get different results".

The point being, as another poster pointed out, you are _not_ doing the exact same thing. This problem plagues everyone, it's impossible (IMO) to do the exact same thing (at least of this complexity) over and over, and tiny variations can be the difference between good shots and shanks, or other problems. Pros and better golfers, in addition to their ability to hit good shots better than most amateurs, are also able to reduce the degree of these variations. Plus, when they do occur the better golfer can analyze and correct on the fly, at least most of the time.

I realize you know all this, I'm not preaching to you, it's just that, at least with me, the realization that I'm NOT doing the same thing over and over seems to mitigate the level of my frustration quite a bit.

> @MountainGoat said:

> OP here. I didn't mean for this to turn into a tutorial on the shanks. I merely meant to express my continual wonderment that in my life, like love-making, golf doesn't benefit from increased dedication, study and practice. Although we're all inspired by tales of Hogan practicing from sun up to sun down, my experience is that such a level of practice not only doesn't help, it frequently hurts. In my case, it leads to a kind of golf impotence.

>

> I almost always play better if I don't play as often. For me the key word is "balance". There seems to be an ideal balance of practice and rest that's needed. In the present case, if I play too often, I get a spontaneous case of the shanks. This problem doesn't relate to my mood or anything else for that matter. I don't need CBD to calm down, because I wasn't agitated to begin with. It just starts for seemingly no reason. It's like suddenly falling down the stairs. You went up and down just fine every day previously, but today you just fell. No reason.

>

> Do I get upset? Sure. I'd get upset if I saw my house burning down, too. But, that doesn't mean that my mood caused my house to catch fire. I used to get horribly frustrated by this problem. I'd spend hours on the range trying to figure it out. Now, I just rest and let it pass.

>

>

Practice is a dangerous thing. When I was in Jr High choir, our teacher always said practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent. If you don't have incredible stamina or a well regimined practice session, you can get some bad habits that creep in as you get tired.

Screw the CBD's, putting the clubs in garage for a day or two rights things better.Shanks is a rhythm thing as much as anything else.

So the shanks only show up when you go out and play with friends?

What is your analysis?

Fatigue and balance. After playing days in a row it happens to me. Downswing, weight moves to toes, pulls you forward, club goes forward, heel and hosel.

Just to let you know you are not alone. My problem is I can't put them away for a few days, I feel if I just work a little bit harder, and smarter (if that's possible) I'll cure this evil malady and find the magic in the swing that will have me.... not sure what, but it would be fun to find out one day.

My poor wife - one night I'll run into the house after my practice sessions instructing her "load up the van, we are headed to Ponta Verda", meaning I've found it and playing golf forever and ever. (the fact I'm now 64 is irrelevant to this matter)

The next night I'll trudge in and tell her how bad I am and i could have crossed off a few DIY projects in the time I was sucking hitting balls. Or as Monte has referred to me in a few of my requests to help me off the ledge, am I Jekyll or Hyde today??

But dammit if I am not back at it the next night trying to figure it out. And searching, and finding, and searching,,,,,

It's a stupid game, and I am just the man for the job.

> @MountainGoat said:

> There's nothing I can do but calmly apologize to my playing partners and walk back to the clubhouse.

You could keep playing? How are you going to figure out how to play thru it if you walk off the course?

> @matthewb said:

> > @"rich s" said:

> > > @matthewb said:

> > > Have you tried CBD prior to/during a round?

> >

> > ^^^^THIS^^^^^

> > I buy it in bulk. I rub it all over any exposed skin and then put 3 tbs in my cereal before my round. I then rub some on each of my club faces. During the round I put some on my finger and then dot my nose. CBD oil is a game changer, 50 years from now that's all that will be found at grocery stores.

> >

> > If that does not work, take the club way outside for one backswing and keep your weight off your toes. But try the CBD first

>

> Exactly. If CBD cures everything I’m told it cures, then eliminating the shanks will be easy peasy.

I'm sure your life experiences have you on top of this. I would encourage you to consider other's experiences.

When it happens in the middle of a round I will guarantee you that you’ve lost your posture and likely addressing the ball with your hands lower than normal. Then as you swing everything returns to a normal impact position, but because you started out marginally closer to the ball than normal, you hit a hosel rocket. Examine your posture and hand position when it goes south on you and you likely will solve it in one swing.