I'm not making this up...

[Socrates]

A long time ago, I was supposed to play a Match against a buddy.  We're warming up on the range and he proceeds to hit a bucket of shanks.  Every club.   I tell him we'll do it another day.  Another day comes and he waxes me. 

 

Last year (2019) I'm going to join a group for a round in PS. I'm on the range and two guys show up to hit balls.  I "know" that they have to be the ones and I'm going to join them.  The one guy is topping, chunking and worse.  Lots of gesticulations to the other guy and then the coup de grâce, he shanks one off the teaching shed and it ricochets off a metal chair with a resounding "clang."

 

Never said a word.  Not even on the first tee.  We had a good round.  I waited until the 11th tee to ask him WTF was going on, on the range.  Much jocularity ensued.

[LeoLeo99]

5 hours ago, Socrates said:

A long time ago, I was supposed to play a Match against a buddy.  We're warming up on the range and he proceeds to hit a bucket of shanks.  Every club.   I tell him we'll do it another day.  Another day comes and he waxes me. 

 

Last year (2019) I'm going to join a group for a round in PS. I'm on the range and two guys show up to hit balls.  I "know" that they have to be the ones and I'm going to join them.  The one guy is topping, chunking and worse.  Lots of gesticulations to the other guy and then the coup de grâce, he shanks one off the teaching shed and it ricochets off a metal chair with a resounding "clang."

 

Never said a word.  Not even on the first tee.  We had a good round.  I waited until the 11th tee to ask him WTF was going on, on the range.  Much jocularity ensued.

I was that guy at Spanish Trail in Vegas. Lugged my clubs from home, left the wife at Orleans Casino and got to the course.  Skanked every shot in the range.  Was in a cold sweat.  15 minutes to tee time.  Nothing is working.  Got to the first tee just hoping to hit the ball.  Hit 13 GIR and shot 5 over.  Tied my record for most GIR.  It's a strange game. 

[GoletaGolfer]

On 1/8/2021 at 2:59 PM, Soloman1 said:

So, I went to hit a few balls at the range (which is something I rarely do) and only brought a few irons. Nice day, 66 degrees. The guy at the club in Scottsdale drives me out to the good section of the range. He knows me and knows I can play a little.

 

He sets me up next to a guy who's won maybe 15 PGA Tour and Champions Tour tournaments in his lifetime. He still hits it good enough to make healthy living every year. He ain't poor. He's next to me at my back.

 

I start to hit some short shots with a 52* wedge. I'm really stiff from playing quite a bit this week and not taking my usual boatload of Ibuprofen.

 

I'm not nervous about playing or hitting balls with anyone. I've played with lot's of good players. Hell. I played with Moe Norman.

 

I shanked the first ball.

 

Shooting par is bad day for me.

 

I shanked the next ball.

 

I haven't shanked a ball in 20 years.

 

I shanked the next 20 balls.

 

I held my back like it was hurting.

 

This is the truth. It was worse than Tin Cup.

 

I can hear him kind of laughing behind me.

 

I get serious. Enough of this nonsense.

 

I take my time, change clubs, and proceeded to shank the next dozen or two balls.

 

I hate golf. I wonder if there's a TennisWRX?

 

This is the truth. I couldn't make this up. You can  go ahead and laugh at me. I would.

 

 

 

 

Your doggedness is to be commended. How painful.

[ode]

Ouch, the lateral rights.....had them for an extended period of time, built myself a set of hybrid irons just to be able to play.   Got me through a few seasons!

[Lobby]

Last month I had a bad case of the shanks.  Like 12 in a row.    It was ugly.

The teaching pro was giving lessons down the range a bit, looked at me in pity, walked over, and told me to move my a**.  

"Are you kicking me off the range," I asked in horror?

"No!   Just move your a**.  It's like you have bags of cement in your underwear."

So I went home, started a thread in Instruction, and am hitting it great again.  🙂

[MPAndreassi]

This post is so relatable. It’s the winter here, and rounds aren’t really what they should be. I played Thursday, and it was the first time I decided to hit balls on the range beforehand and actually “warm up” a little. In season I’m usually there an hour early to warm up and get ready, but it’s hard to talk myself into that when it’s in the 30s outside. I hit my first three wedges right of the hosel, gave up and went to the first tee and proceeded to shoot 68. The lowest I’ve ever gone. 

[ALIF]

On 1/8/2021 at 3:59 PM, Soloman1 said:

So, I went to hit a few balls at the range (which is something I rarely do) and only brought a few irons. Nice day, 66 degrees. The guy at the club in Scottsdale drives me out to the good section of the range. He knows me and knows I can play a little.

 

He sets me up next to a guy who's won maybe 15 PGA Tour and Champions Tour tournaments in his lifetime. He still hits it good enough to make healthy living every year. He ain't poor. He's next to me at my back.

 

I start to hit some short shots with a 52* wedge. I'm really stiff from playing quite a bit this week and not taking my usual boatload of Ibuprofen.

 

I'm not nervous about playing or hitting balls with anyone. I've played with lot's of good players. Hell. I played with Moe Norman.

 

I shanked the first ball.

 

Shooting par is bad day for me.

 

I shanked the next ball.

 

I haven't shanked a ball in 20 years.

 

I shanked the next 20 balls.

 

I held my back like it was hurting.

 

This is the truth. It was worse than Tin Cup.

 

I can hear him kind of laughing behind me.

 

I get serious. Enough of this nonsense.

 

I take my time, change clubs, and proceeded to shank the next dozen or two balls.

 

I hate golf. I wonder if there's a TennisWRX?

 

This is the truth. I couldn't make this up. You can  go ahead and laugh at me. I would.

 

 

 

 

Since I’ve played golf with you and know that you are a good player, I find this story really hilarious!

[Canoe Paddler]

At least you didn’t sh**k it and hit a sweet old lady in her keister. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same. 
 

 

[golfortennis]

OK, since nobody answered it, I will.  It's not tenniswrx, but it's called Talk Tennis. 

 

You're welcome. 

[Ghostwedge]

Someday y'all will adopt my motto.... I only got so many good swings left, not going to waste them on the driving range. GW

[Phabs]

I had a tournament in college where I didn’t hit a ball on the grooves the two days I was allowed to “participate”.   Swear to god it was the most demoralizing thing in my golf life.  I withdrew from the tournament claiming a destroyed ego and cried myself to sleep. 
 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2021 by Phabs

[Bronzed aussie]

On 1/9/2021 at 9:59 AM, Soloman1 said:

So, I went to hit a few balls at the range (which is something I rarely do) and only brought a few irons. Nice day, 66 degrees. The guy at the club in Scottsdale drives me out to the good section of the range. He knows me and knows I can play a little.

 

He sets me up next to a guy who's won maybe 15 PGA Tour and Champions Tour tournaments in his lifetime. He still hits it good enough to make healthy living every year. He ain't poor. He's next to me at my back.

 

I start to hit some short shots with a 52* wedge. I'm really stiff from playing quite a bit this week and not taking my usual boatload of Ibuprofen.

 

I'm not nervous about playing or hitting balls with anyone. I've played with lot's of good players. Hell. I played with Moe Norman.

 

I shanked the first ball.

 

Shooting par is bad day for me.

 

I shanked the next ball.

 

I haven't shanked a ball in 20 years.

 

I shanked the next 20 balls.

 

I held my back like it was hurting.

 

This is the truth. It was worse than Tin Cup.

 

I can hear him kind of laughing behind me.

 

I get serious. Enough of this nonsense.

 

I take my time, change clubs, and proceeded to shank the next dozen or two balls.

 

I hate golf. I wonder if there's a TennisWRX?

 

This is the truth. I couldn't make this up. You can  go ahead and laugh at me. I would.

 

 

 

 

Reminded me of a holiday a few years back where an old friend suggested I look him up and we’d Play golf together , I knew he was good having spent a brief time as a tour professional, He generously organised a set of clubs , everything yet I couldn’t hit the side of a barn as I didn’t feel worthy in their esteemed company , I think I’ll settle for catching up for lunch next time 😆

[LeftDaddy]

A few years back I was playing with an old buddy for the first time in a while. Range was fine. Went to the putting and chipping area and all of a sudden hit a hosel rocket off of a chip. I was like “wait, what was that?”  He had a look like “I don’t know dude”. I hit a few more chips, everything is back to normal. OK, no biggie, whatever that was is gone. And I’ve always been a pretty good chipper. 
 

I miss the green on #2 but have a routine chip shot to save par. You guessed it. Another chip-shank. Did it again 2 holes later. By the end of the round I was putting from way off the green. I went to the range afterwards and shanked every chip shot I hit. It took me over a year to get rid of them, and I still to this day shudder over some of my chips even though I haven’t done it in a couple of years. 
 

I didn’t even know chip shanks were a thing. Learned what they were on this forum. Yikes!!!

[xxio]

Give that guy stuck in Hawaii a call. Looks like he's gained a few lbs doing IG interviews.

[Roejye]

I sympathize with you OP, at least you had an excuse of who you were with. I still remember going to a golf dome last winter and my iron swings were terrible. I had the VAS at that time so I wasn't really shanking them, but a lot of tops and thins so bad they weren't getting airborne. I was getting so frustrated and angry with myself. I stepped back, took a moment, pulled out the driver just so I could see a ball in the air. Got the brain settled down a bit and went back to the irons.

 

As someone said earlier in the thread, always carry some woods to the range lol.

[Soloman1]

I hit a few balls today and no problems at all. As a matter of fact, I hit everything great.

 

I think my subconscious sabotaged me the other day to force me to focus. I had become lazy and unfocused in my iron play. My backswing had become crap.

 

Today I was conscientious and deliberate in my backswing and the rest was automatic. Impact was rock solid.

 

I'd never been through anything as horrifying as the other day.

 

Well, my first wife was pretty horrifying, so I guess shanking over 100 balls the other day comes in second. . .

 

Golf can be a jealous siren, an exclusive relationship. A time to escape the extraneous nonsense and noise affecting our lives and focus on the task at hand -- hitting a ball with a stick as best we can.

 

 

[Jackal66]

That happens to me.

I have been Playing since 1994.

Sometimes I think that I must look like I just started today.

 

The next time usually, you'll play a record round!

[Socrates]

55 minutes ago, Jackal66 said:

That happens to me.

I have been Playing since 1994.

Sometimes I think that I must look like I just started today.

 

The next time usually, you'll play a record round!

I know what you mean.  I might be the worst Demo Day guy I've ever seen.  I can pick up a wedge that I'm not used to and I will blade, skull, chunk and maybe shank them.  Like I've never played before.  I'll just hit drivers and maybe an iron so I don't embarrass myself.

[JustinG76]

2 questions.....

 

1. How did you keep hitting shanks after 13 in a row?  2. How did you not go Bo Jackson on every iron in your bag?  
 

I would have snapped at least two just to get the bad mojo to go away and to scare the other irons straight. 

That’s something that Triplett would have remembered....

[Soloman1]

I just remembered that the last time I shanked a shot was a few wedges hitting off mats in Dallas when I was working with Byron DeChambeau. He and Chris Como were like, "What the ...?"

 

At least I had the good sense to stop after two or three.

 

1. Perseverance. That how I kept at it.

2. It wasn't the clubs fault. They are new Hogan Icon blades...

 

When I was younger, I might have committed ritual suicide in the parking lot. Now, I'm laying open an incredibly awful experience to show some humility. Patience...