Dreaded Shanks … please help

[dannygrz]

Been seriously contemplating quitting the game. I’ve had the shanks for most of the season. Had a few lessons but they came back and really don’t think the pro was worth the money. 
 

anyway. If anyone has an idea on why that would be greatly appreciated 

[RSinSG]

One of our own WRX members has a good video on this. It helped me, though I ended up using a head cover rather than a second ball because it was so demoralizing hitting both balls at once. It's a pretty simple drill.

 

Edited August 2, 2022 by RSinSG
Video

[dannygrz]

22 minutes ago, RSinSG said:

One of our own WRX members has a good video on this. It helped me, though I ended up using a head cover rather than a second ball because it was so demoralizing hitting both balls at once. It's a pretty simple drill.

 

I appreciate it. I’ll definitely check out the drill and give it a try. 

[dannygrz]

1 hour ago, RSinSG said:

One of our own WRX members has a good video on this. It helped me, though I ended up using a head cover rather than a second ball because it was so demoralizing hitting both balls at once. It's a pretty simple drill.

 

I’m a bit confused about gradually moving out toward the ball. Does he mean try and miss closer to the ball each time eventually hitting the toe and then the middle? 

[RSinSG]

When you set up on the range, (and you’ll want to be by yourself or at least the very end of the range) set up like Monte demonstrates. Set your club behind the ball closest to you with the ball on the sweet spot. Put the second ball 1/2 inch or so outside the ball you plan on hitting. You’ll soon discover that 1/2” isn’t a big enough gap and you’ll be adjusting your stance farther away from the outside ball. Eventually you’ll be able to move closer to the outside ball without hitting it avoiding a hosel hit. 
 

Like I mentioned, you can accomplish the same thing setting a head cover outside your ball and it’s less dramatic to nick the head cover than it is a ball. 

[OnTheBag]

Here's the great Butch Harmon's explanation of the root cause.

 

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by OnTheBag

[Feelingofgreatness]

In my experience, it happens when you have your weight on your heels at address... This causes you to move your weight closer to the ball at impact. Try hitting shots with 80% of your weight on your toes then slowly more back to neutral. 

[Valtiel]

Extremely excessive hip rotation and a disconnect between your upper and lower half is the cause here IMO, and i'll support that by highlighting what is going wrong in your downswing causing the shanks. Your swing is a far less typical one for this issue so while the advice above is good, I don't know that it applies as much to you here:



Up to P2 it looks like you're actually syncing up your pelvic and shoulder rotation, leading to what could almost be considered too much pelvic rotation for a FULL swing at this point.



You continue rotating P2 up to P3 and basically stop there because you've reached an objectively excessive amount of hip rotation here. You could cut this in half and STILL be too much. The reason this is too much is because of what we see in the downswing. Your left hip is out so far in front of you that it needs to now travel a massive distance to get back to where it needs to be clear the ball. This is a time problem because of how little there is in the downswing:



Aside from the excessive pelvic stuff, THIS actually looks really good. You're squatting and shallowing and firing that left hip back, doing all the pro looking moves. That last frame that I stuck on for an extra 1/2 second though, THAT is about as far as you're backswing hip turn should have gone. Because as good as this starts:



Your hip rotation completely stalls approaching P6 because you've run out of time. You do manage to get your left hip clear of the ball at the point of impact, but your arms are traveling so much faster than your hips at this stage that you're basically throwing the club at the ball without any power/acceleration coming from your lower body. You're dealing with a shut clubface as well which places a premium on a quick lower body and complete clearing through impact with speed, which you aren't doing. This weird mismatch is what is causing the shanks.

You're doing a lot of things well aesthetically with a lot of the similar types of things that Viktor Hovland does (i'll do a side by side below), minus the hip rotation issue. You just need to reduce that heavily (stop trying to match it to your shoulders) and then focus on driving your left side back with force in the downswing to get clear of the ball and stabilize the shut face you're dealing with.



Hovland has a lot of hip turn, and you're far exceeding him at this stage, mostly due to that first move where you go from 0* to almost 45* in the first quarter of the swing. Reduce that significantly and the rest of your swing should work as is provided you're also clearing aggressively with that left side.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Valtiel

[Pastit]

12 hours ago, dannygrz said:

Been seriously contemplating quitting the game. I’ve had the shanks for most of the season. Had a few lessons but they came back and really don’t think the pro was worth the money. 
 

anyway. If anyone has an idea on why that would be greatly appreciated 

Join the club, not all season for me but taken over this last ten days.

 

I’ve been here before ( about one per round ) but lost details of one bit of advice which I’ll try and find for you. If I remember correctly it’s the “ string tip “. But there’s another way/s for the time being. 
 

Mr Valtiel is telling you that the usual advice might not be appropriate. 
 

For me, your last move in the backswing ( or over swing ) is taking the club well outside the plane. You can see the Diff v Hovlands swing. So, for now, I would try cutting out your last movement in the backswing by shortening it and throttle back on power. There are many out there who have to throttle back to get a grooved swing. 
 

Until I check the string trick. You can practise with your back to a wall or hedge and try and get more upright. At the same time, place an empty sleeve of golf balls about a ball width outside of your practise ball ( like the golf ball idea above ) and practise daily. I can do this in my garden with plastic balls. 

[Pastit]

14 hours ago, dannygrz said:

Been seriously contemplating quitting the game. I’ve had the shanks for most of the season. Had a few lessons but they came back and really don’t think the pro was worth the money. 
 

anyway. If anyone has an idea on why that would be greatly appreciated 

I set up just now to show you the two “ fixes “. For me, the back to hedge works every time but it’s getting that to the course - so it’s practise.  The string fix is to stop the club getting flat too. I have to assume the hedge trick is all in the mind so one must subconsciously swing to avoid the hedge.

 

A pro told me not to get uptight as “ the club head will always find the ball “ - no comment. I guess we’re talking about a narrow margin for error. The bin will come in handy for the clubs should I not get a fix. 

[dannygrz]

3 hours ago, Valtiel said:

Extremely excessive hip rotation and a disconnect between your upper and lower hald is the cause here IMO, and i'll support that by highlighting what is going wrong in your downswing causing the shanks. Your swing is a far less typical one for this issue so while the advice above is good, I don't know that it applies as much to you here:



Up to P2 it looks like you're actually syncing up your pelvic and shoulder rotation, leading to what could almost be considered too much pelvic rotation for a FULL swing at this point.



You continue rotating P2 up to P3 and basically stop there because you've reached an objectively excessive amount of hip rotation here. You could cut this in half and STILL be too much. The reason this is too much is because of what we see in the downswing. Your left hip is out so far in front of you that it needs to now travel a massive distance to get back to where it needs to be clear the ball. This is a time problem because of how little there is in the downswing:



Aside from the excessive pelvic stuff, THIS actually looks really good. You're squatting and shallowing and firing that left hip back, doing all the pro looking moves. That last frame that I stuck on for an extra 1/2 second though, THAT is about as far as you're backswing hip turn should have gone. Because as good as this starts:



Your hip rotation completely stalls approaching P6 because you've run out of time. You do manage to get your left hip clear of the ball at the point of impact, but your arms are traveling so much faster than your hips at this stage that you're basically throwing the club at the ball without any power/acceleration coming from your lower body. You're dealing with a shut clubface as well which places a premium on a quick lower body and complete clearing through impact with speed, which you aren't doing. This weird mismatch is what is causing the shanks.

You're doing a lot of things well aesthetically with a lot of the similar types of things that Viktor Hovland does (i'll do a side by side below), minus the hip rotation issue. You just need to reduce that heavily (stop trying to match it to your shoulders) and then focus on driving your left side back with force in the downswing to get clear of the ball and stabilize the shut face you're dealing with.



Hovland has a lot of hip turn, and you're far exceeding him at this stage, mostly due to that first move where you go from 0* to almost 45* in the first quarter of the swing. Reduce that significantly and the rest of your swing should work as is provided you're also clearing aggressively with that left side.

Wow! This is a fantastic and thorough breakdown. I really appreciate it. Never really thought about over rotation my hips in the backswing. I was aware that I open up super early. I’ll try and work on limiting that but seems like a long road ahead as it’s so ingrained in my swing. 
 

again thanks for your reply