Finally have a few shanks on video...pls help

[Flemnomucus]

Hey all - have been dealing with shanks on and off for the past year. Have been taking practice more seriously and tonight, the shanks crept back in. 

 

For reference, in tonights session I was working on getting my wrists into a better, stronger structure at impact (It's very challenging for me to de-loft and compress my irons) hence the G snap. Also, I have a tendency to get onto my right toes early, so also trying to feel my right toes up to start the swing and stepping into my right toes at impact. 

 

This is the one part of my game that is killing me. One iron shank in a round and it takes everything I have not to blow up, mentally. When it happens repeatedly on the driving range, I'm at a loss. To me it seems like my arms get too deep and then I get stuck, causing my hands to be drastically closer to the ball at impact. Including one of my better swings from this session, a face on and DTL. Common miss for my with irons is a pull draw.

 

Thank you to any advice in advance.

[tthomasgolfer605]

It looks like you're using George Gankas' method. You've taken it a bit too far and are merely spinning your hips. The left hip/knee and to the foot should be a much straighter line. 

Edited May 10, 2023 by tthomasgolfer605

[Flemnomucus]

9 hours ago, tthomasgolfer605 said:

It looks like you're using George Gankas' method. You've taken it a bit too far and are merely spinning your hips. The left hip/knee and to the foot should be a much straighter line. 

I hear you. My question would be when you mention spinning, I’m assuming that’s how you rotate your lower body. In that photo of tiger, you could argue his hips are more open than mine (granted it’s a frame or two further in the swing). 
 

That leads me to believe I’m rotating incorrectly. Any drills to feel a proper lower body turn? It makes sense on paper but I can’t get the feel down. 

[Scottbox]

When you turn your shoulders so flat coming down, it "throws" the hands out a bit. You need to feel like you swing your hands more "under" yourself and tilt your trail shoulder under you just a touch at impact. Also, watch where your weight is at setup. I can't tell, but perhaps you might be too much towards your toes. Good drills:

 

1. Set up two balls, one in front of the other. Put the club behind the far ball, hit the one closest to you.

 

2. You can stick a shaft about a foot or two away in front of you, just angled above your hands at setup. As you come through, avoid hitting the shaft. This will keep your hands from coming out and get you to swing your trail shoulder "under" you a bit more.
 

 

[slytown]

its basically a gankas swing to the extreme: holding the face and spinning in the downswing. work on speeding up the hands and arms and releasing the club. Backswing looks pretty good. its a little deep. i would simply work on a shorter backswing of the arms and an earlier release. you basically hold the face open and turn without using the arms or squaring the face earlier through an earlier release. 

[tthomasgolfer605]

5 hours ago, Flemnomucus said:

I hear you. My question would be when you mention spinning, I’m assuming that’s how you rotate your lower body. In that photo of tiger, you could argue his hips are more open than mine (granted it’s a frame or two further in the swing). 
 

That leads me to believe I’m rotating incorrectly. Any drills to feel a proper lower body turn? It makes sense on paper but I can’t get the feel down. 

You might have to bump the left hip forward a bit and then turn. 

[elephant15]

I agree with bump aka weight shift to the left side. But it would be hard to do that without a weight shift to the right side in the backswing. Your swing is centered from beginning to end. It should be center - right shift - recenter - left shift. Try to find YouTube videos from AMG about weight shift.

[slytown]

9 hours ago, elephant15 said:

I agree with bump aka weight shift to the left side. But it would be hard to do that without a weight shift to the right side in the backswing. Your swing is centered from beginning to end. It should be center - right shift - recenter - left shift. Try to find YouTube videos from AMG about weight shift.

 

He already does that lateral. the only real issue here is the holding of the face, which causes the shanks.

[Flemnomucus]

1 hour ago, slytown said:

 

He already does that lateral. the only real issue here is the holding of the face, which causes the shanks.

If I was holding off the face, wouldn’t that cause me to miss consistently to the right? My misses are straight pulls, often fighting a closed face to path. 
 

I did my own analysis, just trying to see when the hands start moving closer to the ball which you can see in this video. Why might that be?

[jholz]

22 minutes ago, Flemnomucus said:

If I was holding off the face, wouldn’t that cause me to miss consistently to the right? My misses are straight pulls, often fighting a closed face to path. 
 

I did my own analysis, just trying to see when the hands start moving closer to the ball which you can see in this video. Why might that be?

 

Given your description of the misses you are experiencing, and looking at this most recent video, I'm thinking trail leg/foot and hip turn might be part of the problem.

 

Turning the hips a bit too much towards the ball and a bit too early - hence pushing the hands out into impact. When you don't shank, you are probably getting just a touch of EE to maintain center contact. That's probably where the left miss is coming from.

 

But, mind you, I'm no pro. Hopefully you get some other comments as well. It's always fun to see how close to the mark my amateur opinions might come.

 

Good luck to you!

Edited May 11, 2023 by jholz

[slytown]

30 minutes ago, Flemnomucus said:

If I was holding off the face, wouldn’t that cause me to miss consistently to the right? My misses are straight pulls, often fighting a closed face to path. 
 

I did my own analysis, just trying to see when the hands start moving closer to the ball which you can see in this video. Why might that be?

IMG_0782.MOV

 

shanks go to the right. if you are doing pulls as well, you probably try to eliminate the shank with a lot of wrist action at the bottom.

[BraxtonFullerton]

Just a drill I use for the proper feel. Put a club across your waist, on your hips, with the club head facing the target. Grip the club head and then put your trail hand on the grip. Now push the club head end into your front hip and turn while straightening your front leg. This is the proper sensation you're looking for in the swing.

 

You want to be creating a fulcrum point with your front leg in the swing, this is what allows you to generate power and stability.

 

Maybe Clay will convey it better than me: 

 

[Flemnomucus]

Little update. Feeling more bend in my legs at address and over exaggerating pushing my butt back and staying down at impact. 
 

Question for the two videos. Is the reason why the club is coming further from the inside in one and not the other solely shoulder tilt?

[slytown]

1 hour ago, Flemnomucus said:

Little update. Feeling more bend in my legs at address and over exaggerating pushing my butt back and staying down at impact. 
 

Question for the two videos. Is the reason why the club is coming further from the inside in one and not the other solely shoulder tilt?

 

Yes, its partly from the shoulder moving down, but its mostly a result of good path and sequencing. I really like the improvement in the first video but you could get more extension in your legs and release the club earlier. You are creating a very low ball flight and it looks like the heel is still digging. Notice how in the finish the club is very horizontal when it comes around. But, its much better than before. Work releasing the arms&hands earlier and extending the legs so you dont hit it fat. If you do this corrextly, you should have a nice shallow, dollar bill divot and a higher ball flight.

[Flemnomucus]

Couple of recent at speed swings. 
Trackman is a 6i

Range is a 7i

 

Still fighting a left miss with a closed face to path. My club face looks insanely shut at the top of my swing and it’s not like I have a bowed wrist so I’m not sure what it could be. 

[slytown]

13 hours ago, Flemnomucus said:

Couple of recent at speed swings. 
Trackman is a 6i

Range is a 7i

 

Still fighting a left miss with a closed face to path. My club face looks insanely shut at the top of my swing and it’s not like I have a bowed wrist so I’m not sure what it could be. 

FullSizeRender.MOV IMG_0841.MOV

 

That's a great swing. As long as you are between 0 and 3 on face to path, ur good. You could weaken your grip a touch to get less of a closed face at the top, but if you are flushing it like that, I wouldn't change anything now. You could still get a more leg and arm extension through the ball on longer clubs. It would help get the ball up in the air.