Just my luck...

[LeftDaddy]

I’ve been playing reasonably well lately, and a couple of weeks ago looked forward to our upcoming member-member. Fast forward to last weekend which was a week out from the member-member...I played with a friend I hadn’t played with in a while. Had a good front 9 but got a mother trucking case of the shanks on the back 9. Thought it could just be “temporary” so played a practice round earlier this week. You guessed it...more shanks though only with about 1 in every 6 or 7 iron shots. Went to the range to work them out and it seemed OK. Played a practice round today and same thing, but maybe worse...shanked about 1 in every 5 shots. Went to the range afterward and got a full blown case of the shanks. I couldn’t hit 5 balls without shanking at least one of them, despite trying all of my shank fixes.

 

I got a case of the shanks about 2-3 years ago and it took a few months to “cure” them, but I remember some of what my coach had me work on. Address ball on the toe. Get club above the plane in the takeaway. Get steeper in the backswing. Weight more in heels of feet. I tried a lot of those things, but they weren’t helping much.

 

And, to add insult to injury, I developed a full blown “crick” in my shoulder after the round today. I medicated a little bit earlier with everything I have in the house to try to loosen up before tomorrow AM. Hasn’t worked so far.

 

Lol. Wish me luck tomorrow. Shanks and a hurt shoulder. Should be really fun. ????.

 

But seriously, any game time tips for curing shanks? Mine are the “club gets under the plane too much” variety...and I think I was a little too hunched over the ball.

[wagolfer7]

Yeah often times I see the shanks because of a move going towards the ball. Since your already mentioned being on your heels, it must be another move that is putting you towards the ball.

 

My guess would be reverse pivoting. Weight getting on your left side on the back swing and then getting more on you right side on down swing.

 

Easy way to test it. Warm up tomorrow with your feet together. See if you get any shanks. If you don't, then put your feet in your normal stance and make sure you feel the weight get your right side on the way back and to the left side on the way through. Probably going to give you a little sway, but much better than hitting shanks in your member member.

 

I feel for you man. Nobody wants to see this, especially at tourney time. I'm feeling optimistic and saying you shank 0 balls this weekend.

 

Crap noticed your username just now. If your Lefty reverse what I just said.

[Chazb]

I got rid of mine by keeping the weight on my heels and make sure the weight stays there thru the swing.

[LeftDaddy]

Thanks so far! I like the feet together drill. And I think I’m going to do the whiff drill too.

 

Rather than putting my weight on my heels, which doesn’t seem to help me, I think I’ve found that I don’t “sit” into my stance like I should. So I’m going to stand what feels really tall to me and with my backside what feels like way behind me. I discovered many years ago when doing physical therapy as recovery for ACL surgeries that the PTs asked me to do these exercises on balance boards and anytime they wanted my weight back towards my heels I literally felt like I was going to tip over backwards. They laughed at me and told me basically to “man up” but I wasn’t faking it. I definitely didn’t feel like I had any balance that way. It would seem that also affects my golf stance and makes me a little hunched over.

 

One positive of this shoulder problem is that it has taken my mind off of the golf. I could barely get out of bed this AM but have already worked it out a bunch and medicated as much as I could. Feels good enough to swing a club I think. We will find out later today!

[jut111]

Problem is in your head dude. Clear as day from the first sentence of your op. Looking for mechanical fixes is just making it worse. Not saying that makes it an easy fix, tackling your mind is way harder then mechanics. Just saying you’re barking up the wrong tree.

[Golf Scientist]

Historically shanks are results of balance and posture faults on the downswing. Things like positioning the ball off the toe of the club is a compensation, and doesn't solve the cause of the problem. Likewise since the fault is occurring in the downswing things like making a steeper takeaway / backswing isn't going to correct the downswing problem. The sitting into your shot sounds like a step in the right direction. If your weight is positioned over your ankles or heels you are likely to load your hips and glutes and rotate/pivot. If instead you have weight on your toes or balls of your feet you put pressure on your knees which are only built to hinge, not rotate. With pressure on your knees you are likely to fall toward the ball, early extend, or sensing you might do those push away from the ball with your feet (and sensing your body moving away from the ball) and throw your arms, hands, and club out toward the ball to target line. All of those could lead to shanks and heel shots.

[LeftDaddy]

Thanks for the help, guys.

 

First, I'll give an update. I basically fixed the shank problem. In 36 holes, I didn't cold shank a single shot, though I did hit a couple that were close. I did hit a couple of "shanky" chips today, which was annoying, but didn't hit a single "shanky" wedge or full shot of any sort. I didn't play great yesterday, but played quite well today (for me). So that is the (mostly) good news...I somewhat cured the shanks by a couple of the swing fixes I employed, which also had the effect of straightening out my shots.

 

Now, on to a couple of discussion points. People always act like shanks are mental. I completely disagree. I've had them twice in my life now, and had them bad a few years ago. A few swing fixes and some range reps later, and the shanks were completely gone. I didn't change a single thing mentally...just cured most of the reasons for hitting a shank in the first place. In both cases, I had started getting closer to the ball and weight had crept into my toes standing over it (hunched over). The fix was mostly as I described above...weight back in a "normal" position, stand back a little further from the ball, and get back above the plane in my takeaway. I find that whatever path I take in the takeaway is the same path I take in the downswing, oddly. So when I get under the plane coming back, I get under the plane going through. Thus, I needed to fix that inside and behind me takeaway. I mostly did, and amazingly shots started flying straighter and contact moved out toward center or even toward the toe a little.

 

Thanks again for all of the help / suggestions. We didn't win the member-member, but we made it respectable!

[A.Princey]

Path too inside-out maybe, ball back some under pressure to ensure you're not "outside the ball" at impact(aka shank)? Heavy clubs are the cause of mine at times or severe fatigue causing a similar inability to "pull" the club into me and hold my impact angles. I bet the towel drill under the arm pits will get that connected feeling back for you, lessening chance of reaching for the ball, if that in fact is any cause of your issue in the first place.