Shanking - how do you stop it ?

A friend has recently been shanking his ball with every club in his bag except Driver & putter.
I was wanting to give him some advice by the weekend.

How do you fix this affliction ?

Is it simply a wrong plane situation, incorrect hand motion or hand position, standing too close to the ball ?

Any ideas ?


As you can see I am not afraid to mention the "S" word as I have never been affected by this.

Is this like when my 'friend' got drunk and slept with the girl down the road with the receding hairline and 3 fingers on her left hand??

The simplest to completely cure this affliction for ever and amen is give up the game.......

Other than that a tip i got once from an old pro was place a basket immediately adjacent to the clubhead at address and focus on missing that, it takes all though of the shanks out of the equation and works quite well.

I get the odd one from time to time with irons. It's usually due to me getting too far ahead at impact with the hands coming from way inside. As a fix, I tend to try and minimise excessive movement through the ball and keep my head behind the ball (or feeling like it) through the swing. Seems to work.

Maverick wrote:The simplest to completely cure this affliction for ever and amen is give up the game........

Maverick, this is exactly the stage my friend is at the moment. Quitting time is here.

I think they can occur when there is too much weight forward on the toes and a big out to in swing or sucking the club back to the inside too quickly and getting the arms stuck behind the body, which can result in too shallow in to out or OTT. Help your 'friend' out by video taping his motion with your phone from a position on the target line. You can then see what the club head is doing. Forget planes, hand motions and positions until the swing path is determined. No point in guessing I say.

I get the odd one when practising, mainly because if I'm working on something I can have a tendency to 'cast' the club. You(r friend) could try focussing on maintaining his wristcock as long as possible in the downswing.

Commit fully to the shot, don't think about anything going wrong as that will cause tension leading to swing faults. If you try to steer it you are dead in the water.

Grip it and rip it. Never seen John Daly shank one before

I had the same problem, but thankfully now sorted. All I did was go on to You Tube put in golf swing then typed in shanking, and all the Pro,s will show you all the reasons why you shank the ball, I worked out from what they were saying why I was shanking it, and then got into a routine to stop it, and it can be quite easy to stop it once you understand why your doing it.

As a frequent sh*nker myself (nearly typed something else there), I've found I was actually too far from the ball resulting in stretching for the ball on the way down. This would happen on all clubs, even my driver was out of the heel. I'm now much closer and my swing more verical than around, much much better. I now have the feeling my head is 'nearer' the ball than my hands. As a quickish cure, play the ball off the toe, even place the club face 'below' the ball at address staring only at the inside corner of the ball during the swing. Also a card board box (can be any size really) about 2 inches 'above' and parallel to the target line is excellent, you'll soon know if your stretching for it.

Deceleration, standing too close, collapsing the left knee and lifting the head are all possible causes.

Try and shank it I can guarantee you won't do it

I can do it very easily

You need to get yourself on to one of those dodgy Canadian drug websites that sell cheap prescription pills and order some "shank tablets." That'll cure this horrible virus.

Seriously, I've only had the shanks once and after a week of daily range visits I decided to stop playing for a few weeks. Was fine on return without changing anything technically but every now and then I shank one and it's a frightening thought that it might return.

Best of luck to "your mate" and hope some of the technical advice on here might help...

I've had them all season, not many rounds of golf left in me just now, it's making me sad every time I pick up a club.

As a prolific but recovering 'hosel rocketer' myself, try this simple drill:

Take a few shots and try concentrating on leading with the toe of the club (through the ball) - that's it.

Worked for me!

If all else fails, try this...............

http://www.jjbsports.com/popular-sports-tennis/sport/fcp-category/home?resetFilters=true

I can understand someone getting the shanks for a hole or two, but if anyone has them for longer than that, they may well simply be retarded.

Is that a possibility here?

Its easy to scoff when you dont have them, but believe me its not that good when you stand over a small chip shot or a reasonable short iron shot, and praying you dont shank it, takes the fun out the game, knowing without the shanks you could shoot well below your handicap.

So if have not got them, do not try and take the pi** out us who suffer from them

I had a wee bout a couple of years ago. Lasted a day.

My self prescription was to go to the short game area with a gap wedge and try to hit my right heel with the club head on the downswing. Believe me, your brain will not let you actually do this.

Worked a treat. Only happened on a couple of occasions since and never twice in a row.

First of all take your loose change out of your right pocket and put it in your left then......
Usually caused by rolling your wrists through the shot and hitting the ball with a closed clubface.
Because of this it is almost impossible to hit a deliberate socket so.... when practicing put down 5 balls and tell your pal you will give him £5 for every shot you do not socket.

If all else fails stick your left thumb [for right hander] down the centre of the shaft and keep your left wrist firm through the shot [which will probably go miles right but won't be a socket]

Mercurio wrote:I can understand someone getting the shanks for a hole or two, but if anyone has them for longer than that, they may well simply be retarded.

Is that a possibility here?

Have a guess who got a dose of the shanks on Sunday . . .



"Instant karma's gonna get you . . ."

Mercurio

You are now a fully signed up member of "The Shanking Club" can I take this opportunity to say welcome to our club.

oldparwin wrote:Mercurio

You are now a fully signed up member of "The Shanking Club" can I take this opportunity to say welcome to our club.

Maybe a club should be set up with ties and all the trimmings? A bit like cricket's 'The Primary Club' - www.primaryclub.org

Cancel your broadband subscription, it really is the only way. If it gets in the way of your golf it is definitely time.

aaaaaaargh thought id done with the shanking. Nope 3 today in a 4 over round.

Smashing. Actually made sure I didnt have any half SW shots to hit after that the rest of the round

Are you sure the half SW shot that goes miles right is a shank? It could well be that you are coming in with a wide open face.

Nope was definately a shank.. More having a problem with 60 - 70 yards shots into the green. Think I was just not committing myself to either shot and just trying to almost play a easy shot.

how do you know it was a shank?

Cus it trundled low and right and came off the hozzle.

shank are not often low, i am not convinced you are shanking it. sound more like a top with the face wide open.

Dont think its a top, but whatever it is need to stop it as i ruined a possible under par round today with those 3 shots.

Mercurio wrote:I can understand someone getting the shanks for a hole or two, but if anyone has them for longer than that, they may well simply be retarded.

Is that a possibility here?

Love it. Another tip, would be to stand to his left if he's right handed. Or directly in front of him, you should be safe enough there.

McLaren wrote:shank are not often low, i am not convinced you are shanking it. sound more like a top with the face wide open.

Just came across this on the net, seems its what im doing and Feherty says its a shank.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxAqIyDGKSI&feature=related

You won't shank it if you hit the ball out of the middle of the club face. Try and do that...

i am the king of the shank from 50 yards out, took me a while to work out what i was doing... collapsing my hips forward trying to hit 'easy'. So now i know the why, i just have to stop actually doing it with every 4th or 5th chip