A shank is not a nice experience for any golfer, but first let’s clear up why it happens and what it is. A shank is caused by hitting the ball off the hosel. Why does this happen? Well, simply it’s because the clubhead has gone out further toward the ball than it was at address. There are three main reasons this happens:
1. You are setting up too close to the ball,
2. You are moving your body toward the golf ball during your downswing, or
3. Your club is swinging out toward the ball on the downswing generally because of a too flat swing.
All of these result in a shank. So how do we fix it?
Well first of all, when you setup to a shot make sure that your hands are a good distance away from your body. When your hands are too close to your body at address you’ll have little space to swing the club back to the ball and this will sometimes cause a shank. A good distance to have the hands away from your body is about a hand-span between the butt end of the club and your body.
Another common reason why golfers shank a shot is because they are trying to keep their head down and end up exaggerating and moving the head towards the ball, which of course moves the entire body towards the ball and this means the club moves out towards the ball.
If you are “trying” to keep your head down then you’re asking for trouble, because when golfers, and people in general, “try” to do anything it causes tension. If you think you are doing this or even if you don’t I suggest you give this short exercise a try!
First of all don’t “try” to keep your head down, but what you can do is hit balls while being aware of any head movement. Simply watch and give a score to your head movement. Have 0 as the bench mark for no head movement during the swing, +10 as a lot of head movement towards the ball, and –10 as a lot of head movement away from the ball.
Now hit balls and notice your head movement and score each swing as to how much head movement you have. Don’t “try” to stop it just be aware and score each swing. For reasons you don’t need to know or understand just by doing this your head movement will dramatically decrease without you “trying” to do it.
Another good way to reduce head movement is to setup to an imaginary shot with your head resting on a wall (do this without a club). Now simply make the motions with your arms as if you’re holding a club and swinging. Your head should stay where it was at address for pretty much the entire swing. Keep repeating this for as long a period as you like. You can never do this too much.
The second most common reason for a shank is because a golfer has a too flat backswing. And if your backswing is too flat it will be very hard for you to bring the clubface back into the ball on the downswing because the hosel will be leading into the ball.
But probably the best drill I can give you to stop a shank is to place a shoe box or something similar just outside the toe of the club at address like this…
Shank Box Fix Drill
Once this is setup you simply have to hit shots as normal, but obviously if you come down into the ball with the clubface out towards the ball at all then you’ll hit the box. This drill is great because it gives you instant feedback as to whether or not you’re swinging down correctly. All you have to do is come on the inside and miss the box!
One last drill to fix a shank is to place a tee just inside the ball so it’s directly in front of your hosel. When you swing the idea is to make an effort to hit the tee and if you do you’ll hit the ball squarely, but if you miss the tee then you’ve hit the ball with the hosel, so aim for the tee.
Here’s a summary of what you should do to get rid of your shanks once and for all.
1. Check how far you’re standing from the ball. Make sure it’s about a hand-span away from your body.
2. Do the head movement awareness exercise as well as resting your head against a wall and making imaginary swings at a ball with your arms while keeping the head where it was at address.
3. Test to see the flatness of your swing by swinging up against a wall. Keep doing this until you can consistently miss the wall with your backswing.
4. Place a shoe box just outside the toe of your club so it’s pointing at your target line and swing. If you hit the box on the downswing then that will give you instant feedback that you moved the club away from you. So all you have to do is keep swinging while attempting to miss the box.
5. Place a tee just inside the ball so it’s in front of your hosel and swing while trying to hit the tee on the backswing. If you miss the tee then you’ll shank it, so the objective is to hit the tee which will result in a well hit shot.
If you follow these guidelines diligently then you’ll get rid of your shank. I wish you all the best and I know how disheartening shanking shots can be because I’ve been through it myself. Good luck and if you want any more help to fix a shank ask any questions below.
Here’s a video showing you the finals from the 2008 RE/MAX world longdrive championship. It mainly features the winner Jamie Sadlowski. Enjoy!
Tags: 2008, Jamie Sadlowski, RE/MAX World Longdrive Championship
To improve your putting consistency you first need to setup to a putt the same way time after time, and one of the most important aspects of this is setting up with your eyes directly over the ball. Here’s a great way that you can do this that will help you tremendously. First, to do this putting consistency exercise you need a small mirror like this…
Mirror To Improve Putting Consistency
Now place this mirror on the ground and place a ball on the mirror so you can setup to it as if you were putting. Setup to this ball as normal and notice if your eyes are directly on the line that your ball is going to travel on to get to the target. Your eyes do not have to be directly over the ball but they should be on the same line as what your ball will travel along to your target. So if you were to drop a ball from the bridge of your nose it would fall on your target line.
My bet is that after setting up to the putt with the mirror under the ball, your eyes were not directly over the ball (or on the same line as the ball). So now you’ve found this out, what you must do is setup to the putt again so that your eyes are directly on the same target line as you want the putt to travel. Do this over and over again so you make this position automatic. Doing this will greatly improve your putting stroke and you’ll soon notice that your putting consistency will greatly improve.
But here’s the important point. It will only improve your putting consistency once you’ve made this setup position natural. And that’s only going to happen by you consistently practicing it to make it a habit. And remember a habit takes at least 21 days to form. So do this putting consistency exercise for at least this long and probably much longer to make it beneficial and to make a positive impact on your putting consistency.
Tags: putting consistency