So, since June I've been struggling with making good contact. I was playing out of my mind with the most confidence I had experienced on the course since picking up the game five years ago. I was now seeking a little more distance with this new found confidence when the shanks came on mid-June.

I've been working on different things to help. Checking all the common errors( distance from ball, backswing, weight on balls of feet vs. heels, etc....). Today I read the following from an online article:

"The main reason you’ll hit the ball on the heel of the club is that the heel of the club is the direct extension of your hands when they hold the grip. When you hold a tennis racquet, the sweet spot lies on a straight line coming out of your hand. It’s truly an extension of your hand. The handle of a baseball bat is a straight line that extends to the sweet spot in the head of the bat. Hit a tennis ball or baseball with the extension of your hands, and the sweet spot is automatically on the ball.

A golf club, on the other hand, isn’t as simple or as natural as that. The true extension of your hands down the shaft ends at the hosel, not the sweet spot. The sweet spot is about two inches away from the end of the shaft you’re holding in your hands. In fact, people who have a good sense of space with their hands often shank their iron shots because their sense of the clubhead is that it’s at the end of the shaft. It isn’t.

Test this yourself by putting a tee in the ground between you and the ball, about an inch or so from the near edge of the ball. Hit the tee with the heel of your club when you swing and you can’t shank. On the golf course, you have to pick out a piece of grass and make sure you swing the heel of your club at that spot instead of at the ball. After a while, you should have a better sense of which part of the club should hit the ball."

http://www.golftipsmag.com/instruction/faults-and-fixes/lessons/shank-stoppers.html

What are your thoughts on the quote I posted about hand eye coordination in golf needing an adjustment due to the hosel being the extension of the hand? I tried half shots and then 3/4 shots with some foam balls for a few minutes and it seemed to be working. I'll check it out Tuesday at the range, but wanted to know if this has worked for others? Have others tried and had other problems arise?

Put golf balls under toes/shoes each foot..keeps you from moving closer to ball on downswing ... let me know

I have the shanks right now... Anything is worth a shot.

I recently dealt with this for a couple weeks on and off...made for some embarrassing range sessions. Got over it (for now at least). I think moving closer to the ball and putting it a bit back in mt stance helped.

That's an interesting article. Not entirely sure what to think of it but on the surface it makes sense.

Hopefully I won't need it but if the *****s ever return I'm going to have this filed away to explore on my own.

Thanks for posting.

I hate the sh***s. I sh***ed a 7i into a par-5 on Saturday, and then accomplished the rare "sh*** birdie" as I hit a SW to 2 feet on the next shot. I even dreamed about the sh***s last night. I don't do it often, but they're in my head quite a bit. I agree with the poster above that I try to address the ball with at the toe of my club.

[This message has been edited by proudaggie02 (edited 3/24/2014 12:02p).]

I guess I am lucky in that I almost never shank shots. Thats not to say I do not thin shots or hit fat shots. I am usually good for one each per round(although the fat shots thing is fairly recent).

The only time I ever shank the ball off the heel is with my sandwedge inside 100 yards. I got to where I was doing it with relative frequency several years ago. Sixty yards out was leading to more double bogeys than it was birdies. I took a small step back and reached a little more for it and rarely do it now.

Last round I played, hit 2 great shots into a long par 5, but was still 85 out.

Shanked my wedge to trouble on the right. Made a POS TRIPLE. (And no, my short game is not normally that bad. Just all came apart that one hole...)

Weight on heels, stand a little closer and try to hit the biggest pull hook in recorded history.

Shanks! Once hit 21 in a row during a lesson on video. The cause starting with my weight on my heels and at impact my weight on my toes. My cure was not placing a golf ball underneath my toes, it was the opposite under my heels and have not hit one since.

Golf is played on the balls of your feet not on your heels. You play any sport that requires hand eyed coordination, an athletic set-up and timing from your heels.

I hate the shanks. And I hate that there is 1 million different ways to cure them.

half swings with soft hands at impact.

Hit the range for a small bucket today. Started with a wedge, went to driver, 9iron and didnt hit one shank.

Everything was center of the club with the exception of one mis-hit that merged slightly off-center towards the hosel.

So, I put it to the test with the good 'ol 4 iron... actually hit it as well as I have in a long long time.

That was a huge confidence booster. Seeing my distance come back as well as shots going straight/baby draw. I know I've still got a ways to go until I reach where I was last summer, but here's hoping this was the big hurdle I needed to get over.

Need to work on lengthening and slowing down the backswing. As well as keeping the left arm straighter throughout.

[This message has been edited by dcrewint (edited 3/24/2014 8:59p).]

Don't over-think it!!!

Just raise your hands up out of your crotch a little at address. Works every time.

Carry your change in your left hand pocket and turn your hat around.

Before every shot, make sure the last thought going through your head is "I hope I don't shank this one".

First and foremost, they are called "LATERALS"! I despise the "S" word! I went from a 8 handicap to having trouble breaking 100 after coming down with the laterals! Finally got over them after a long period of time, but still make people move if they are at a 45 degree angle from where I'm hitting. Damn, I need alcohol just thinking about it....!

The best way to get rid of the shanks is to move to the putting green. If you still have the shanks there, move to the bar.

Had a pretty bad case at Memorial Park last night...after starting off well with 9 and 7 irons, BAM...was probably shanking half of the rest of my shots, if not more. I am thinking about just avoiding the range for a while. Seems to be happening as soon as I start to get a little tired. May need to take some time off to reboot. I am pretty inconsistent on the golf course lately, but rarely shank the ball out there. It's just a range thing for me...knock on wood.

I think AgHunter may be on to something.....!

Not to completely change the subject but I played Grapevine Muni yesterday afternoon, hit four three woods, and topped all four. Straight topped them. Three of them were on one hole. Other than a three putt from eight feet they were the only bad shots I hit. On 15 I dropped a ball in the fairway and hit a three wood back towards the tee just to see if I could hit it. Smoked it. Shot 77.

I topped my 3W on hole 9 of Mockingbird last time out at Grapevine. was laying in a bowl lie, thought I could hit it anyways and not let that get into my head. Was wrong.

Anyone else hit the driver well when battling the hosels? I find that when I do I drive it very well.

^
Ugh that "d" word still doesn't belong in my bag. I can hit my 3w a mile and am more than happy with my hybrid, but my driver is a whole other story of fail... I haven't had the "luck" of hitting the driver well when battling the lateral hosel shanks yet though.

quote:

---

I agree with the poster above that I try to address the ball with at the toe of my club.

---

Is this not putting a bandaid over the problem? I prefer to address the ball normally but concentrate on hitting the ball towards the toe. My butt moves toward the ball when I shank. I think about not just keeping it from moving in, but if anything pushing back slightly.

It's called the "snap fades"