Shanks!

Question
I am a 9 handicap and have shot in the low 100's the last few times out all due to "shanking". I have tried just about everything to correct the problem to no avail. Anything that you could suggest would certainly be appreciated!!

Answer
Hi Jim,


A shank is caused by hitting the ball with the hosel of the club which means for your swing path you are standing too close to the ball. A bandaid solution would be to take a normal stance but address the ball of the toe of the club. Your normal shank swing would then deliver the club to the ball on the clubface. You would need to experiment to see how much off the toe you need to address the ball. Often, a shank develops because of being tentative on the downswing (afraid you are going to shank it) and decelerating into the ball. Having the ball further away would encourage you to reach a little and accelerate into the ball. A better, longterm solution would be to check your club position at various points in your backswing. About half way into your backswing, when your hands are waste high, the shaft of the club should be parallel to the target line and the toe of the club should be pointing straight up. A shank often results if the shaft is pointing away from the target line (inside the line) and/or the face of the club is pointing skywards instead of the toe.


Hope this helps.

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Best regards,
Ken Tannar