Shanking

Let’s talk about the scariest shot in golf. The unmentionable. The hosel-rocket. The lateral…call it what you want but no golfer likes the actual term for the shot: Shanking! 

Note: The following examples are all based on playing right-handed. Obviously, you’d reverse it if you play leftie. 

The shank is perhaps the scariest shot in the game of golf. Why? Because it is unplayable! Slicing? Aim left. Hooking? Aim right. Topping? So what, you’re still going forward. Pop up? More club on your next shot. But shanking is its own animal. The result of a shank is it goes 90 degrees to the right of your intended target (lateral). So, if we follow the above reactions, we’d have to aim 90 degrees to the left of our target. Imagine aiming into the woods to go down the fairway! And perhaps the worst thing about shanking is, once you have hit one, you are in fear of hitting it again. So…what to do about it? 

 We must remember one thing about impact during a shank. It occurs no more than three-quarters of an inch from the center of the clubface, yet the result is disastrous. So close and yet so far away…But make no mistake, the first step in learning to correct that impact is understanding how it happened. 

We all set up with the center of the club face behind the golf ball (or you should). Yet somehow, the impact is on the hosel of the golf club (That section on the club is known by a few names, namely: The shank, the hosel, and the socket). What would cause the heel of the club to extend out further at impact than where we had it at address? There are essentially five reasons, but again, remember that IS what happens. 

* FLAT SWING: When the golf swings around you, it swings OUT on the downswing, resembling a baseball swing. “What goes around, comes around.” This swing is often far too wide. The correction for this is simple: you need to work on a more upright golf swing. Simple, but it needs a lot of work. Yes, Jon Rahm, Lee Trevino, et al. did not shank but there’s a reason for that - they “lagged” the golf club back into position on the downswing. Most amateurs do not. They cast, and of course, on a flat plane, they cast OUT, not down! 

* FORWARD EXTENSION. I call this “humping” the ball, where the pelvic girdle extends OUT and most of your weight goes toward the toes; it’s likely you are too close to the golf ball. In your video, if you see your rear end has moved IN from the address position, you are in danger of shanking. This can only be seen on video. The correction: place an aim stick touching your butt and learn to keep it in contact with the stick during the swing. 

* HAND PATH swings away from the body. In your video, if you see that your hands are considerably further from your body at impact than they were at the address, you are going to shank from time to time. The correction for this is a bit more involved but you can practice feeling your hands much closer to you at impact. 

* IN-TO-OUT swing path. This path is usually a “better” golfer’s issue because they are among the 10% of players who fight a hook. Remember, an in-to-out path is swinging AWAY from you at impact and therefore can meet the socket. Consider moving the golf ball forward in your stance and feeling your hands swinging more in and left to correct that path. 

* Lastly, STANDING TOO CLOSE TO THE BALL. Correction? Move away at address. Every distance from the ball at the address should match your swing width. Flat swings can be wide, and you’ll need more distance at address. Lee Trevino stood far from the ball because of his flat swing, Johnny Miller stood closer to the ball to facilitate a more upright action. As I mentioned earlier, it is a dangerous, scary miss but you can purge this nightmare from your game. 

Finally, some regular readers of this blog have asked me to address the rules of the game. Of course, that would be a book, not a blog. But what I will do is include a brief rule clarification with each article in the blog. Today I’ll start by saying this: to have any understanding of the rules, you must first know the DEFINITIONS! The definitions are in the very front of the rules book. I trust you all have access to a rules book, and I suggest you start there.