You're Correct!

The shanks are simply an incorrectly struck golf shot. However, out of all the ways that you can mis-hit a golf shot, a shank is probably the most feared and most destructive shot that can happen. When you hit a shank, the golf ball flies low and extremely right (right handed golfers) and a lot of golfers believe the shanks are a disease that you cannot get rid of.

Some golfers will not even say the word shank for fear of hitting one. This is how demoralizing hitting this shot can be. But at the end of the day, a shank is simply a badly struck golf shot.

If you hit a shank, the golf ball flies very low and dramatically to the right, purely because it has not been struck from the centre of the club face. A shank is struck from the heel of the club head and the strike is so far away from the centre of the club face that it actually contacts the hosel of the club. The hosel is where the shaft is connected to the club head. The hosel striking the golf ball is what results in the ball flying so low and so dramatically to the right. To rid yourself of a shank, you need to learn to strike the ball from the centre of the club face, rather than from the hosel.

Hitting a shank is a product of not swinging the golf club on plane. This means that the club head is not moving around your body at the correct angle to allow you to present the centre of the club face back to the golf ball through impact. If you improve your initial movement away from the golf ball and get your takeaway on plane, then this will allow you to move much more correctly through the rest of your back swing.

A great drill to work on to improve your takeaway is to stand next to a wall so that the wall is behind you. Take up your address position so that your backside touches the wall. You need to make your takeaway so the club head does not hit the wall. Work on moving the club so that the shaft becomes parallel to the wall and parallel to the target line at hip height. If you hit a shank, you will tend to move the club back away from the ball into the wall, so improve this.

Golf shots struck from the golf clubs sweet spot are the most accurate and longest shots that you can hit. A shank is a short and extremely right shot so it has definitely not been struck from the sweet spot. A shank is struck from the hosel and heel end of the club and to improve it you need to strike more from the centre of the club face.

As a shank is hit from the hosel and there is no loft on this area of the golf club, a shank never flies very high from the ground. A shank flies low and very much to the right of the target. To get height on to the shot, you need to strike from the centre of the club face.

A straight golf shot is produced when the golf club face is presented back to the golf ball so that it is aiming at the target, with the club head travelling at the target and the ball struck from the centre. As a shank is struck from the hosel of the club head, it does not produce a straight golf shot, but a low right shot.