Mental Approach To Stop A Shank In Golf When Chipping (Video) - by PGA Instructor Peter Finch
Mental Approach To Stop A Shank In Golf When Chipping (Video) - by PGA Instructor Peter Finch

If you are shanking your chip shots one of the areas that you don’t overlook, that you can’t overlook is the mental approach to the actual shot. Because it's something which is so true really when people start to hit it out of the heel is that it gets in the mind. And all of a sudden, so many nerves and so many kind of trepidations actually come in when you're stood over a chip shot. So not approaching the mental side of this is really trying to wash over one of the main issues of hitting it out of the heel. Now you do need to work on the technical aspects. There's no doubt about it.

But there are certain drills that you can use to try and help you overcome the nervousness that you may feel when hitting it from the heel. Now probably one of the best thing to do initially, if you are faced with just a normal chip & run shot, don't use anything with such a prominent hosel. Use a hybrid club or a fairway wood while you're actually getting used to finding the center of the club. It’s amazing how simply quite a few centered strikes on the club face will lift confidence and will allow you to move back into those wedges. So that's the first thing you can try to overcome that little bit of a mental hurdle. Another drill that you can try is to really kind of go full steam at the hosel. Now what I mean by that is when you are getting actually set up to the ball, address the ball so far out of the heel that if you actually swung normally with your chip shot, you’d simply be returning it straight into that heel section of the club and the ball then shoots off to the right-hand side. If you want to hit a successful chip shot when addressing it in this manner, what you'll need to do is take the club back, and actually loop it into a position where the center of the club face comes more into play. Now this surprisingly works very, very well. Some people for whatever reason when addressing it from the middle of the club bring it back into this manner. They are just in a nervous state. You can see them getting very, very twitchy. As soon as they actually start addressing it out of the heel, it becomes very apparent. And unless they don't want to hit that heel, that swing has to be re-rooted. It's a way of using a drill, using a different mental approach to actually change how you're actually striking it. Another way you can do it because a lot of people get nervous simply grounding the club is to actually hover the club over the top of the ball. Then taking it back and then trying to strike, strike the shot. All this is doing is freeing up your mind and it’s making you a little bit less nervous over the shot. So try those different mental approaches. But like I said hitting shank chip shots is a lot about the technical aspects as much about the technical aspect as it is about the mental aspect. You need to get both working together to hopefully cure yourself when you are around the green. 2016-06-07

If you are shanking your chip shots one of the areas that you don’t overlook, that you can’t overlook is the mental approach to the actual shot. Because it's something which is so true really when people start to hit it out of the heel is that it gets in the mind. And all of a sudden, so many nerves and so many kind of trepidations actually come in when you're stood over a chip shot. So not approaching the mental side of this is really trying to wash over one of the main issues of hitting it out of the heel. Now you do need to work on the technical aspects. There's no doubt about it.

But there are certain drills that you can use to try and help you overcome the nervousness that you may feel when hitting it from the heel. Now probably one of the best thing to do initially, if you are faced with just a normal chip & run shot, don't use anything with such a prominent hosel. Use a hybrid club or a fairway wood while you're actually getting used to finding the center of the club. It’s amazing how simply quite a few centered strikes on the club face will lift confidence and will allow you to move back into those wedges.

So that's the first thing you can try to overcome that little bit of a mental hurdle. Another drill that you can try is to really kind of go full steam at the hosel. Now what I mean by that is when you are getting actually set up to the ball, address the ball so far out of the heel that if you actually swung normally with your chip shot, you’d simply be returning it straight into that heel section of the club and the ball then shoots off to the right-hand side. If you want to hit a successful chip shot when addressing it in this manner, what you'll need to do is take the club back, and actually loop it into a position where the center of the club face comes more into play.

Now this surprisingly works very, very well. Some people for whatever reason when addressing it from the middle of the club bring it back into this manner. They are just in a nervous state. You can see them getting very, very twitchy. As soon as they actually start addressing it out of the heel, it becomes very apparent. And unless they don't want to hit that heel, that swing has to be re-rooted. It's a way of using a drill, using a different mental approach to actually change how you're actually striking it.

Another way you can do it because a lot of people get nervous simply grounding the club is to actually hover the club over the top of the ball. Then taking it back and then trying to strike, strike the shot. All this is doing is freeing up your mind and it’s making you a little bit less nervous over the shot. So try those different mental approaches. But like I said hitting shank chip shots is a lot about the technical aspects as much about the technical aspect as it is about the mental aspect. You need to get both working together to hopefully cure yourself when you are around the green.