Causes and Cures: Shots Off the Club’s Heel - Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Causes and Cures: Shots Off the Club’s Heel - Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

It’s in the golf ball, from the heel of the golf club, it’s not only one of the most destructive shots in golf, it’s actually quite common as well, it’s what we call the shank. Hitting it from this part of the golf, with the shank of the golf club, produces a shot that for the right-hander shoots low into the right hand side very quickly.

Couple of things that might be causing you to have the shanks if you’ve got them; one of the areas might be that you’re just addressing the golf ball a little bit too close, if you haven’t given yourself enough room in the address position, then when the club comes down and your arms stretch out, you might just be pushing the club away from you slightly, introducing the hosel or the shank of the golf club to the ball first.

The other thing is probably just about balance, little bit too much body weight, leaning forward on to the tiptoes, making you come forward, same thing, the club will go outside the line and you will shank the golf ball. So if we can check that you’re balanced and that you’re the right distance away from the golf ball, that’s one of the first things that will help you cure the shanks. So in a good address position there, we want to just make sure that we’re balanced and with the right distance back. If it sets up in your normal comfortable position, bring the golf club up to, just above your belt buckle, just below your bellybutton, take your normal grip and just tuck your elbows in nice and loosely though and tilting forwards bending forwards at the hips, the club should come down to the ball and just reach it nicely, little bit of knee flex there and that should be a good position. I know now that I’m the right distance away and I’ve got some nice balance and knee flex.

If I was to take my address position a little too far back from the golf ball, drop the club down, I am going to struggle to reach out too far, that puts me onto my tiptoes and I could fall into the ball and shank it or conversely, setting up too close, same drill, tilting forward, the club now sits outside the line of the ball, I can adjust it to pull in, but what would happen when I made my swing, chances are, I push back out and catch the heel again. So the shanks could be quite complicated, but if you can start up by making sure that you’re addressing the golf ball correctly, see if you put right distance away and also that you’ve got the right amount of balance, the correct balance, middle of your feet, not too much heels, not too much toes, then hopefully by getting a good set up, you’ll stop shanking the ball so often.

2012-08-06

It’s in the golf ball, from the heel of the golf club, it’s not only one of the most destructive shots in golf, it’s actually quite common as well, it’s what we call the shank. Hitting it from this part of the golf, with the shank of the golf club, produces a shot that for the right-hander shoots low into the right hand side very quickly.

Couple of things that might be causing you to have the shanks if you’ve got them; one of the areas might be that you’re just addressing the golf ball a little bit too close, if you haven’t given yourself enough room in the address position, then when the club comes down and your arms stretch out, you might just be pushing the club away from you slightly, introducing the hosel or the shank of the golf club to the ball first.

The other thing is probably just about balance, little bit too much body weight, leaning forward on to the tiptoes, making you come forward, same thing, the club will go outside the line and you will shank the golf ball. So if we can check that you’re balanced and that you’re the right distance away from the golf ball, that’s one of the first things that will help you cure the shanks. So in a good address position there, we want to just make sure that we’re balanced and with the right distance back. If it sets up in your normal comfortable position, bring the golf club up to, just above your belt buckle, just below your bellybutton, take your normal grip and just tuck your elbows in nice and loosely though and tilting forwards bending forwards at the hips, the club should come down to the ball and just reach it nicely, little bit of knee flex there and that should be a good position. I know now that I’m the right distance away and I’ve got some nice balance and knee flex.

If I was to take my address position a little too far back from the golf ball, drop the club down, I am going to struggle to reach out too far, that puts me onto my tiptoes and I could fall into the ball and shank it or conversely, setting up too close, same drill, tilting forward, the club now sits outside the line of the ball, I can adjust it to pull in, but what would happen when I made my swing, chances are, I push back out and catch the heel again. So the shanks could be quite complicated, but if you can start up by making sure that you’re addressing the golf ball correctly, see if you put right distance away and also that you’ve got the right amount of balance, the correct balance, middle of your feet, not too much heels, not too much toes, then hopefully by getting a good set up, you’ll stop shanking the ball so often.