Failure To Release The Golf Club Causes Of The Shank (Video) - by Pete Styles
Failure To Release The Golf Club Causes Of The Shank (Video) - by Pete Styles

You might think I am showing off there hitting a golf ball with one hand. But that’s actually a great little piece of advice and a little tip of how you can help release the golf club which again is a great way to start avoiding the shanks. When you're setting up to the golf ball with your wedge here nice distance away from the ball, got plenty of space. Coming down to the golf ball in my downswing, I want that club head to release and rotate past my body and past my hands and my arms. If I hang on to it, and I don't let it release, you might see that the heel of the club is driven out towards the right-hand side effectively to the right of the camera towards the right of the golf ball.

And that could cause me problems with the heel of the golf club striking the golf ball first. So viewing that from the front on, we’ve got a nice set up. We set the angle. Now if we keep that angle all the way through that heel runs in first. The heel strikes the corner of the ball, and the ball shoots out through the right-hand side and again you've got a shank. And one of the issues with this is the tighter and more tense that I get; the less I release the club the more prone I could be to shanking the ball. So instead we get here, we get tight. We get tense. We grip the club too much; we just get more of them. What we’d want to see is the club releasing through. As we release through, the head squares up. The toe gets involved, and it releases over. That's going to help me strike the ball more at the middle of the club. So the drill I was doing right at the start, I wasn't showing off. What I've got here, the left hand behind my back, just my right hand holding the club. I hinge back here. And because the club is not quite heavy, it's going to be difficult for me to hold it off. It’s going to feel much more natural and comfortable if I just let that hand turn over and release the golf club that way. So set the angle let the release happen. And if you can practice on the driving range or even just in the backyard just letting that club head release over with that right hand when you grip it normally, let the hands release over. That should be a great way of making sure that you're not going to shank the golf ball. You're not going to throw the heel at the ball too much. The better release with those one-handed swings is a great way to prevent the shanks. 2016-07-08

You might think I am showing off there hitting a golf ball with one hand. But that’s actually a great little piece of advice and a little tip of how you can help release the golf club which again is a great way to start avoiding the shanks. When you're setting up to the golf ball with your wedge here nice distance away from the ball, got plenty of space. Coming down to the golf ball in my downswing, I want that club head to release and rotate past my body and past my hands and my arms. If I hang on to it, and I don't let it release, you might see that the heel of the club is driven out towards the right-hand side effectively to the right of the camera towards the right of the golf ball.

And that could cause me problems with the heel of the golf club striking the golf ball first. So viewing that from the front on, we’ve got a nice set up. We set the angle. Now if we keep that angle all the way through that heel runs in first. The heel strikes the corner of the ball, and the ball shoots out through the right-hand side and again you've got a shank. And one of the issues with this is the tighter and more tense that I get; the less I release the club the more prone I could be to shanking the ball. So instead we get here, we get tight.

We get tense. We grip the club too much; we just get more of them. What we’d want to see is the club releasing through. As we release through, the head squares up. The toe gets involved, and it releases over. That's going to help me strike the ball more at the middle of the club. So the drill I was doing right at the start, I wasn't showing off. What I've got here, the left hand behind my back, just my right hand holding the club. I hinge back here. And because the club is not quite heavy, it's going to be difficult for me to hold it off.

It’s going to feel much more natural and comfortable if I just let that hand turn over and release the golf club that way. So set the angle let the release happen. And if you can practice on the driving range or even just in the backyard just letting that club head release over with that right hand when you grip it normally, let the hands release over. That should be a great way of making sure that you're not going to shank the golf ball. You're not going to throw the heel at the ball too much. The better release with those one-handed swings is a great way to prevent the shanks.