Fix my Shank Swing Problem Ball Hits on the Heel - Senior Golf Tip (Video) - by Dean Butler
Fix my Shank Swing Problem Ball Hits on the Heel - Senior Golf Tip (Video) - by Dean Butler

Okay. The word I’m going to use now conjures up fear destruction for all golfers, it’s called the shank. It’s the word that is almost unofficially banned from all golf-club bars. It’s the word that you just do not want to mention. It’s a nightmare. What is a shank? Well, if you clicked on to this I think you know what a shank is, but I’m going to explain what it is anyway. A shank is where the golf ball meets the actual hosel of the golf club and the hosel is this part here, where the shaft goes into this part is a hosel. The ball hits that corner here, it hits the hosel and that angle here squeezes the ball literally at a right angle to the right-hand side. That’s what a shank is. That’s where it comes from. It comes out of the hosel and shoots the right hand side. And predominantly the thing that causes this more than anything else, if you kind of think about it, you start with a ball in the middle of the clubface and for the ball to come out of the heel, the most common factor is that when we get to the top of the backswing, as the body tends to move into the shot, so if I kind of do that you can see how the club has moved to the right-hand side.

So, from there, if the body moves down first, we tend to kind of fall into the ball in which case the club, which is attached to our arm and our body, moves away from the ball and it catches this area and believe me it’s a horrible golf shot and it’s one that plays on your mind for quite some time. So, that’s what causes a shank. It’s a very, very common thing, but there’s a very, very good sort of simple exercise that you can actually work on here to actually get rid of this shank, a lot easier than you actually think. I’ve two golf balls down here and a good simple tip is if you set yourself up to the first ball and separate these two balls just so you get about sort of two-three inches apart, what we want you to do is to set yourself up for the first golf shot and then from here swing the club back, just start with a very shot swing and try and miss it on the inside.

So, if I put that ball back here, if I swing the club back here and then come from the inside, you can see I’m actually training the club to come through on a different sort of path, but remember you’ve been used to going up here and turn the club that way, so we need to change that swing path. So, first of all set up the first ball, swing it back and come across. Once you’ve done that, set up to the second ball, do the same thing, but this time hit the first ball, so this time turn the club back, but then bring the club this way. So, you can see what I’m doing. I’m taking the club back and from here I’m pulling the club here and I’m going to make contact with that and then when I get to the second ball, I set up outside the ball, to the right of it, do the same thing, swing it back and then pull the club across.

This is giving us the action now where I actually bring the club this way cause the golf club at impact should be coming through and round. What you’ve been doing to shank the ball, is to bring the club in and the club has been traveling this way, it’s been traveling outwards and it is hitting that and that’s what’s causing the shank. So, that’s a very simple tip. Shank is a horrible golf shot, let’s now play down on that, but here is a way that you can actually get rid of that shank a lot quicker than you think. Put that into practice.

 2013-08-06

Okay. The word I’m going to use now conjures up fear destruction for all golfers, it’s called the shank. It’s the word that is almost unofficially banned from all golf-club bars. It’s the word that you just do not want to mention. It’s a nightmare. What is a shank? Well, if you clicked on to this I think you know what a shank is, but I’m going to explain what it is anyway. A shank is where the golf ball meets the actual hosel of the golf club and the hosel is this part here, where the shaft goes into this part is a hosel. The ball hits that corner here, it hits the hosel and that angle here squeezes the ball literally at a right angle to the right-hand side. That’s what a shank is. That’s where it comes from. It comes out of the hosel and shoots the right hand side. And predominantly the thing that causes this more than anything else, if you kind of think about it, you start with a ball in the middle of the clubface and for the ball to come out of the heel, the most common factor is that when we get to the top of the backswing, as the body tends to move into the shot, so if I kind of do that you can see how the club has moved to the right-hand side.

So, from there, if the body moves down first, we tend to kind of fall into the ball in which case the club, which is attached to our arm and our body, moves away from the ball and it catches this area and believe me it’s a horrible golf shot and it’s one that plays on your mind for quite some time. So, that’s what causes a shank. It’s a very, very common thing, but there’s a very, very good sort of simple exercise that you can actually work on here to actually get rid of this shank, a lot easier than you actually think. I’ve two golf balls down here and a good simple tip is if you set yourself up to the first ball and separate these two balls just so you get about sort of two-three inches apart, what we want you to do is to set yourself up for the first golf shot and then from here swing the club back, just start with a very shot swing and try and miss it on the inside.

So, if I put that ball back here, if I swing the club back here and then come from the inside, you can see I’m actually training the club to come through on a different sort of path, but remember you’ve been used to going up here and turn the club that way, so we need to change that swing path. So, first of all set up the first ball, swing it back and come across. Once you’ve done that, set up to the second ball, do the same thing, but this time hit the first ball, so this time turn the club back, but then bring the club this way. So, you can see what I’m doing. I’m taking the club back and from here I’m pulling the club here and I’m going to make contact with that and then when I get to the second ball, I set up outside the ball, to the right of it, do the same thing, swing it back and then pull the club across.

This is giving us the action now where I actually bring the club this way cause the golf club at impact should be coming through and round. What you’ve been doing to shank the ball, is to bring the club in and the club has been traveling this way, it’s been traveling outwards and it is hitting that and that’s what’s causing the shank. So, that’s a very simple tip. Shank is a horrible golf shot, let’s now play down on that, but here is a way that you can actually get rid of that shank a lot quicker than you think. Put that into practice.