Other Issues To Consider With The Golf Shank (Video) - by Pete Styles
Other Issues To Consider With The Golf Shank (Video) - by Pete Styles

There’s two other areas here that is just worth noting for why you might be hitting the shanks and certainly how we can help you avoid the shanks. And one maybe goes slightly against the – that sort of slightly contradicts the things that we might have talked about in the past. And this is club selection particularly when you're between clubs. So let's say we've got a shot that's a 70 yard shot. Yet you’ve got a sand wedge in your bag that goes 60 yards and you got a gap wedge in your bag that goes 80 yards. So you are kind of right in between those two clubs.

And you can’t get an extra club in your bag because you've already got 14. The general thing would be to club up as in go to your gap wedge and then swing smooth. But one of the problems with that concept of swinging smooth is golfers swing without commitment. And the lack of commitment there is going to cause you the problems. So if you go to a gap wedge and then you're slowly coming into the ball thinking you need to take away power, the one thing you might miss out on there is a good release. So you are going to try and hold the club off to take off power which actually throws that heel in line with the ball again. So we want to be able to release that club through. So it might be worth actually clubbing down, going to the sand wedge which you know is about 10 yards short, and really committing to a good shot. Now I'm not suggesting that you're actually going to gain those extra 10 yards, but the commitment you have should at least hit it the 60 yards which if you are on line on the green and 10 yards short to the flag, it's not the end of the world. It's certainly better than a sideways shank which is going to do you no favors at all. So sometimes if you're thinking about hitting a shot into a green that's between clubs make sure you commit. Club down and commit rather than clubbing up and be too passive and shank it. The other consideration for when you might encounter that shank which might be a bit out of the ordinary is when the ball is below your feet. So you're playing away nicely on flat ground and there’s no problems with the shank. But then you get one of those where it's on a slightly tilted fairway, where you are on the bank of a bunker or something like that, the feet are a bit higher. The ball is a bit lower. Certainly in that position everything's being tilted this way. Everything is making you full more on to your toes. Your bodyweight goes on to the toes. The club is too far right in front of you. You tilt forwards and suddenly you've pushed yourself into the ball. We’ve lead in with the heel and bang, we’ve shanked it that way. So just try and make sure if you ever do get one of those slopes where the feet are high, ball below the feet. We stay super balanced, really balanced. Lots of knee flex and anchor the bodyweight a little bit more into the heels to stop you tilting on to your tip toes and falling forwards. And hopefully with that setup, you can avoid the shanks when the ball is below your feet. 2016-07-08

There’s two other areas here that is just worth noting for why you might be hitting the shanks and certainly how we can help you avoid the shanks. And one maybe goes slightly against the – that sort of slightly contradicts the things that we might have talked about in the past. And this is club selection particularly when you're between clubs. So let's say we've got a shot that's a 70 yard shot. Yet you’ve got a sand wedge in your bag that goes 60 yards and you got a gap wedge in your bag that goes 80 yards. So you are kind of right in between those two clubs.

And you can’t get an extra club in your bag because you've already got 14. The general thing would be to club up as in go to your gap wedge and then swing smooth. But one of the problems with that concept of swinging smooth is golfers swing without commitment. And the lack of commitment there is going to cause you the problems. So if you go to a gap wedge and then you're slowly coming into the ball thinking you need to take away power, the one thing you might miss out on there is a good release.

So you are going to try and hold the club off to take off power which actually throws that heel in line with the ball again. So we want to be able to release that club through. So it might be worth actually clubbing down, going to the sand wedge which you know is about 10 yards short, and really committing to a good shot. Now I'm not suggesting that you're actually going to gain those extra 10 yards, but the commitment you have should at least hit it the 60 yards which if you are on line on the green and 10 yards short to the flag, it's not the end of the world.

It's certainly better than a sideways shank which is going to do you no favors at all. So sometimes if you're thinking about hitting a shot into a green that's between clubs make sure you commit. Club down and commit rather than clubbing up and be too passive and shank it. The other consideration for when you might encounter that shank which might be a bit out of the ordinary is when the ball is below your feet. So you're playing away nicely on flat ground and there’s no problems with the shank.

But then you get one of those where it's on a slightly tilted fairway, where you are on the bank of a bunker or something like that, the feet are a bit higher. The ball is a bit lower. Certainly in that position everything's being tilted this way. Everything is making you full more on to your toes. Your bodyweight goes on to the toes. The club is too far right in front of you. You tilt forwards and suddenly you've pushed yourself into the ball. We’ve lead in with the heel and bang, we’ve shanked it that way.

So just try and make sure if you ever do get one of those slopes where the feet are high, ball below the feet. We stay super balanced, really balanced. Lots of knee flex and anchor the bodyweight a little bit more into the heels to stop you tilting on to your tip toes and falling forwards. And hopefully with that setup, you can avoid the shanks when the ball is below your feet.