Natalie Adams – PGA Teaching Pro
If you’re struggling with shanking the golf ball it can be a really debilitating shot to hit. I think the main reason for this is that when you’re on the driving range and you’re hitting the shank, the ball flies so low and so acutely to the right there is no power in it at all, and it feels like a really, really horrible connection. There’s nothing sweet about the shot at all. But it is only just an incorrect golf movement. So once you understand what’s causing it, it’s quite simple to fix it and get you back to hitting a much more solid, a much straighter higher shot with plenty of length on it. So let’s look at what will course the shank and basically what we need to do is help you to swing the golf club much more upright on your backswing. So I’ve set up two alignment poles here, the yellow pole is representing the ball to target line, and the red pole is basically at the back of my heels so where I’m standing.
Now a good way to practice this drill would be instead of having the red pole actually stand in front of a solid wall. That would give you much more special awareness of this area in your golf swing. Okay if you’re hitting a shank what’s happening is as you’re swinging the club away on your takeaway, the club head is curving too immediately away from the target line which is the yellow pole and it’s going over the red line far too quickly. The club head is too low once this is happening and this is an incorrect position and it’s this position that causes your shank. So what we want to do is swing much more upright that would involve the club head moving straighter back along the yellow pole and then you’re hinging your wrist in an upward movement, so the club head rises up off the yellow pole but stays out over the yellow pole more. So rather than curving and your wrist moving in this direction, which now gets the club head over the red pole, work on taking the club head back along the yellow pole and then making more of a thumbs up action which will allow the club head to rise so as you get to the end of your takeaway and with the club at waist high, the shaft of the club is parallel to the two alignment poles and the club head is now as high as your hands, rather than the club head being lower than your hands and over the red pole. So if you’ve got a wall behind you here, that’ll really encourage you to swing the golf club out so that you achieve a position parallel to that wall rather than hitting it.
The other way you could work on improving that takeaway and making it more upright, is if you place the golf bag when you’re at the driving range, to the right of you so the bottom of that golf bag is on the target line you want to work on swinging the club head back along the yellow pole back along the target line and then using your wrist so that the club head rises up the outer side of the golf bag along that angle. If you’re shanking you’ll find that this is more of look you’ll get in your takeaway. So the club head will have cut underneath the golf bag and it will never get to the upper side of that golf bag. It’s giving you a very flat, very low, takeaway position. So work on improving your backswing making your takeaway much more upright, getting a much more upright backswing position, and those shanks will soon be in the past and you’ll be hitting much better golf shots.
2013-08-12 Natalie Adams – PGA Teaching Pro
If you’re struggling with shanking the golf ball it can be a really debilitating shot to hit. I think the main reason for this is that when you’re on the driving range and you’re hitting the shank, the ball flies so low and so acutely to the right there is no power in it at all, and it feels like a really, really horrible connection. There’s nothing sweet about the shot at all. But it is only just an incorrect golf movement. So once you understand what’s causing it, it’s quite simple to fix it and get you back to hitting a much more solid, a much straighter higher shot with plenty of length on it. So let’s look at what will course the shank and basically what we need to do is help you to swing the golf club much more upright on your backswing. So I’ve set up two alignment poles here, the yellow pole is representing the ball to target line, and the red pole is basically at the back of my heels so where I’m standing.
Now a good way to practice this drill would be instead of having the red pole actually stand in front of a solid wall. That would give you much more special awareness of this area in your golf swing. Okay if you’re hitting a shank what’s happening is as you’re swinging the club away on your takeaway, the club head is curving too immediately away from the target line which is the yellow pole and it’s going over the red line far too quickly. The club head is too low once this is happening and this is an incorrect position and it’s this position that causes your shank. So what we want to do is swing much more upright that would involve the club head moving straighter back along the yellow pole and then you’re hinging your wrist in an upward movement, so the club head rises up off the yellow pole but stays out over the yellow pole more. So rather than curving and your wrist moving in this direction, which now gets the club head over the red pole, work on taking the club head back along the yellow pole and then making more of a thumbs up action which will allow the club head to rise so as you get to the end of your takeaway and with the club at waist high, the shaft of the club is parallel to the two alignment poles and the club head is now as high as your hands, rather than the club head being lower than your hands and over the red pole. So if you’ve got a wall behind you here, that’ll really encourage you to swing the golf club out so that you achieve a position parallel to that wall rather than hitting it.
The other way you could work on improving that takeaway and making it more upright, is if you place the golf bag when you’re at the driving range, to the right of you so the bottom of that golf bag is on the target line you want to work on swinging the club head back along the yellow pole back along the target line and then using your wrist so that the club head rises up the outer side of the golf bag along that angle. If you’re shanking you’ll find that this is more of look you’ll get in your takeaway. So the club head will have cut underneath the golf bag and it will never get to the upper side of that golf bag. It’s giving you a very flat, very low, takeaway position. So work on improving your backswing making your takeaway much more upright, getting a much more upright backswing position, and those shanks will soon be in the past and you’ll be hitting much better golf shots.
