Why Do I Shank My Golf Chip Shots Under Pressure? (Video) - by Peter Finch
Why Do I Shank My Golf Chip Shots Under Pressure? (Video) - by Peter Finch

Why do I shank my golf chip shots under pressure? Now a shank is when the ball makes contact with the club right out of the heel and once that happens, the ball is actually spun off to the right hand side often on a very low trajectory and it becomes almost uncontrollable. Now a shank is also destructive to the score card but it’s also destructive to the psyche here as well because once one is here out of the shank, it often becomes a little bit of an epidemic and more follow

However, the most common cause for actually shanking when under pressure is obviously a little bit of nervousness there with the shot but also a very, very tight grip pressure. It’s almost when you’re trying to control the club face too much which is not even understandable because if you do hit it out of the hazel, you do hit the shank, you’ll want to have more control over the club and you grip onto it very, very tightly. However once you grip onto it very, very tightly and you start to try and guide the club through impact, it’s always likely to try and hit the hosel first; the one thing you’re very much trying to avoid. Now there are a couple of drills you can actually use to actually try and alleviate this problem. Now the first thing you need to do is just give yourself a little bit of room from the ball, make sure you’ve not stood on top of it, giving yourself a little bit of room will obviously help. But the second thing you can do and a little drill you can use, just don’t let kind of the practice ground or if you are on the, on the course find a the competitive situation obviously the one you want to practice. You just take two balls; put one inside the other one, just under a club width away. So if you’re to actually shank the ball when the club moves on the outside like this you’ll actually hit this second ball on the outside. So what you want to do is take yourself into a nice little chipping setup, give yourself plenty of room from the ball and then as you come into the shot keep the hands nice and relaxed, then just try and hit the inside ball and try and leave the outside ball exactly where it is. If you can do that then the shanks on the chips will become a thing of the past. But use this drill actually practice it in a pressure situation as well. So give yourself some targets on the actual practice range, give yourself some goals say five out of 10 shots on the green and use it in a precious situation. Then once you get out into the course hopefully those shanks on the chips will become a thing of the past. Just don’t grip on too tight because like I said that’s the common mistake people make when they try and control the ball too much. Just keep it relaxed, practice this drill and hopefully you’ll see more success around the greens on the course. 2014-08-19

Why do I shank my golf chip shots under pressure? Now a shank is when the ball makes contact with the club right out of the heel and once that happens, the ball is actually spun off to the right hand side often on a very low trajectory and it becomes almost uncontrollable. Now a shank is also destructive to the score card but it’s also destructive to the psyche here as well because once one is here out of the shank, it often becomes a little bit of an epidemic and more follow

However, the most common cause for actually shanking when under pressure is obviously a little bit of nervousness there with the shot but also a very, very tight grip pressure. It’s almost when you’re trying to control the club face too much which is not even understandable because if you do hit it out of the hazel, you do hit the shank, you’ll want to have more control over the club and you grip onto it very, very tightly. However once you grip onto it very, very tightly and you start to try and guide the club through impact, it’s always likely to try and hit the hosel first; the one thing you’re very much trying to avoid.

Now there are a couple of drills you can actually use to actually try and alleviate this problem. Now the first thing you need to do is just give yourself a little bit of room from the ball, make sure you’ve not stood on top of it, giving yourself a little bit of room will obviously help. But the second thing you can do and a little drill you can use, just don’t let kind of the practice ground or if you are on the, on the course find a the competitive situation obviously the one you want to practice. You just take two balls; put one inside the other one, just under a club width away. So if you’re to actually shank the ball when the club moves on the outside like this you’ll actually hit this second ball on the outside.

So what you want to do is take yourself into a nice little chipping setup, give yourself plenty of room from the ball and then as you come into the shot keep the hands nice and relaxed, then just try and hit the inside ball and try and leave the outside ball exactly where it is. If you can do that then the shanks on the chips will become a thing of the past. But use this drill actually practice it in a pressure situation as well. So give yourself some targets on the actual practice range, give yourself some goals say five out of 10 shots on the green and use it in a precious situation. Then once you get out into the course hopefully those shanks on the chips will become a thing of the past. Just don’t grip on too tight because like I said that’s the common mistake people make when they try and control the ball too much. Just keep it relaxed, practice this drill and hopefully you’ll see more success around the greens on the course.