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7 Simple Steps To Cure The Shanks

The shanks are rightly considered the nightmare you wouldn’t even wish on your worst golfing enemy.It occurs when you strike the ball with the ‘hosel’ or the rounded area between the clubface and shaft.The result is usually a remarkable 45 degree ping to the right. If its particularly bad then the shot can actually shoot off to the left in a similar way. We are going to look at the reasons behind this and what you can do to stop this from happening quickly and easily.

As you are intending to hit the ball with the centre of the clubface it stands to reason that somewhere in your swing you have moved forward. This is often caused by imbalanced weight distribution.The worst place you want to end your swing on is your toes so concentrate on keeping the weight even between your heels and toes. Consider placing slightly more weight on the heel at address initially.

A good exercise is to get hold of a long stick or a special golf shaft without clubface. Address the ball as you would and place the stick in the ground three inches ahead of your front heel and then three inches back from there.Practice swing up to the point of contact and you want to feel the stick against your left hip. This is promoting the correct weight distribution at impact. If you are too far forward you wont be able to feel the stick. Keep practising until it brushes your hip every time.

Check your set up when you’re addressing the ball. Standing too close can cause the shanks so try and have the width of your fist and thumb between your body and the top of the grip.

Another fault associated with this problem is the arms moving away from the body during the swing. This is skewing the swing plane. Try practising with a tee planted next to the inside of the ball. Aim to sweep the tee out of the ground – if you can do this successfully you should be striking the ball better. Use this as a way of focusing your mind to get the club on plane.

An incomplete shoulder turn can be deadly in this scenario so concentrate on getting your left shoulder (right shoulder if you are left handed) under your chin. If you can feel this then you should be rotating your shoulders correctly.

Similar to the slice, a feature of the shanks is an open clubface at contact.Concentrate on closing the clubface – this can be achieved by ensuring that you rotate your right hand round during the swing. In addition to this an unhinged wrist will keep the clubface open so focus on letting the wrists unhinge before impact.

Consider changing your clubs as they may be too long for you. Check in your golf club shop what should be the right length for you.You want to feel as comfortable as possible when swinging.

Finally, and quite possibly the most important of all, try to stay positive and not focus on the problem. It seems an unwritten rule that once the shanks starts during a round you cant get rid of it. Part of this is because you become too focused on sorting it out that you increase your stress levels. Dont try and fight it because it only seems to get worse when you do this.

If you follow some or all of these tips you’ll be shank free and enjoying the game you love in no time at all.

About the Author

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