Shanking half wedges!!!

irish bloke

Anyone know a good reason or a good drill to prevent shanking the ball off half wedge shots?

It can happen to me anywhere between 60-20 yards in.
It happened to me 3 times yesterday and is not club specific either:(

Rest of my game is in pretty good nick now and would love to nip this one in the bud..

thanks

Deco1983

had similar issue to this a few years back...fully committing(physically) to the shot was the problem for me.

Spend 20-30 mins up the range not looking at where the ball goes but just getting feel for committing to strike and making good clean contact...

My 2 cents anyway
D

dines08

Had similar problems to this, the fix for me seemed to be not slowing down on the way through. Going faster with the swing on the take away than the strike led to shanks and duffs. I maintain the same speed going back as coming back through now and it's much more consistent

irish bloke

Cheers guys,

That could be it but Ive worked alot on this technique (accelerating through the ball) on my chipping and has made a huge difference.

I do think though that I am also accelerating through the ball for these half wedge shots.

I wondering am I tipping forward ever so slightly, therefore catching the ball with the neck of the club.

Could it be just my balance/set up at address?

doc_17

I have the same issue with a sand iron from say 80 metres in. If I don't fully commit to it I shank it. I tried to get a better rhythm going and accelerate through the ball and it seems to have fixed it for me.

matt-dublin

Try putting a little more weight on your left foot at address, keep your eye on the ball and don't move it until after impact so try to focus your eyes on one dimple on the ball. Make sure your head isn't moving forward at impact

mcgarrett

Had same problems with this especially within 30 yds of green.

Was told when practicing to close my eyes on the downswing.

I know you're going :eek:, try it.

madds

Take a look at Mickelson's short game videos - I find them invaluable whenever my short game needs a bit of work -> phil mickelson short game.

He advocates the 'hinge and hold' method which effectively calls for an early break of the wrists in a short backswing, squeezing the ball in contact, and holding the wrists through the follow through. The aim is to to get the ball into a '3 foot circle' from where a decent putter will be able to convert thereby increasing their up and down stats.

irish bloke

Thanks lads for replies.

Just to clarify.
I am not duffing the shot I.E hitting the ground first or the ball thin.

When I say "shank", I mean I am hitting the ball with the hozel of the club (near the shaft).

The result of this shot is the ball will shoot out 45 degrees right of the target and barly leave the ground.

I only seem to do this with half wedge shots PW-LW, 60-20 yards in.

katnia

irish bloke wrote: »

Anyone know a good reason or a good drill to prevent shanking the ball off half wedge shots?

It can happen to me anywhere between 60-20 yards in.
It happened to me 3 times yesterday and is not club specific either:(

Rest of my game is in pretty good nick now and would love to nip this one in the bud..

thanks

I believe the reason for this sort of shank is because you are not doing a proper weight transfer during the swing.

What tends to happen is you lean into the shot slightly with your left side and as such no weight transfers to the right side (inside of right leg) like it would during a normal shot, this causes the hands the lead the shot and as such the hosel of the club strikes the ball sending the shot straight right. If you make a 'connected' turn away from the ball with your arms and shoulders as one unit this should cause you to transfer the weight in a proper fashion and stop you hitting the ball with your hands and therefore not shanking the shot.

If you do this correctly your swing will feel compact and tight as you are swinging with Arms and Shoulders together and not with the hands working independently. My 2 cents worth anyway!

k.p.h

I think matt-dublin and dine08 have the right idea TBH. It sounds like you are just getting ahead of the ball and leaving the face open. It could be from a number of things but they all just equate to going too fast some where, be it the transition leaving the club behind, letting your body get ahead of the ball or your arms pulling the club through the ball.

It's a disaster of an affliction because it looks so bad but in reality it is probably just because you are out of sync somewhere.

Also unlike shots with others clubs, a big weight shift dose nothing good with a wedge. As your body weight moves forward your body dose too. In turn the ball is further back in your swing arc at impact, it might only be a couple of inches but it could easily be the couple of inches that squares the club up.

I think that's why setting the weight on you front foot for short irons works so well, if you set up forward then you can move off the ball anymore and you get more consistent strikes.

Anyway I think a mixture of the lads suggestions would work. For reference here is McIlroy hitting one, I think the thing to note is how centered he stays.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTJUjGUyHy0

Benicetomonty

Horrible affliction and the truth is it can happen to anyone at anytime. Notorious shankers amongst the pros include Ian Poulter and our own Open Champion Darren Clarke so first thing to remember is youre not alone! Its also hugely psychological so a quick fix can sometimes need a degree of extremity. One idea might be to mirror Tin Cup, who emptied all his change from 1 pocket to the next to try and think about something else-sounds facile but genuinely worth a shot. Failing that, try and hit a couple of hook shots-big ones. As in, if you are right handed, aim way right and try and bring it back even if it feels bizzare. Harvey Penick said its almost impossible to shank a ball with a closed club face. Always stuck with me. Also, address the ball off the toe for extra insurance. And practice hitting wedge shots til a shank becomes a shock again instead of an expectation!

Milkers

You might just be standing too close to the ball at address on those shots.

GreeBo

just to add one more to the mix.
whenever Im doing this its typically because Im fanning the club open on the way back.
Check the clubface at 9oc and make sure its pointing to the sky and that the shaft isnt out in front of you or behind you.

After that its mental Im afraid

dines08

The only other fix I have in mind for a shank is the follow through. A good mate of mine went through the horrors with shanks on every iron in his bag for months and it took us ages to figure it out. His weight transfer wasn't great but the big problem was his follow through, he was stubbing his club into the ground trying too hard to hit down on the ball and take a divot. He was essentially stopping his follow through about a foot after the ball. It led to awful shanks and a horribly frustrating time. Again, it might not have the solution for you but it's one to rule out.

dcrosskid

I went through a short phase of doing something similar with my longer irons, i was dangerous on the course when this was the case! All i did was move the ball to the outside of the club face. Striking the ball brilliantly since. Havnt shanked a ball in nearly 2 years. Losing the slightest bit of distance id say but hitting it straight which is ideal.

stockdam

Are you moving towards your toes on the downswing or else fanning the club open on the backswing.

Check that you aren't rolling your wrists open or swinging very flat.

Try addressing the ball off the toe of the club for a while.

whatawaster

Quite a myriad of suggestions on this thread. OP is likely to be even more confused!

Setting weight on front foot with little or no weight shift seems like a good suggestion. It helped me with my chipping, but I was duffing chips, not shanking them.

matt-dublin

Keeping the weight on the left foot throughout the swing will reduce body movement and keep your head bedind the ball

This will stop your hands and arms from opening up the clubface

Also it should promote an out to in swing path which is better on a wedge shot IMO.

It sounds to me like you're moving forward in your swing with an in to out path which is causing you to hit the hosel

Rikand

doc_17 wrote: »

I have the same issue with a sand iron from say 80 metres in. If I don't fully commit to it I shank it. I tried to get a better rhythm going and accelerate through the ball and it seems to have fixed it for me.

thinly veiled brag about hitting a sandwedge 80 metres ?

GreeBo

Rickylovesuall wrote: »

thinly veiled brag about hitting a sandwedge 80 metres ?

80m isnt a terribly big SW....but thanks for playing anyway.:rolleyes:

SARZY

Play the ball at your right foot or even to the right of that, and strengthen your grip.

You will 'release' it better as it seems to me you are 'quitting' on the shot or decelerating.

Ball well back always helps the 'release' as does a stronger gip.

Try it out, it turned me from a chronic shanker to NO shanks ever again.

GreeBo

SARZY wrote: »

Play the ball at your right foot or even to the right of that, and strengthen your grip.

You will 'release' it better as it seems to me you are 'quitting' on the shot or decelerating.

Ball well back always helps the 'release' as does a stronger gip.

Try it out, it turned me from a chronic shanker to NO shanks ever again.

Sorry but this is a band-aid fix.
Unless you are trying to hit the ball particularly low you want it no further back than the middle of your stance.
Playing it that far back is massively delofting the clubface and encouraging a reverse pivot to go back for the ball.

SARZY

GreeBo wrote: »

Sorry but this is a band-aid fix.
Unless you are trying to hit the ball particularly low you want it no further back than the middle of your stance.
Playing it that far back is massively delofting the clubface and encouraging a reverse pivot to go back for the ball.

Well now, I am sorry, but, shanking short shots, as the man described, requires a quick 'band aid', as you put it, Because it will quickly start to manifest itself through the bag.
The man himself thinks that he is decelerating.
If the ball goes low, so what, if it goes forward, every time, then he is on the way.
I have suffered, I KNOW how a band aid can turn this around.
It is urgent, believe me.

GreeBo

SARZY wrote: »

Well now, I am sorry, but, shanking short shots, as the man described, requires a quick 'band aid', as you put it, Because it will quickly start to manifest itself through the bag.
The man himself thinks that he is decelerating.
If the ball goes low, so what, if it goes forward, every time, then he is on the way.
I have suffered, I KNOW how a band aid can turn this around.
It is urgent, believe me.

ok so when do you suggest the OP learns how to stop shanking them without a temporary band aid?
Whats urgent is a lesson from a qualified pro, assuming no one else can diagnose the problem for free.
The way to solve this problem on the course is to stop leaving yourself half shots.

SARZY

Might I suggest that 'irishbloke', who is looking for a fix on this forum, be allowed to make up his own mind on the replies he recieves here.

I dont want to get into any bitching session with anybody here.

matt-dublin

Might I suggest you both stop bickering,

sarzy, your band aid will work but only for shots where there is space to run the ball, it's not suitable for when there's a tight pin position where a high ball flight is required.

A permanent fix is required here otherwise the shank will begin to grow into the punchy shots outside 100 yards and eventually into the full mid and long irons.

GreeBo

SARZY wrote: »

Might I suggest that 'irishbloke', who is looking for a fix on this forum, be allowed to make up his own mind on the replies he recieves here.

Sure he can make up his own mind, in much the same way that you, or I or anyone for that matter are allowed to express opinions about other posts.

Someone starts to shank the ball because they have started to do something "wrong" in their swing. Doing something else wrong to hide the original fault is hardly sound advice. You now have two errors to fix.

SARZY wrote: »

I dont want to get into any bitching session with anybody here.

FWIW disagreeing with someones view and arguing about it is not a bitching session, its what forums are pretty much designed to do..its not supposed to be a love-in and as long as people "attack" the post and not the poster its expected, allowed and even encouraged!

Obni

A mate of mine has suffered with the shanks for years. He tried several pros and every weight transfer trick in the book. Eventually, a fellow player mentioned that he had a tendency to drop his right shoulder during his downswing on short lobs and chips (he's right-handed btw). Once he keeps focussed and doesn't drop that shoulder he doesn't shank.

irish bloke

Thanks folks, lots of opinions and some good tips here too.

As I am pretty sure my acceleration and follow-through are OK, I’m inclined to think as has being suggested here, that I am falling towards the shot slightly or I am playing the ball too close to the hozle.

I play the ball closer to the hozle on all of my irons as I find I get a crisper strike doing this although I never shank these so am not sure if this is the issue.
Not often but I can tend to fall slightly forward and off balance a tad on my drives which causes me to cut across the ball ever so slightly causing a big fade.

Its possible it’s a combination of both so im going to work on these aspects to see if I can address the issue.

Again, tks for all the suggestions, plenty to think about..:)