It’s happened to all of us. At one point or another, whether you’re a club golfer or one of the fortunate on the professional golf tours around the world you’ve met “El Hozelle”. Whether you’re on the golf course or the driving range, you’re just cruising along minding your own business and then it happens. You hit a shank.

I know, how could I even mention the “S-word”? Well, sometimes out of necessity we’re forced to say things that we wouldn’t otherwise. Quite honestly, I don’t find the word shank to be, well, taboo.

The reality is that there are many causes for hitting a shank that include and are not limited to…

  • Not being measured off properly at address (usually this means that you’re too close at address).
  • The dreaded casting motion at the top of the golf swing. While anglers might find a great cast pays good dividends, this isn’t the case in the golf swing. All that cast does is create a out to in swing path on the downswing. Now, you’re cutting across the golf ball. Oh yeah, you might be slicing a ton of shots for this reason as well.
  • Maybe, you have a slide and an improper release that doesn’t square the clubhead at impact leads to a hosel first strike.
  • Or maybe, you haven’t made a turn and you were all hands. Picking up the club.

The latter actually applied to me the other day.

We had some great weather and I took advantage of getting a few strikes in chipping, pitching, and some “‘tweeners”. All of the sudden, a shank! Then another. My eyes bulged a little and while I wasn’t worried, I was bewildered. I just sort of laughed to myself, made a comment to my trusty sidekick (my 9 year-old Black Lab Muskoka) and shrugged it off.

Thinking about it, I realized that I had recorded a swing. SO, I had a look just to see if I could pick something up. Sure enough, there it was. Instead of making a turn, I simply picked the club up. A total “no-no”. Upon seeing the horrific display, I made a swing ensuring that I made a turn and voila! A crisp strike, nice divot (only hit from the rough), and a tight baby draw.

If you develop a shank, don’t fret. Slow it down and make a smaller swing. Breathe. Ask yourself. Am I picking up the club? Am I turning? Am I casting? I guarantee you that the solution to fix your woes isn’t far off.

Until The Next Tee!!

#fightandgrind #seeuonthenexttee

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