Fix Your Shank

Have you ever had a shank? Most golfers have, and for many it can be the costliest and most embarrassing part of their game. Shanks often happen when you are pitching or playing your short approach shot to the green, and even though you may have played a couple of great shots to get there, the shank rears it's ugly head and destroys your score.

So what is a shank?

A shank is when the ball hits the join between the club head and the hosel, at the base of the shaft. When this happened, the ball often flies out to almost 90 degrees to the path of the ball you want.

How do you fix your body?

There are several ways to fix your body, and you can experiment with some of the following:

Keep your head down on your swing.
Keep your eyes on the ball with your swing.
before playing your shot, visualize your swing. Making swing softly, with his head down over the ball through impact.
Relax. Do not strangle the club.
take a nice low, slow backswing.
stand a little further from the ball and try and bend from the hips rather than from the knees.
make sure your weight is evenly distributed. Too much weight on either your toes or heels can cause you to shank. Take a nice comfortable stance, and have a few practice swings.

Now print off this page, head out to your local driving range, buy a bucket or two of balls, and practice these tips. I'm sure they will help and soon you will eliminate the dreaded shank from your golf game.

Happy golfing

Dave