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CURING THE SHANK! PAGE 1

I have written so much on this subject, and yet golfers worldwide continue to ask if I “have any clue” why they might be shanking the golf ball. As a result, this entire Edition is on the shank. I am going to do the same thing I frequently do, and that is to make an attempt to TEACH YOU “HOW TO SHANK” the golf ball.

I know that is not what you really want to know, but I have always had this philosophy:

If I can teach you “how to shank the golf ball”, then you will fully understand how to NOT shank the golf ball.

Edition 19: “Be Your Own Golf Coach” Series

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In this month’s DVD... You are going to completely understand the three things that cause the dreaded shank golf shot. Once you understand them... If you ever shank another shot in your life, you will know exactly what to do about it.

SHANK The Golf BallWhat Causes You To

Let’s Cure The Shank Once and For All

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Golfers from literally everywhere write and act like they are the first person to ever shank a golf ball. However, we have all been there at one time or another...

Maybe thatʼs why we like to call it a “hosel rocket” from time to time. At any rate you have not only totally screwed up any chance of making a birdie, but you have also completely destroyed any confidence you may have been able to build into your short game.

What is the difference between a practice swing and a rehearsal swing?

In my philosophy of teaching and playing, a “practice swing” is nothing more than a “useless” swing that does nothing but unnecessarily burn off some valuable energy.

A “rehearsal swing” may look much the same to most golfers, but it is far from it. A rehearsal swing is a PERFECT DRESS REHEARSAL IN PREPARATION FOR THE SWING YOU INTEND TO PUT ON THE GOLF BALL–RIGHT NOW. It is NOT merely a swing to “loosen up.”

I sometimes believe golfers take a practice swing to loosen up, or limber up for the shot they are about to hit. However, I NEVER see a practice swing which has a definitive purpose to it.

Letʼs assume the golfer has at least hit a small basket of range balls, and he is now on the twelfth hole in his round. What does he need most for his next shot? Does he need to loosen up, or does he need to rehearse the EXACT swing he will need for his next shot? I hope you got the correct answer on that one.

What does all of this have to do with shanking the golf ball. It has EVERYTHING to do with it.

If the you donʼt take the time to make a proper rehearsal swing, especially on those important little shots, you have a very good chance of shanking the ball.

How do I know that? Because I have seen it for almost 60 years. Iʼve been playing golf for almost 60 years and teaching it for almost 50 of those.

We hit our career best drive on the toughest hole on the course, and all we need in order to have a shot at a birdie is knock a little 100-120 yard shot onto the green.

Out comes the wedge and we take a couple of “practice” swings. You notice I neglected to say “rehearsal” swings, because too many of you still aren’t making rehearsal swings. You are merely taking practice swings.

And then... SHANK!

There goes the golf ball squirting rapidly off the the right like a fourth of July rocket.

! EDITION 19

CURING THE SHANK! PAGE 3

The craziest thing is that he almost never took a rehearsal swing, and he ALWAYS hit the shanked shot when he was attempting to hit an absolutely perfect shot. You have all heard me say this over and over, but when ever we put undue pressure on ourselves, we invariably screw up the shot.

Looking back, I realize he was probably trying to use this statement to challenge himself to hit a good shot. I also now recognize the fact that he had no idea he was , psycho log i ca l l y, comp le te l y destroying any chance he might have for actually hitting a good golf shot.

Trying to Hit Perfect Golf ShotsWhen we try to hit perfect shots,

especially those important little short ones a r o u n d t h e g r e e n s , w e t e n d t o unconsciously attempt to guide and control the shot. When ANY of us attempts to guide and control any golf shot, we like to feel like we are keeping the club face PERFECTLY SQUARE to the target. I promise you, it will ALWAYS “feel like” you are hitting an ABSOLUTELY PERFECT GOLF SHOT.

When you pull your arms FORWARD through the hitting area in order to guide the ball perfectly toward the target, there are some things which take place EVERY time.

First off, the left arm PULLS the club through the swing. This is what gives us the feeing we are keeping the club face perfectly square to the target.

I used to have a very good friend who was a retired club professional and gol f teacher. He was an o lder gentleman, my father’s age, and I got to play golf with him a couple of times a month.

I tell you all of this so you can see that it happens even to the best of us. When he would miss a green he often times would inform us, “If you like golf, you’re going to love this shot.” He would then take his pitching wedge or his sand wedge and address his short chip or pitch shot.

The next thing you saw was the world famous hosel rocket squirting straight right. I saw him shank more shots around the green than there were tees for sale in the golf shop. It almost never failed, when he beckoned us to take note of the shot he was about to hit, he would promptly shank it.

The world famous ‘hosel rocket’ shank shot. The harder you try to be perfect, the more likely you are to hit the hosel of the club... Result is one ugly golf shot that squirts off low and right.

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This becomes very important information for us in all of our golf swings, because golfers typically THINK they are supposed to feel the club traveling FORWARD through the hitting area in order to hit good golf shots. When we feel the club traveling FORWARD in any golf swing, we are actually feeling the SHAFT traveling forward. That is absolutely the WRONG thing to feel in a good golf swing.

We want to learn how to feel the clubhead in our golf swing, and when we do w e w i l l a l w a y s f e e l i t t r a v e l i n g DOWNWARD. That is ONLY accomplished when we use the hands to snap the clubhead downward into the swing.

Make a mental note of this. When you feel the club traveling FORWARD, you are feeling the SHAFT in the golf swing.

Try this exercise: Try swinging the club slowly with your arms, and you will see what I mean. The opposite would be to try feeling the shaft traveling forward, and you will realize you are utilizing your arms and shoulders in order to accomplish it.

All of this plays desperately into learning how to cure the shanked shots, because the shank is ALWAYS caused from PULLING the shaft of the club FORWARD through the golf swing. I am going to show you how and why this causes the shank in just a short while.

If you will again pull the shaft forward through a practice swing or two, there are some things you should also begin to

How Do You Know You Are Pulling With Your Arms?

When this happens you will ALWAYS feel the SHAFT traveling forward through the swing. However, you will NEVER feel the clubhead when you swing the club with your arms.

O n e o f t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t sensations, or areas of feedback, you are trying to achieve in any golf shot is FEELING THE CLUBHEAD.

Remember: The arms will NEVER allow this. They will ONLY allow you to feel the shaft in the swing.

The shank is always caused by pulling the shaft forward with your arms (not swinging with your hands)

! EDITION 19

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notice. Swinging the club in this manner tends to give is a feeling that we are able to keep the club face nice and SQUARE through the hitting area. Try it a few times

Also try swinging the club in a manner where you definitely feel yourself keeping the club face square through the hitting area of the swing. Once again this gives you a very definitive feeling of swinging the club with your arms and shoulders.

Lay your arms on your chest for a moment and put your hands together as if you were holding a golf club. Now, raise your front elbow off your chest a few inches. What did that do to your club face? If your back elbow stayed on your chest, you should have seen what would be your club face rotate to the open position.

When you lay your arms on your chest and put your hands together as if you were holding a club, you will experience the fact that it is not easy to move your arms in a swinging motion. When they are attached to the chest, not squeezing the chest but just lying there, they have to move off the chest a bit in order to utilize them.

Now we are headed toward the information we all came to discover. Actually, EVERYTHING above is geared toward where I am now headed, so donʼt do as some of you do from time to time, thinking it is all jabbering nonsensical gibberish. I want so desperately for all of you to get it.

Golfers occasionally tell me (those who havenʼt been around me much), “I wish you would SHOW us something, instead of TALKING all of the time.” They TOTALLY miss it!

I am a Certified Golf/Sports Psychology Instructor, and I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that IF I can help you understand a concept properly, then you will have no problem performing the tasks required to swing the club successfully.

That is why I take so much time to do my best to help you clearly see the whole picture. Golfers tend to go to the driving range, or even to the golf course, and make a desperate attempt to do something they have either read or heard, WITHOUT a FULL understanding of what they THINK they are supposed to be doing.

I have been successful as an instructor, because I take the time to not only explain what I want you to do, but I also try to do my best to explain to you WHY I want you to do it. THEN, the how to do it always seems to come much easier to the golfer.

Back to the shanked shots.

Take a club in your hands and set up as if you were going to make a golf shot. Once you feel real comfortable, rotate your front hand so the heel of your hand is facing the

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target. Donʼt turn loose of the club when you do this. You will be looking at a wide open club face, when the heel of the lead hand is facing the target.

Then next thing I want you to do is to stand up, so you can pretend you are going to have to protect yourself against an attacker. If you are right handed do this with your left hand, and if you are left handed perform it with your right hand.

Imagine you really have to put a damaging blow on your attackers nose. Try to do your best to think of performing this with the back of your front hand – the back

of your right hand for lefties, and the back of your left hand for you righties.

You should feel like you do not really have the strength you wished you had for doing some real damage to the person. The human body is not made to hit all that strongly with the back of the hand.

Now, try to imagine you are going to do this again, using the heel of your lead hand. Just as soon as we rotate the hand into this position, we instantly feel much stronger. That is because the human body is made to utilize the heel of the hand, in a backhand fashion, as a very powerful tool for protection.

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A

Hitting with the back of your hand feels weak (a). You feel more powerful hitting with the heel of your hand (b)... and this is what causes a shank.

B

We find there are a number of things or motions which will cause the club face to severely open during the golf swing. This is the required recipe for hitting the world famous shanked shot, so now you know how to do it.

Let me show you what happens to cause it to become a shank. You will see this quite clearly explained on the video. When the arms swing the club, they have no choice but to move out from the chest, in order to have the freedom to swing the club.

! EDITION 19

CURING THE SHANK! PAGE 7

When the arms leave the chest, the shaft moves closer to the golf ball than when you were at the address position. When the shaft moves out and away from the chest and closer to the golf ball, there is always a good chance the hosel is going to make contact with the golf ball.

However, this really in not the real cause for the shank. The real cause is an open club face.

Golfers typically hit what I call a “near shank” with their woods. They donʼt realize it, though, because it shows up on those shots as a huge old slice. The golfer will ask why all he can do is slice his drives. He is arm swinging, because he loves the feeling of POWER.

The same swing with the wedges often results in the shank. The golfer THINKS when the club face opens it is opening at the hosel, or shank, but that is not the case. During the arm swing, when the heel of the front hand is pulling the club FORWARD through the hitting area, it is as if there were an axle running vertically through the sweet spot of the clubhead.

If the clubhead opens from the center of the club face, it means the shank (or hosel) is moving outward toward the path of the swing–SHANK.

Most golfers believe, because they have pretty much been taught it, that we shank the golf ball because we are standing too close to it at the address. As a result, they

move farther from the ball–making the possibility of shanking it even higher.

One of the most common “fixes” pros give for shanking is to place a board of some kind - a 2x4 or a 4x4 - fairly close to the golf ball. The idea is that the golfer will not reach out and hit the board, and his shanks are “cured forever”.

Boy that one is a huge joke! As a young professional, I used the same solution to solve one of my memberʼs shanking problem. HE PROMPTLY PROCEEDED TO SHANK THE GOLF BALL INTO THE PLANK I HAD PUT DOWN THERE! I excused myself by telling him I was not smart enough to fix the shanks, yet.

That was when I began to study the real cause and cure for it.

The very first thought that came to mind concerning the shanked shots was if we shank the golf ball because we are too close to the ball at address, then how come we NEVER shank it left (for right handed players)? To this very day, after nearly sixty years of playing the game, I have never seen a golf ball shanked between a golfer ʼs legs. That fact convinced me shanking probably isnʼt from standing too close to the golf ball.

The simple fact that I had personally witnessed my student shanking the golf ball into the “anti-shank board” I had set up, gave me my first clue that something

Confused? Watch in the video... You’ll see how this works

“IS IT BECAUSE I’M STANDING TOO CLOSE TO THE GOLF BALL?”

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happens when the club face is wide open that causes the shanked shot.

Read that one again, and then again. If it is impossible to shank a golf ball with a closed club face, then there MUST be some connection between an open club face and shanking.

That one statement should be all you would ever need to fix yourself when you are struggling with the shanks. This is another one of those places where you need to take the time to sit in your easy chair and think about all of this for a while.

Take a look at these three photos for a moment. Notice the difference between the club face merely opening, and the club face opening as a result of the left (front) arm moving off of the chest. When the left arm moves off the chest as a result of pulling the shaft of the club through the hitting area with the left arm, the club face and clubhead acts as if it has an axle running vertically through the sweet spot.

KEY POINTI knew one thing for certain.

YOU CANNOT SHANK A

GOLF BALL WHEN YOUR

CLUB FACE IS CLOSED.

1. Here the golf ball is struck right in the sweet spot of the club head (nice shot!)... But watch what happens to the position of the shaft in the next two photos, as I twist it to an open position

1.

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CURING THE SHANK! PAGE 9

Here you can see how that not only opens the club face, but it also causes the hosel to move outward toward the golf ball. This is how we create the shanked shot.

Remember, when you are hitting the shank, IT FEELS SO GOOD! It FEELS like you have just held the club face perfectly square to the target line, and as if you are knocking your golf ball absolutely stiff to

the flagstick. That feeling is what makes the shot so elusive to the golfer. He just cannot imagine a shot feeling so good not being perfect.

“When a shot feels so perfect, and isn’t, then what should I feel when I hit a good shot?”

2.

3.

2 & 3. Notice how as I open the club face - just by rotating the shaft - the shaft and hosel move into the ball. This is the real reason for the shank. It’s not that standing too close.. I’t that the Open Club Face moves the hosel closer to the ball.

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Thatʼs the question golfers frequently ask themselves, as well as asking me. This is why I call the shot, really its fix, so elusive. When we hit a shank, it truly feels like we are doing everything possible to keep the club face right on line, so we can guide the ball perfectly to the pin.

Just above I mentioned that “it is impossible to shank a golf ball with a closed club face.” If you will take a few golf balls out into the yard with a wedge and try that one, I think it may be quite an eye opener for you. Close the club face and try to hit a few shots. You might hit them left (for right handed players), but you cannot shank it.

I have to tell you a story I have shared one or two times in the past with you. Several years ago I was attending a PGA teaching seminar, which was a part of a requirement in our ongoing recertification and educational program.

One of the PGA pros attending this seminar asked one of the instructors (all very famous, top 100 recognized pros) if it was possible to shank a golf ball with a closed club face. The instructor that morning is VERY well known, and his answer will show you why I take such offense to these programs.

This well known instructor looked out across a room filled with over two hundred golf professionals and proceeded to tell them, “YES. The golf ball hits the hosel of the club and then ricochets to the right into the closed club face, which ends up then ricocheting back to the left, and the final result is a straight shot–because the face is closed.”

You have either heard me tell this true story before, or else you have probably already guessed what happened next. My hand went straight into the air, begging for an opportunity to make a statement of my own.

I immediately asked the “honored” instructor to please demonstrate exactly how that could possibly take place. I told him in no uncertain terms that there was not room enough between a closed club face and the hosel for a golf ball to do all of that. We would have to reduce the golf ball to less than one tenth its size in order to have any chance whatsoever to have this take place.

Now you know why I am not a very well liked attendee for these seminars. I used to be required to attend two or three of these every year, until I finally registered as a “Retired” PGA member.

My wife used to always tell me when I was leaving to attend one of these seminars, “Just sit in the back, keep your mouth shut, get your recertification points, and come home.” I followed most of her instructions, until a statement this ludicrous was made. Then I just couldnʼt help myself. I had to speak my mind.

That one is almost as bad as placing a 2 x 4 two or three inches outside the golf ball and thinking that will cure a golfer from shanking the golf ball.

I want you to study the photos until you understand them. Then I want you to take a grip on a golf club and do some things with your front arm and elbow, noticing how each move affects the club face.

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Next, try to imagine how all of these things would, or at least could, effect your

golf shots. What would you do, or what could you do to eliminate all of this?

Check this out. In photo 1, I’ve got my arms resting on my chest (your arm is the part from elbow to shoulder). Look at the position of the club head. Now in Photo 2, I lift my arm ‘slightly’ off my chest... Look at the position of the club head now. It’s almost 45 degrees open.

1. 2.

The first thing I like for golfers to do is to use the last three fingers of their left hand (once again speaking to right handed golfers) to “curl” the club face closed, immediately from the top of the backswing.

When we perform this simple task, some

very important things take place. The first thing that happens is that curling the club face closed on the way down automatically relaxes the leading forearm and wrist. That relaxation allows the club face to continue closing all the way through the impact area, which is the key to a good “release”.

STEP ONE TO FIXING YOUR SHANK

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Naturally, another very important point is that we already understand is that we cannot shank the golf ball with a closed club face. Curling the club face closed on the way down to the golf ball (not on the way through the hitting area) assures us the club face will not be open at impact.

When you close the club face with the last three fingers of the left hand, you will not be able to squeeze the grip at the top of the backswing. When we squeeze the club at the top of the backswing, it tends to create tension in the left arm.

Take your club and swing it to the top of your backswing and stop for a moment. Now, firm up your left arm, and you will notice how this gives you a feeling of power, while automatically making you want to PULL the club down with the arms. This is one of the big causes for the shank.

Now take your club back to the top again, and this time I want you to flex your left elbow a bit. Notice how this creates a very relaxed left arm. When the left arm is flexed and relaxed, it is not really possible to PULL the club down with the arms. It will feel completely helpless to you.

This is what we want to feel in a good backswing, so the arms are pretty much eliminated, automatically. It also makes it very easy to curl the club face closed on the way down to the golf ball.

As a result, you will now feel the toe of your club is closed at least 45 degrees when you arrive at the Power Point. WOW! This sounds like everything I have been teaching you for all of these months. I think we may be on to something good.

Now, repeat this motion and feeling until you have a good grasp on it, and it begins to feel more natural to you. At this point, your shank is completely eliminated. If you ever shank a golf ball again in your life, you will immediately know what to do about it.

Next Month...Edition 20 will focus on the difference between “swing path” and “swing plane” ... I’ve been asked THOUSANDS of times by golfers to check if they are swinging ‘on plane’. Next month you will see why that is the wrong question to ask, and what you should be thinking about instead.

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Focus on using the last 3 fingers on your left hand to “curl the club face closed”... Immediately from the top of the backswing.

Fix The Shank