Let me begin by saying thank you to Brian. Without his short video showing why someone shanks the ball and more importantly how to quit shanking I never could have helped this gentleman.
Shanking the ball can be so discouraging that it could make one want to quit playing the game we all love. I know because it happened to me almost thirty years ago when I was on the high school golf team.
The team had qualified to play in the state high school championship. I was the number two player on the team but had suffered intermittently throughout the season with the shanks. No one knew why I was shanking the ball and no one could tell me how to quit. Our coach knew nothing about golf. We just needed an adult to supervise us.
Right before the state championship I started shanking the ball on almost all of my iron shots. It got so bad that I told my coach that I didn't even want to play in the state tournament. That's how discouraged I was. Not playing wasn't an option so I figured out a way to swing that kept me from shanking the ball. It wasn't pretty and I wasn't hitting the ball as far but I didn't shank the ball.
Fast forward thirty years. This gentleman came to my house to give me an estimate on some work I wanted done. While talking he told me what an avid golfer he was. He also told me he had played the previous weekend and his round was ruined when he started shanking the ball. I told him I could show him why he was shanking and how to fix it. Plus, if he did shank the ball again in the future he would know the reason why and how to correct it. We talked about other swing related issues, but before he left I made sure he understood what caused him to shank the ball and how to fix it. I also told him about Brian and where I had gotten the information I shared with him. That was Friday afternoon.
Monday morning I called him to get the completed estimate for the work I wanted done. At the end of our conversation I asked how he had played over the weekend. He told me that he had shot 76 and 77 respectively, his best rounds of the year, and never shanked the ball once. I told him I was really happy for him. I was happy for him but even more so I was glad to help someone understand the cause and the fix for a curse that nearly drove me from the game more than thirty years ago.
Shanking the ball can be so discouraging that it could make one want to quit playing the game we all love. I know because it happened to me almost thirty years ago when I was on the high school golf team.
The team had qualified to play in the state high school championship. I was the number two player on the team but had suffered intermittently throughout the season with the shanks. No one knew why I was shanking the ball and no one could tell me how to quit. Our coach knew nothing about golf. We just needed an adult to supervise us.
Right before the state championship I started shanking the ball on almost all of my iron shots. It got so bad that I told my coach that I didn't even want to play in the state tournament. That's how discouraged I was. Not playing wasn't an option so I figured out a way to swing that kept me from shanking the ball. It wasn't pretty and I wasn't hitting the ball as far but I didn't shank the ball.
Fast forward thirty years. This gentleman came to my house to give me an estimate on some work I wanted done. While talking he told me what an avid golfer he was. He also told me he had played the previous weekend and his round was ruined when he started shanking the ball. I told him I could show him why he was shanking and how to fix it. Plus, if he did shank the ball again in the future he would know the reason why and how to correct it. We talked about other swing related issues, but before he left I made sure he understood what caused him to shank the ball and how to fix it. I also told him about Brian and where I had gotten the information I shared with him. That was Friday afternoon.
Monday morning I called him to get the completed estimate for the work I wanted done. At the end of our conversation I asked how he had played over the weekend. He told me that he had shot 76 and 77 respectively, his best rounds of the year, and never shanked the ball once. I told him I was really happy for him. I was happy for him but even more so I was glad to help someone understand the cause and the fix for a curse that nearly drove me from the game more than thirty years ago.
