I need help with a student please!

[drewlask]

I am a PGA golf instructor and am having difficulty with a student who I am very close with. The student is a 5 handicap, pretty solid player, very athletic but has some major swing/setup flaws. I addressed and changed a couple of the flaws and he has played very poorly his last couple times out on the course, leaving the course after only 6 holes he was hitting it so bad. I realize that when making swing changes it can take time, practice and patience but just wondering how to approach the situation. I think he is coming back this week for a lesson. Also you should know that when he practices on the range for more than 10 minutes or so he gets the shanks. Even before he started taking lessons from me and it even happened during our lesson he just gets shanks on the range. It wasn't until this past week when he actually transferred the shanks to the golf course and he got so aggravated he walked off. I am wondering if him practicing on the range more as of late has made him acquire the shank swing to the course. Should I cure his shank first then work on his swing changes?

I will try and get his swing on video and post it in the coming week... thanks!!!!

 

[zarro]

I am a PGA golf instructor and am having difficulty with a student who I am very close with. The student is a 5 handicap, pretty solid player, very athletic but has some major swing/setup flaws. I addressed and changed a couple of the flaws and he has played very poorly his last couple times out on the course, leaving the course after only 6 holes he was hitting it so bad. I realize that when making swing changes it can take time, practice and patience but just wondering how to approach the situation. I think he is coming back this week for a lesson. Also you should know that when he practices on the range for more than 10 minutes or so he gets the shanks. Even before he started taking lessons from me and it even happened during our lesson he just gets shanks on the range. It wasn't until this past week when he actually transferred the shanks to the golf course and he got so aggravated he walked off. I am wondering if him practicing on the range more as of late has made him acquire the shank swing to the course. Should I cure his shank first then work on his swing changes?

I will try and get his swing on video and post it in the coming week... thanks!!!!

Shouldn't fixing the shank and his "swing changes" be one in the same?

 

[drewlask]

I guess so.... ill wait to see how he is hitting it when we meet next. Thanks for the input.

 

[spktho]

I'm no teaching professional, but I agree, you/he needs to be able to recognize and fix what is causing the shanks and that should probably be the swing change right now.

 

[Jay845]

Shot in the dark: Perhaps he starts to lag the hosel as opposed to the sweetspot

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

shanks from a decent player is usually either improper rotation of the left arm or massive path issues or a combination of both.

 

[cmartingolf]

That's a challenge for sure.

Clearly over rotated LAFW. Get his right elbow higher and separated from his left elbow in the back swing - think Nicklaus backswing. Tough to over rotate the wedge in that position. He'll have a much better chance of getting the sweet spot around to the ball.

With guys like this, I like to show them their progress on video so they can see the changes and muddle through the spots when they get lost without me standing by.

 

[Ringer]

I would say the setup and path need some serious focus. I would have him hit golf balls with a box just a couple inches away from the ball, just enough for him to strike the ball. Like this:

This will force him to swing inside to inside and not let the hosel get close enough to the ball to shank.

 

[gmbtempe]

I would say the setup and path need some serious focus. I would have him hit golf balls with a box just a couple inches away from the ball, just enough for him to strike the ball. Like this:

This will force him to swing inside to inside and not let the hosel get close enough to the ball to shank.

The was a drill David Williams walked up and showed me when I was shanking it over a decade ago, 5 minutes later I was cured.

 

[drewlask]

great responses guys much appreciated

 

[JJKing]

Speaking from my own experience with the shanks (which at times has been inexplicable and prolonged), the path problem with too much L shoulder back and not enough up really brings the hosel into play. It seems to be related to over-acceleration.

 

[gmbtempe]

Speaking from my own experience with the shanks (which at times has been inexplicable and prolonged), the path problem with too much L shoulder back and not enough up really brings the hosel into play. It seems to be related to over-acceleration.

yea, same here...to much axis tilt sent path way from the inside which made the hosel lead the club face.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

I would say the setup and path need some serious focus. I would have him hit golf balls with a box just a couple inches away from the ball, just enough for him to strike the ball. Like this:

This will force him to swing inside to inside and not let the hosel get close enough to the ball to shank.

While this is a great drill for someone with a way too in/out swing; it really won't help much if the problem is an over rotated left arm. You'll just bring that same over rotated arm into impact on a different path.

BUT

like i said, i love to give ths drill to hookers...they usually flub it at first try lol.

 

[dolanski]

While this is a great drill for someone with a way too in/out swing; it really won't help much if the problem is an over rotated left arm. You'll just bring that same over rotated arm into impact on a different path.

BUT

like i said, i love to give ths drill to hookers...they usually flub it at first try lol.

Wouldn't the OTT swingers crash into the box? Not that I speak from experience or anything.

 

[JJKing]

Yeah they will crush that box all day before they even get near the ball.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Wouldn't the OTT swingers crash into the box? Not that I speak from experience or anything.

Sometimes, sometimes not.

It depends.

Reason being is that the subconscious is VERY POWERFUL in the golf swing, imo (with no research lol) it is pretty much responsible for all the weirdness in ones swing. It tries to correct for everything you are doing wrong and what you want to be doing. Again just my opinion.

So for some OTT's, you put that box there they might automatically start fixing their path (still probably with a big open face though) and for others they will still crash into the box.



Either way not a drill i use with OTT's

 

[willgolfer]

Reason being is that the subconscious is VERY POWERFUL in the golf swing, imo (with no research lol) it is pretty much responsible for all the weirdness in ones swing. It tries to correct for everything you are doing wrong and what you want to be doing. Again just my opinion.

Is that why even when someone gives a slicer a "strengthen your grip" fix, after awhile that slicer figures out a way to open the clubface anyway?

 

[bax1865]

Some need to be treated gently

Drewlask.....when you say he "had" major set up flaws, what are you changing to make them more conventional? Sometimes you can have a "good" player that when you change ANYTHING they begin to play like a hack. First I would have to ask why he needed a lesson in the first place. Was he playing poorly at the time he saw you? Did he agree with the changes that you proposed or did he fight you with them?

 

[ej20]

I would say the setup and path need some serious focus. I would have him hit golf balls with a box just a couple inches away from the ball, just enough for him to strike the ball. Like this:

This will force him to swing inside to inside and not let the hosel get close enough to the ball to shank.

Like Jim said,this drill would just allow the "shank swing" to aim differently down a more inside path.It's better than nothing I guess but I would be surprised if this would cure a shank permanently.The basic mechanics that caused the shanks is still there.

A golf instructors job is not that easy!

 

[btp]

I agree that the box is a force drill and may not cure the problem. There are quite a few ways to hit the hosel fade.