My name is Mike, and I am a shanker. I am absolutely certain that I lag the hosel and end up aiming it right into the ball despite desperate efforts not to. I've read all the threads on this, and Brian's description of someone who loses the sweetspot on the plane describes what I am doing exactly. The problem with this knowledge is that I can't figure out why I do it and I can only stop it temporarily.
Here's what happens, I'll be hitting the ball beautifully for 60 or 80 swings, then I'll start lagging the hosel on every single swing. I'll often be able to correct it after 20 or 30 swings with a particular swing thought, such as not letting my upper body fall forward into the ball, not letting my hands get far away from my body through impact, feeling like my left hip is clearing in a barrel and turning directly away from the ball, or realizing I am sensing the hosel and aiming it inside the ball. The awful thing is these thoughts are only band aids, because they'll work for 1 or 2 days and then will stop working suddenly and completely no matter how accentuated I make them. Trying to keep the clubface from fanning open, doing the twist away, and trying to turn and hold the sweetspot off the plane at the top of my swing do nothing to help this problem for me ever, so they either don't work for me or I am doing them wrong. When I start doing this, I can even hit 50 yard chip with a 6 iron because I can't get the clubface to the ball. It feels like my hands are overactive and betraying me.
My swing was characterized by my hands getting away from my body and my arms rolling the club way inside (and open of course), which I understand is a recipe for losing the sweetspot. So I worked really hard to fix this, and it's vastly improved. I think I sometimes now (only sometimes) don't get my hands far enough inside at the top as a result of my effort to limit arm rotation. 2 other problems I am working on are a way overactive lower body (sometimes my legs will slide down and forward at the start of the swing) and arms lagging too far behind and having to flip to catch up. It seems like when I start lagging the hosel, however, it happens no matter how stable I keep my lower body and how much I make sure my arms catch up.
I know these problems because I am working with a PGA pro who has been excellent about these problems, but I believe has no clue what it means to lag the hosel or how to fix it. He has observed that I seem to come in with the club wide open when this happens, but has offered nothing helpful to fix it.
Can anyone help, or do I just need to get on a plane to Brian and get some hands-on assistance? I'm about ready to quit over this. I am a 15 handicap with a good shortgame. I was on vacation last week at Kiawah Island. My first day out I shot an effortless 86 that featured numerous 3 putts due to the greens playing very differently than home and uncharacteristically bad chipping. I got used to the greens and fixed my short game by the end of the round, but started shanking the next day and the golf aspect of my vacation went from playing daily on beautiful courses to spending hours a day trying fruitlessly to get the clubface to the ball.
Here's what happens, I'll be hitting the ball beautifully for 60 or 80 swings, then I'll start lagging the hosel on every single swing. I'll often be able to correct it after 20 or 30 swings with a particular swing thought, such as not letting my upper body fall forward into the ball, not letting my hands get far away from my body through impact, feeling like my left hip is clearing in a barrel and turning directly away from the ball, or realizing I am sensing the hosel and aiming it inside the ball. The awful thing is these thoughts are only band aids, because they'll work for 1 or 2 days and then will stop working suddenly and completely no matter how accentuated I make them. Trying to keep the clubface from fanning open, doing the twist away, and trying to turn and hold the sweetspot off the plane at the top of my swing do nothing to help this problem for me ever, so they either don't work for me or I am doing them wrong. When I start doing this, I can even hit 50 yard chip with a 6 iron because I can't get the clubface to the ball. It feels like my hands are overactive and betraying me.
My swing was characterized by my hands getting away from my body and my arms rolling the club way inside (and open of course), which I understand is a recipe for losing the sweetspot. So I worked really hard to fix this, and it's vastly improved. I think I sometimes now (only sometimes) don't get my hands far enough inside at the top as a result of my effort to limit arm rotation. 2 other problems I am working on are a way overactive lower body (sometimes my legs will slide down and forward at the start of the swing) and arms lagging too far behind and having to flip to catch up. It seems like when I start lagging the hosel, however, it happens no matter how stable I keep my lower body and how much I make sure my arms catch up.
I know these problems because I am working with a PGA pro who has been excellent about these problems, but I believe has no clue what it means to lag the hosel or how to fix it. He has observed that I seem to come in with the club wide open when this happens, but has offered nothing helpful to fix it.
Can anyone help, or do I just need to get on a plane to Brian and get some hands-on assistance? I'm about ready to quit over this. I am a 15 handicap with a good shortgame. I was on vacation last week at Kiawah Island. My first day out I shot an effortless 86 that featured numerous 3 putts due to the greens playing very differently than home and uncharacteristically bad chipping. I got used to the greens and fixed my short game by the end of the round, but started shanking the next day and the golf aspect of my vacation went from playing daily on beautiful courses to spending hours a day trying fruitlessly to get the clubface to the ball.