With a Flip—No Shank, Without a flip—Shank. Help!

[PaulMTC]

I don't believe this is happening!

Wrote a post the other day about shanking the ball after trying the "non-flip" stuff.

Went out tonight and hit 150 at my clubs practice ground - 80% of them shot off the club to the right of target line about 45 degrees. Very short and a horrible "clack" sound.

Just to clarify - is this a shank?

Anyway I got home after the session I happened to notice the clubface of my seven iron. Here it is .....

What the heck is going on!?!

You got to help me with this guys - THIS IS KILLING ME!

I ruined my first medal of the season last weekend and I have another one this Saturday. I am now considering cancelling it as I can't get my old swing back and can't stop hitting this hellish shank (or whatever it is).

When I got home and told my wife (she plays) I was demonstrating my swing a little in the living room - she noticed that I was picking the club up a little on the takeaway and also taking it inside the plane. Not sure if I was doing this on the practice ground or not - could that fault cause this type of shot?

All help greatly appreciated.

Paul.

 

[Erik_K]

IF you are fixing the leakages that may have been in your old swing, you've likely made a bunch of changes that you aren't fully aware of.

It's now possible that you've introduced more axis tilt, which is allowing the right shoulder to drive down plane and at the same time, perhaps the left shoulder is now moving more UP and back behind you. As a result, the club might be arriving at a somewhat difference place than where it was before you watched the Flipper vid.

That said, if you are consistently hitting off the heel, move back from the ball a touch. See if that moves the 'area of contact' closer to the center.

Without some video of your swing, it might be difficult to say exactly what the issue is. My fix may not be what you truly need, but give that a shot.

 

[shootin4par]

at set up is your left wrist bent/level/vertical?
and what videos of brians do you have?

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

you're clubface is too open, plain and simple.

Read the "never slice again" article on this site and incorporate it into your swing.

 

[mrodock]

If you don't have enough time to introduce better mechanics into your swing set up with the ball slightly off the toe and both arms very nearly fully extended. During your swing concentrate on maintaining your spine angle. Although you should do this automatically while maintaining your spine angle, you must not more your weight toward your toes during your downswing, keep the weight on roughly the middle of your feet until after impact. If you do these things I believe you'll have a hell of a time shanking it.

 

[rchang72]

Don't know exactly what is going through with you, but I know I also started shanking shots when just adding the components in "Flipper". While that video helped a ton, especially in the visualizing the aiming point as hands outside the left foot, it omitted a couple of components that helped me later. 1) Neutral grip. This allows for the closing of clubface through impact with a horizontal hinge (the other way is to grip the club in a more strong fashion, but with the clubface rotated a bit open). When I didn't do that, I couldn't let myself swivel correctly in takeaway, hinge horizontally, or finish swivel. Otherwise it was duck hook city. So I'd swivel in takeaway, but hold on and hit blocks if timing was good, shanks if not. 2) Midbody hands. In the swingers dragging clubhead, when I started with a forward hand position, I had a tendency to pull it too inside. Then the only way back was to come over the top. Starting from midbody hands, I was able to better trace the plane line away from the ball, thus have fewer compensations back to the ball.

Hope you find what you're looking for.

 

[Wolfman]

rchang,

You have just described everything it has taken me 4 weeks to figure out. You are dead on on every point!

Thanks for corroborating my discoveries.

 

[birdie_man]

You prolly had Throwaway before. So you could get the clubFACE (FACE) on the ball....cause when you unBend your right wrist....the club closes.

Now you've watched "Flipper."

...

You have the same too-open clubface, too underplane (as Brian says- it's the same problem) backswing....

More Lag = clubface stays open longer = hosel looks at ball longer.

....

You detect that (i.e. "Face is too open! Uh-oh!").....PUSH to try and close it....

But it's too late now....this only keep the face open longer....

SHANK!

That's how I see it.

(maybe try standing a bit further away too).

 

[Brian Manzella]

OK folks, here is the deal:

(Please pay VERY close attention)

I NEVER SHOW GOLFERS HOW NOT TO FLIP BEFORE I FIX THE CLUBFACE!!!!!

NEVER EVER!!!

and this (PaulMTC) is why.

There are other "TGM" teachers out there that teach Flat Left Wrist first.

BUT!

If you have an OPEN FACE tendency, you will have LOTS of trouble trying to get to impact with "forward hands."

The simple solution for PaulMTC is to buy Never Slice Again, and do everything I say.

THEN, "FLIPPER" will help you.

 

[rchang72]

quote:Originally posted by Wolfman

rchang,

You have just described everything it has taken me 4 weeks to figure out. You are dead on on every point!

Thanks for corroborating my discoveries.

Lucky, you only took you 4 weeks. It took most of this winter.

 

[palmreader]

quote:Originally posted by brianman


The simple solution for PaulMTC is to buy Never Slice Again, and do everything I say.

THEN, "FLIPPER" will help you.

Brian, how can one buy Never Slice again? It is only in the beta-testing. Isn't it? Thanks

 

[PaulMTC]

quote:The simple solution for PaulMTC is to buy Never Slice Again, and do everything I say.

Thanks for that Brian. I must say I'm feeling a bit lost with my swing now.

I have bought "Flipper" and "Volumes 1-4" videos. Where can I buy and download "Never slice again"?

I NEED IT NOW !!! (as I've got a competition on Saturday)

)

(

Paul.

 

[vjcapron]

It pains me to see members of this forum that still believe a shank is caused by an open face. Another misconception is that the person is swinging "over the top". This is also not the case. A shank can be hit with the clubhead travelling perfectly down the line, in-to-out, or out-to-in.

99.99999% of all shanks are simply caused by the sweetspot being swung about an inch and a half further away from the body at impact than it was at address. And this happens with a square, and sometimes even a slightly closed, clubface.

In other words, there is too much "out" and not enough "down" in the downswing. The hands are further away from the body at impact than they were at address.

Paul, all you really need to do is put a headcover, another golf ball, a bottle of water - whatever object you want - one inch outside the toe of your golf club at address. Hit some balls without hitting the headcover. You'll notice you will have to feel your hands/arms swinging in closer to your body on the downswing.

This exercise cures shanks within 15 minutes, guaranteed. And, best of all, it is a thought and a feeling that you can PLAY with on the COURSE!

Once you know what causes the shank, it is a simple fix, and not some mysterious disease that some make it out to be. I've cured numerous players of the shanks in under 2 minutes and often on their very next swing. Just last weeekend I was playing with a good player who normally hits a nice draw. He shanked 3 long irons in a row after hitting beautiful drawing drives. He was lost, had no idea how the ball squirted straight right on him. I told him to swing his arms in closer to his body on the downswing and explained that his clubhead was just a wee bit further away from his body than it was at address. He striped it the rest of the day.

You have to have the right information. Here's Butch Harmon demonstrating the above tip.

 

[BigBadDonkey]

Bang on Brian. Try get a closed clubface at top before you try this intense lag stuff.
Have you read the 'never slice again' article in this forum by Brian?
Are you bending the right wrist on the way back, or cocking it (way open clubface) ?
Sounds like this is your problem.

 

[rbaumgolf]

Yes, I would also have to agree after seeing several students at the recent school with this problem. Your face may "feel" closed" but it probably isn't. Try to exagerate the closed feel and see what happen. An open clubface that does not close enough with a lagging club head will produce shanks. Brain suggests to have the seet spot "staring" at the inside back of the ball on the takeaway. Try it with a shorter backswing - slow everything down to get the feel.

 

[tongzilla]

This may sound obvious, but you can shank the ball without an open clubface. The ball can hit the hosel with a square-ish clubface, which is quite prevalent.
For a very short term band-aid, try addressing the ball way towards the toe (rather than the sweetspot) of the clubface. If that works, then it's unlikely that your shanks are caused by a wide open clubface at impact, so doing the twistaway wouldn't help.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Most of us know that you can shank it without an open clubface, HOWEVER look at where his grass mark stains are, they are on the heel.

Which means open face and/or sever in/out path.

Paul

Read the "never slice again" article in the instruction section.

 

[vandal]

I just think he's holding on too much. Like I said before, uncock and ROLL.

Also, even with TGM isn't it amazing how many different ideas are there for fixing this guy.

 

[Tom Bartlett]

quote:Originally posted by vandal


Also, even with TGM isn't it amazing how many different ideas are there for fixing this guy.

Because there are many different ways of shanking it. Tough to diagnose without seeing it.

 

[sbark]

........couldnt it be a small amount of right/rear wrist cock? A 1/8 inch right wrist cock translated to the end of a 38" club is possibly 1.5" toward the hozel.........