The Dreaded ‘S’ Word

Making solid contact on the clubface is paramount to hitting good shots. Every once in awhile, though, the contact drifts off the face and onto the hosel. Call it what you want but unfortunately the shanks can get to even the low handicap golfers.

Let me make this clear, saying the word or reading this article will not give you the shanks. If that were the case, then writing this article would place me in shank exile. However, some clear-cut causes and corrections do exist for hitting shanks.

1. Distance from the ball – This is the correction everyone is praying for, including some instructors, because it’s the easiest to detect and correct. In setting up, you want your weight to be toward the balls of your feet. This is where all your balance is located. The goal is to keep your weight consistently in that area throughout the swing. Do not let it drift back or forward. Additionally, position the ball in the center of the clubface. The natural tendency is to compensate by putting the ball way out on the toe. You want to start as neutral as possible.
2. Getting closer to the ball with your body – Getting your set-up balanced correctly helps minimize this tendency. During the swing, golfers will get closer to the ball with their head or knees. If either of these body parts moves closer to the ball the risk of shanking greatly increases. Golfers will make the mistake with their head by leaning into the ball at the start of the swing close to the top of their backswing or at the start of their downswing. The head must stay in line with the spine throughout the golf swing. In the downswing, if the right knee shoots out toward the ball the club doesn’t have anywhere to swing but further out. The right knee needs to fold down and toward the left knee, allowing the right thigh to move next to the left thigh.
3. Club swinging out too far – This mistake is ultimately what puts the ball on the hosel. In most cases, swinging out too far comes from swinging back too flat, coming too far over the top, reacting to the right knee shooting out, or in a small number of cases, not honing your hand/eye coordination. Ideally the golf club should swing up over the right shoulder in the backswing. This height will give the golfer the best chance to swing the club down enough instead of out. At the start of the downswing the shoulders should remain very passive. The lower body and arms are creating the movement, not the shoulders starting to turn through. By keeping the shoulders quiet, the arms and club can swing down not out.

Understand that the club swings on an arc. The highest point of the arc is at impact. When golfers shank the club swings out past that arc.

The best way I’ve found to practice eliminating the shanks is to place a plastic basket just outside the ball. Isolate what your mistake is based on the above information, and then hit shots without touching or hitting the basket. The basket gives you a reference as to where you don’t want to swing.

In summary, take a deep breath, analyze what mistakes are causing you to shank, and then work toward the correction by placing an obstacle opposite the ball in your practice.


Tim Cusick is the director of golf instruction at the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas. The Northern Texas PGA named Cusick the Teacher of the Year for 2009. Visit his Web site, www.timcusickgolf.com, or his blog, www.timcusickgolf.blogspot.com.