Hitting the golf ball as clean as possible is the goal of every player. Unfortunately, doing it consistently isn’t so easy, as it takes different types of practice to gain that muscle memory and routine.
1 simple drill that will fix two different kinds of shanks
For those players who struggle with hitting shanks, GOLF Teacher to Watch Mike Bury has some simple instructions that could help correct the issue — a 2-ball drill that forces your hands to stay close to your body through the swing motion.
As Bury shows in the video above, the goal is to use two golf balls, placing them side-by-side.
“There’s two parts to this drill,” he said. “Number one is, we need two golf balls sitting next to each other. I’m going to take my setup, and the second ball is sitting just on the outside edge of the club.
“For someone who hits it in the heel, there could be a variety of reasons why you’re doing it. But, in this particular case, it doesn’t really matter — bottom line is your hands are too far away at impact.”
When your hands are too far away from the golf ball, that’s where hitting shanks tend to happen. But by utilizing this 2-ball drill from Bury, you can rid yourself of hitting it off the heel of your club.
“Once we’ve [set up] over the first ball, we’re going to move the club out to the second ball,” he said. “Your job is to come back into impact and hit the first ball. That means your hands are closer to your body than where they started.”
After getting the feel for this more compact swing, Bury said that, even on the golf course, players cans use this 2-ball drill. Whether using another ball or a head cover, you can still improve in the moment.
“Just imagine there’s a ball, water bottle, or something like that on the outside of the club,” Bury said. “Don’t hit it, and the shanks are gone.”