For golfers, hitting a ball off the hosel ranks high on the mortifying-experiences scale. The instant your hosel makes contact with the ball, you’re filled with embarrassment. How do I know this? Well, I’ve hit my fair share of shanks.
Perhaps even worse than the initial shank is the next shank. And the next one. And the next one. You see, when you start to shank the ball, it’s hard to stop. All you can think about is the dreaded hosel rocket. And even if you manage to miss the hosel with your next swing, it’s damn near impossible to hit the ball solidly when the fear of the shanks is in the back of your mind.
Most people have no idea why they shank the ball. One second, they’re flushing the ball, the next, they can’t find the clubface to save their lives. It can be debilitating if you don’t know the root cause of the ailment. Luckily, GOLF Top 100 Teacher Trillium Rose is here to share why we shank — and how to stop doing it.
A shank happens when your club is shooting away from your during the downswing. This can be caused by a hand path that is too far outside, or from early extension in the downswing. To fix it, you need to keep the clubface closer to your body when you make contact with the ball.
“Put a box outside the ball,” Rose says. “This will help with your path so you don’t swing too much to the right.”
With this tiny cardboard box just outside the ball, you’ll have no choice but to keep your path neutral. If you start to get the hosel too close to the ball, you’ll hit the box and know your path is off.
Next time you start hitting some shanks during your round, try to imagine that cardboard outside your path and focus on not hitting it. If you can avoid the box, you’ll say so long to your shanks.
