Swing Change

On Saturday 8/10, shanks came again and again for about 6 holes... The bad swing started to affect fairway wood and Driver too during the round...

On Sunday afternoon, I decided to videotape my swing, and I immediately realized that my changed upright back swing was not on the same swing plane, upright at the beginning, but still turned to flat after 3/4 swing. Spent about 1 hour to make self corrections with the aid of videotaping.

Two adjustments: more upright position for club shaft at 3/4 swing check point, then just lift it up from there to full back swing position.

 Then went to Crooked Tree, spent almost 2 hours working on this new upright swing. At the beginning, contact was not very solid, including some hitting from behind the ball. But soon after I started to make solid contacts, and distance was relatively good too. 8 iron about 125 to 130 yard, 7 iron about 135 to 140 yard... 6 iron and 5 iron contacts were not as good though... No more shank!!!

Also tried this new swing with 4 hybrid, 7 and 5 fairway woods. Solid contacts, straight flight too, with good distance, about 165, 175 and 185 yards, respectively.

But I still could not apply the new swing to driver yet. I would tend to hit it down and make the ball flight sky high...


Practiced again this evening at another range. Upper body bent down a bit more, lift club up to a position more along the body, instead of behind. It seems to work a little better. Will need to videotape again to confirm.

Got to stop shanks, again

At the range on Aug. 6, my first iron shot (7 Iron) was a shank. This was actually good because I should be able to quickly find the root cause, instead of waiting for it to come. From the divot, I determined that it was because of outside-in swing path, exactly the same problem that caused my shanks last year...

To avoid this extreme outside-in swing path, I placed a paper box beside the ball, and immediately got rid of shanks. Keep a more upright back swing, and also remind myself to slow down, take nice and easy back swing... The first couple of shots were not solid, hit from behind, etc. But later on I got solid contacts, and the shots were pretty straight, and sometimes fade or push to left. Pretty soon, I removed that paper box, and shanks did not come back even once for the rest of the range session.

I thought I cured my shanks, so I went out to play at Crooked Tree this evening. The first couple of iron shots (6 iron, PW) were good. And then shank came again, at Hole 4. Maybe I was waiting too long over there. Remind myself to pay attention to setup, weight balance, and also to slow down back swing. Hit a couple of good 6 irons at Hole 5, and a good PW at Hole 6. Then shank again at Hole 7 with 5 iron (into water), and at Hole 8 with 6 iron. Made adjustment to address toe at set up, and it worked ok at Hole 7, 8, and 9.

At Hole 10 and 11, shanks again (7 iron). At Hole 12, I found my Hybrid 4 Iron also starts to suffer from outside-in swing path. At Hole 14 (downhill par 3), I placed a sleeve box beside the ball. After my shank (7-iron), all 3 balls came out of the sleeve box... This again confirmed outside-in swing path. Then I suddenly realized that I also need to swing along body-line, and to extend impact line (feel the club head to hit it out), in addition to a nice and easy back swing. With this swing thought, I made a couple of solid hits with 7-iron at Hole 14.

Then during the rest of my practice round, Hole 15~18, I made all solid contacts (PW, 6 iron, 7 iron, 8 iron), no more shanks...

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To cure pull/hooks for fairway woods / hybrid, changed to more upright swing.
Recently,  changed to more upright swing for irons too.

Below are some ideas to keep in mind:

During the round, there are 2 cures: base-ball grips, address the ball with iron toes.

http://www.golftipsmag.com/instruction/faults-and-fixes/lessons/shank-stoppers.html


At the range:

Several things to keep in mind or try:

Grip: try more palm than fingers for left hand (not much difference)

Weight balance: weight under shoe-laces

Setup: not too close, nor too far away from ball

Back swing: upright swing, arm fully extended

Swing tempo: back to basic easy effortless swing, or try swing-set-through tempo

Initiate down swing with lower body...

Swing along body-line, extend impact line...

Always check swing path, with aid of a paper box

Finally, be confident, no more fear of shanks!!!