2024 Early Season Notes

The 2024 golf season started early than usual, with a couple of rounds in February and a couple of rounds in March.

Driver swing is still the same as before - loose grip, full arm extension, early hinge at 3/4 L-shape, then shoulder/chest turn (now need to remember to keep arms fully extended at this point), initiate down swing with hip clearing out of way.

Hybrid: swing smooth straight to top (front side of head)

Irons: stand tall (to avoid toe hit), swing back with full-arm extension, initiate down swing with left foot pressing down to ground. Or to use the same swing as driver for mid and long irons (8I and above).

Solid driver and iron shots during a round at Hickory Woods (6I, 7I, 8I, 9I, PW), with hybrid shots to improve.

2023 Golf Season

No blog update in entire 2022, which means it was ok, not too bad, but not great either...

Started 2023 season with some great rounds of solid ball striking:

April 2, Sharon Woods, 52~55 Deg F - Almost all drives solid (a couple of shots into woods); all hybrid found sweet spot (2 GIRs); all irons solid (5, 8, 9, P); 7 GIRs, 10 Fairways.

Swing thoughts:

Driver swing the same as before (described in a blog on Oct 25, 2021) - loose grip, full arm extension, early hinge at 3/4 L-shape, then shoulder/chest turn, initiate down swing with hip clearing out of way.

Hybrid swing smooth straight to top (front side of head)

Irons: stand tall (to avoid toe hit), swing back with full-arm extension, initiate down swing with left foot pressing down to ground.

Solid ball striking continued from April to June and early July (no golf for 20 days in May due to a business trip) - GIRs typically from 6 to 8, a couple of rounds up to 10 (scores broke 80).

July 1, Glenview South/West: 8 fairways, 10 GIRs: South holes: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6; West: 2, 3, 4, 7, 8

July 3, Indian Ridge: 10 GIRs, 1 birdie, 14 pars.

Best round on July 8, Winton Woods (thunder storm interruption for 1.5 hours in between): 10 fairways, 10 GIRs, 31 putts (5 1-putt), 2 birdies, 11 pars (3 up & downs), 5 bogie

Later, found hybrid/irons would go longer if using the same swing as driver - early hinge at 3/4 swing.

Then driver started to perform not as well as before - sometimes it goes very high, sometimes to left, sometimes slice (hitting club face heel).

Went to driving ranges a couple of times, tried several fixes: tee it lower to avoid sky-high drives, stand lower to avoid hitting club face heel, no early hinge at 3/4 swing - just smooth full-length swing back to top. These seemed to help, to some extent; however, the struggle with driver continued on golf courses...

Recently realized two things: 

1. Early hinge at 3/4 back-swing sometimes could lead to extra tension for left-arm, and this would rob driver distance. Even worse, it could also cause too much hand actions, leading to a slice.

2. Set-up alignment tends to aim too much to right, this should normally set up for a draw. But if a slice happens, this would only make the ball go even further to the right.

Will need to pay attention to set-up alignment, and also keep arm tension free, even with an early hinge at 3/4 backswing...

 The golf journey has plenty of ups and downs, and swing changes or adjustments are always needed on the way...

So the latest adjustment of back swing is this: smoothly swing to 3/4 position (left hand parallel to ground, club upright and wrist hinged, to form L shape), from there, just turn/rotate upper body (shoulders) to finish back swing (stop when back is facing target) with straight extended arms/hinged hands passively following to the top. From there, initiate down swing with lower body - get the hip out of way first.

With this adjustment, driver performance was recovered: mostly straight or draw. This adjustment was initially for driver, and then later applied to other clubs. Hybrids and irons (except for PW)  feel great, with added length. But 5 woods would push to right and PW inconsistent (left and right), so need more practice at the range for these clubs...

Played a couple of great rounds in 70s using this swing adjustment: Majestic Springs (Oct. 20) green tee: 11 fairways, 12 GIR, 2 birdies. California white tee (Oct. 23): 10 fairways (12 on target line), 6 GIR (a couple bounced off green), 2 birdies (1 chip-in).

Same Swing for All Clubs

I have been struggling with the driver for a while, basically since the season start around April~May. Sometimes it was alright: only a couple of bad drives in a round, and sometimes very bad: only a couple of good drives in a round. So I finally decided to go to driving range and get back to my normal. 

The bad drives were still the same as a couple of years ago (see a post in 2017): mostly low to the left, and sometimes even toppings. Even though I remembered how to address this problem, which is to aim to the right or trying to hit to the right (and this tip so far mostly worked in my rounds this year), I could not get back to my normal for a couple of sessions at the Eagle Tee driving range (Aug 4 and 5). What I got when I tried to hit to the right ended up with toppings, and sometimes driving into grounds before hitting the ball, and even missed the ball...

I read the Swing Machine Golf book again, and figured that the problem is still using too much hand, or initiating downswing with hands. So I went to the range again on Aug 6 after work, and tried to initiate downswing with hip turn. This worked to some extent, but not leading to very solid drives.

Somehow I decided to try upright swing with my driver after a couple of iron shots. In the past, I tried it before, but didn't get to similar distance as my usual drives. However, on Aug 6 afternoon, the upright swing started to work out. I think I hit quite many solid drives using this new swing with my Callaway driver (but push to the right with an old Tylormade drive, even though both are Neutral setting). 

So I will test the upright swing for my driver in upcoming rounds, and see if I would lose distance. Hopefully not, and I will have the same swing for all my clubs, which will be good and easy to maintain...

Shank - Deal with it...

On June 16 (Saturday), I had a great range session at Southwest Golf Ranch, making solid contacts with all irons from PW to 5 Iron, hybrids, and driver too, with

• Relaxed neutral stance
• Smooth backswing to top with fully extended arms
• Downswing initiated with body turn (belly button)

Then with big expectation, I went to play at Majestic Spring the next day (Sunday afternoon), but returned with huge disappointment -- sometimes just too nervous to play a good shot...

Looking back at videotaped swing again, I finally realized that I was trying to hit the ball, instead of swinging. Meanwhile I decided to totally relax myself on the golf course. Think about it, you would not hit a good shot unless you are relaxed... Being nervous can only lead to tension ...

With that in mind, I had a good round at Sharon Woods on June 23.

Another thought about shanks: I noticed that I only had this problem in summer, usually started it on a very hot day. This made me think that the cause must be related to mental issue, maybe subconciously. While standing under the sun to play a shot, I must have become impatient, and then try to hit the ball instead of playing a more relaxed swing...

Need to remind myself when it is becoming hot again next year.

For now, I just go back to my normal swing:

• Relaxed stance (slightly more weight on left foot for iron shots)
• Smooth backswing to top with fully extended arms
• A little pause (to avoid trying to hit at the ball)
• Downswing initiated with body turn (Go belly button)

Iron shots seem to lose some distance with fade trajectory for now, but I think it will come back as time goes by...

--------------------------
For my own references, ere are some additional drills to fix shanks:
swing grips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yykU3qvRLs

hand swing path stays close to body (trying to hit thighs):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjXE5ugjQG8

-------------------------

Shank survival guide:
https://practical-golf.com/shanks/

http://positivementalimagery.com/blog/?p=2253
Do not rush
Check basics: body alignment and posture
Release tension
Practice the feel, regain confidence
Check slow-motion video to correct swing

http://www.golfswingsecretsrevealed.com/blog/2011/07/08/how-to-cure-the-golf-shank/
Major reasons for shanks:
Shifting weight forward
Standing too close to ball
Swing outside to inside
Excessive body turn
Hands in front of ball
Cure: Stay ballanced, make room, relax, trying to hit off the toe of clubs

Shank in summer again

Played two rounds on May 25, and shank came again, first at 9th hole, and then became more severe during 2nd 9 of the first round. Since this is not new to me, I quickly checked my previous blog notes and reminded myself to fully extend my arms at the top of back swing. I tried this during the 2nd round, with mixed results: short irons (9 and PW) seem to be working, but mid and long irons still shanked quite often.

Practiced at home, and then went to Glenview for a practice round on Memorial Day afternoon. Again, with similar mixed results -- tend to shank mid and long irons. PW was ok, hit a couple of good 7 iron shots, but all 6 iron shots were shanks. Moreover, I found that I started to hit everyshot off heel parts, including driver, fairway wood, and hybrid.

Read previous blog posts (http://fuzzify.blogspot.com/2013/06/), found this instruction video of Effortless Golf Swing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwpdkuC3H_k
and decided to go back to basic easy swing. Tried at Southwest Golf range with nice and easy swings, not much distance. Once started to swing harder for more distance, shank and heel shots came back again for mid and long irons...

Then I searched on-line for how to fix hitting off heels, and found this thread:
https://thesandtrap.com/forums/topic/21152-hitting-most-shots-off-the-heel/
One guy mentioned about head moving towards ball during down swing, and I thought this might be my problem too.

Finally decided to videotape my own swing for some analysis, and then I think I have found the root cause: head lowered or dipped during down swing, or body turn not enough, or even both. Also backswing seems to become flat again.

So checked my previous blog notes again, and make some swing changes:
make sure entire body is relaxed
go back to neutral stance (instead of 55% weight on left foot / deloft clubs)
more upright swing, (3/4 check point), fully extend arms at top of back swing
initiate down swing with lower body (with "go belly button" in mind)

Tried these at Eagle Tee range, and made solid contacts with 9 and 8 irons. 7 iron some good, some not so good. But 6 and 5 irons not very solid... This is similar to what I experienced before:
http://fuzzify.blogspot.com/2013/08/swing-change.html

Maybe just need some time to get back to normal. Meanwhile may need to bring out 7 woods and 4 hybrid...

What's in My Bag

As of July 2017:

Driver: Callaway GBB Epic 10.5 (neutral setting, $370, mint condition from eBay in June 2017)
Taylor Made R9 460 9.5 loft (yeah, 2 drivers like Phil Mickelson)

Hybrid 3+: King Cobra AM Cell

Irons: 3 ~ PW: Mizuno MX-23 ($204 +$20 shipping for 3~PW, used from eBay in April 2010)

Wedges: Cleveland CG15? Gap Wedge 52, Cleveland SW TourAction 56

Putter: Cleveland Classic

Balls: Titleist Pro-V1/X, Srixon, Callaway, Taylormade

2017 Season First Half (March to July)

The 2017 season has a terrible start, due to consistently bad driver swings. Basically I just could not get the ball in the air, or it got up but then quickly dropped, and lost distance tremendously. This problem started in March, and then I stopped playing for about two weeks, because of travel.

The first round after the travel break was great, with only a couple of bad drives. Then the problem came back in May and became even more severe.
The driver trajectory was low, and often to the left. Occasionally I would top the ball a couple of times during a round.

This problem lasted for about a month. I went to driving range for a couple of sessions, without much improvement, until someone at the range told me to aim to the right when making the body turn at downswing. Then I realized that I used too much hands, without enough lower body turn. I tried to aim my belly button to the right at the downswing, and this fix did work! On May 31, I went to play at GreenCrest after work, and it worked out on the course too (a couple of drives around 240 yards). So I simply used "go belly button" as my driver swing thought, and I also used it for other clubs.

Later on, I would just remember that my hands should follow and lag the lower body turn, and should feel the lag between lower body turn and the hand swing, especiall for driver. The driver performance in June was mostly good, but some bad shots would still show up once in a while. Now it is July, and there are a couple of rounds in which all drives are pretty good...


Another thing to note: shank came during the last several holes at Heatherwoode on July 3. I could not get rid of it during the round, but on July 4 I fixed this problem at TopGolf. I just refer myself to my previous note in 2014 for how to fix it: more upright backswing (at 3/4 checkpoint), and extend my arms as straight as possible, especially at the top of the backswing. Also relax and be confident. Then this problem is gone on the courses...

2014 Season with a little Swing Change

2014 Season started in March. There have been some up and downs. Most rounds so far are good, but not great. And there are a couple of bad rounds...

Had a couple of shanks in some isolated rounds, but so far it has not been a big issue.

One new tip to avoid shank is to remember to fully extend arms at the top of swing, and it works!

For my swing, there is some update. Almost all of my clubs have the same swing now (one exception is driver, which I have a little more flat swing, due to its club length):

Before swing, I need to feel 100% relaxed at address, feel absolutely 100% tension free for the entire body, legs, loose hands, arms, shoulders.
For iron shots, feel weight 55% on left foot, 45% on right foot. (this is a new tip to ensure pure strike down)
To start back swing, initiate a triangle one-piece takeaway.
Then hinge early in the backswing, maybe at 3/4 position, and more upright position for club shaft at 3/4 swing check point, then just lift it up from there to full back swing position.
At top of my back swing, need to remember to fully extend arms.

Gained some distance for all my clubs:

PW: 115 yard
9I: 125
8I: 135
7I: 140~145
6I: 150~155
5I: 155~160
4H: 165~170
3H: 175~180
5W: 190~200
Driver: 210~235

3W is rarely used now, unless for some Par 3 hole above 200 yards.

Different Swings for Different Clubs

Interestingly, I have developed 3 different swings for different clubs.

Driver:
I used to use the tour-tempo swing (swing-set-through), but about a month ago, I found a tip in Oct 2013 issue of Golf Magazine. That is to hinge early in the backswing, maybe at 3/4 position, and then continue to rotate shoulders until back faces target. From there, it would be easier to hold the angle during downswing and delay the release until impact.
Even though I would start backswing slowly, with this new method, I could reach swing speed to about 95 mph, and gained about 10~15 yards.

Fairway woods and hybrid:
This is still the same swing as previously developed: more upright position for club shaft at 3/4 swing check point, then just lift it up from there to full back swing position. At downswing, remember to extend the target line well after impact.

Irons:
Since I occasionally would still shank (during 3 or 4 rounds in Sept~Oct, usually 3 or 4 holes,  up to 6 or 7 holes at worst), I found I have to be 100% relaxed at address, feel absolutely 100% tension free for the entire body, legs, loose hands, arms, shoulders, before starting backswing. Then just extend arms during backswing, lift up to proper upright position, and then remember to extend the target line well after impact. (On Oct. 9, had a shank-free round at Crooked Tree. On Oct. 13, had a couple of shanks at some early holes, then got rid of it later in the round  at Green Crest.)

For short irons set-up, maybe butt out a little more such that hands are closer to body. Then the same swing as Fairway Woods: more upright position for club shaft at 3/4 swing check point, then just lift it up from there to full back swing position. At downswing, remember to extend the target line well after impact. 

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...

---------------------------------

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!!!

Top of Back Swing Position

Here are some tips for where to stop your back swing. I found Nick Faldo's method is best for myself.

Top of Back Swing position:

Nick Faldo's way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKHCGNT-hPw

Tom Watson's way:
http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2011-01/watson-top-swing

Jon Woodroffe's way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeV3RQR0Kwc

Some notes to myself

I started to apply tour tempo golf (swing-set-through) to my irons earlier, and it worked for a while. Then I tend to have a couple of shanks. Then I slowed down my back swing, making some adjustments...

Recently I had an experienced golfer look at my iron swing (slow takeaway, easy swing, more upright position at the top), and he told me I got a problem with my swing plane. More upright position at the top would leave my natural swing plane, so I need to keep it a little flat...

Then I practiced with this swing adjustment, trying to keep it on the swing plane during the whole back swing. This would also slow down my back swing. It seems to work, except that I would hit it fat occasionally.

Tried this new swing for all clubs including driver and fairway woods during a couple of rounds. Results are not bad, maybe lost some distance for driver, but not too much, around 10 yards...

I thought I would stick to this new swing for good... But tonight at the range, I started to shank again at the beginning all of sudden with 7 iron. Switched to driver, same swing, distance not good. Tried swing-set-through, solid contacts, longer shots... then tried swing-set-through with irons, also solid contacts, straight shots with good distances for almost all irons (9 through 5, did not try PW).

This is interesting... I guess I will have to switch between the two swing styles back and forth, which ever works...

Another note: I found the reason why I tend to pull/hook with fairway woods: I got an inside-out swing path.

Swing Adjustments

It seems I need to struggle with iron shanks every summer (June/July)... Had a couple of shanks

From previous experiences in 2012, tried baseball grip, it works, but I still tend to pull to left as before.
Tried to fully extend arms, and move ball position a little forward, this one does not work as well as before. Maybe extending arms would tend to overswing...

Back to basic, here are some swing tip videos (Paul Wilson) that I reviewed:

How to relax and increase swing speed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lROE1r9S9D4
(this is a different approach than swing-set-through, and it takes more practice/time to gain swing speed, but it could help to build a more consistent swing)

How to swing like Ernie Els:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yju_MLjGqWM

Effortless Golf Swing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwpdkuC3H_k

For irons, now I would try effortless golf swing, back swing to a more upright position, try not to over turn / over swing, and use lower body (waist/hip) to generate swing speed. Tried this at Crooked Tree range, and it seemed to be working, at least for this evening...

For fairway woods, I would do the same as irons.

For driver, I would still use swing-set-through method.

I think when I am getting more comfortable with this new swing adjustment for irons/fairway woods, then I will try swing-set-through tempo because at that time I would know exactly where to stop at the top of back swing, and just go there directly and more quickly...

4 Birdies in One Round！

I got four birdies in one round at Glenview on June 2, actually within 7 holes.
Previous personal best was 2 birdies in a round.

Glenview West
Hole 1, par 4: driver, hybrid 4 iron, then chip in from about 15 to 20 feet.
Hole 4, par 3: 8 iron, about 120 yard, putt from about 15 feet.
Hole 6, short par 4: driver, 3/4 swing pitching wedge, putt from 4 or 5 feet.
Hole 7, par 3：8 iron again, putt from 2 feet, gimme range.

However, the other holes did not go that well, with 5 pars, 6 bogies, and 3 double bogies, leading to 80, just one short to break 80.
9 green in regulation, but 1 3-putts, and a couple of bad chips. 31 putts in total.

Struggling with pull / hooks

I have applied tour tempo golf to all clubs for a couple of rounds and several range sessions. The results were more consistent, but now I tend to pull or hook with almost all clubs, especially fairway woods, except for driver, which tends to draw.

I figured that there is too much hand action than body turn, or I started down swing with hand rather than lower body while trying to do "swing set through ". So I spent a couple of range sessions to make corrections. It seems to work, at least pull is less severe for fairway woods and irons. however, driver shots go more straight now, or even fade / push occasionally.

2013 Golf Season Notes

2013 golf season started a little late, at the end of March. So far I have played about 8 or 9 rounds. The first round was at Crooked Tree, and it was terrible, with almost every part of my game in a bad shape. If I recorded my score correctly, it would be around 100...

The next weekend at Glenview was pretty good, amazingly in low 80s. Every part of game seemed to be back to normal, except that I kept pulling fairway woods. Then a week later, it was in low 90s again.

So far, I had about 2 good rounds in low 80s, 3 bad ones in 90s, and others in between. The problem is inconsistency: pull for fairway woods and irons, and sometimes fat shots or off-center hit of irons.

While trying to fix these problems, I found my driver was relatively more consistent than other clubs. Why is that? Driver used to be the most difficult club for me... The reason is that I have applied "tour tempo golf" only to driver, but not to other clubs yet, thinking that I need distance more than accuracy for driver, but for other clubs, I need accuracy more than distance. This is probably a miss. Maybe I should apply it to all clubs.

With this idea in mind, I tried it out at the range (Crooked Tree), and it seems to be working. Another tip to myself, extend the arms, and a little more upright backswing.

Will test it out in a round at Glenview tomorrow...

No More Shanks

A range session, using an empty package box, confirmed it was the outside-in swing path that caused my shanks.

For temporary fixes, I found addressing the ball with the toe of iron face would work most times. I also found using 10-finger grip (baseball) would also work, maybe a little more reliably. Then I used these 2 temporary fixes on the course for a couple of rounds, more often with the 10-finger grip than the other, and I managed to reduce shanks to only 1 or 2 during an entire round of 18 holes.

After a couple of rounds, I started to pull/hook with the 10-finger grip. So I changed back to interlock gripping. At the same time, I noticed one blog post of my own posted last year about ball position and fully extending my arms. I realized maybe I forgot to fully extend my arms. So I tried that, and it worked! I think the reason is that I can extend the impact, i.e., to have a more square and solid impact, by extending my arms during back swing. Since then, I have played several rounds without any shank.

Now I can say I have finally fixed my shank problem. A by-product of this ordeal is that I find a good approach to play a draw -- using 10-finger grip.

Shank, shank, shank

Since I just increased swing speed and hit longer, I would expect to play better golf and get lower scores. Well, this expectation is short-lived. After only a couple of good rounds, I started hitting shanks, with irons only, for sure.

It first came at the 8th hole, par 3, at Glenview East on June 2. This was close to the end of my round, so I did not care much, also because shanking was an old problem to me, and I thought I knew how to fix it. But I was wrong this time... On June 6 (Wed), I took a half day vacation for golf with my family. My son just started golf, improving his game, and my wife was playing well. But my round was totally ruined by shanks, especially since it was basically a Par-3 course, with most tee-shots needing an iron.

Shanking is not new to me, as I got this problem occasionally in the past. It was because either I leaned too much towards the ball, or I stood too close to it. So I knew I got to adjust my weight balance. But it did not work this time... I tried to keep good balance on the course, and even worked on it later at the range after the round. But still shank after shank... My iron shot was worse than a beginner, as shank is truly the most embarrassing shot in golf.

Quiting is not the right way, and I am not even taking a break... But I got to figure it out soon, so I got on-line to get some tips.

There are mainly 3 reasons for shanks:
http://www.hermanwilliamsgolf.com/stop-shanking-golf-ball/
Weight balance
Swing path (inside-out or outside-in)
Too much hand action near impact

I first tried to adjust weight balance, following the tip provided by this website:
http://www.sirshanksalot.com/shanking-drills-golf-drills-82/1133-fundamentals-that-cure-your-shank
Hit some wiffle balls at home on June 8, and shanks seemed to be gone.

But at today's round, shanking came back again, at 3rd hole, my second iron shot. This continued for almost all irons shots for the first 9 holes. At the second 9, somehow I could make solid contacts for a couple of holes, and then it came back for the last two holes.

So I went to the range immediately after the round. First, I tried to adjust weight balance again. Not working at all.  Then I tried more upright swing (another tip from other golfers on-line), and it didn't work, no solid contact.

Finally, I tried to address the ball with the toe of the iron face (another tip from on-line). This actually worked, to my surprise, amazingly. To make sure, I tried 5~9 irons, all made solid contacts. So this would be my temporary fix for now.
As I am writing now, I think it has to be my swing path, i.e., my backswing and forward swing are not on the same plane anymore. Still not sure if I am also having an inside-out or outside-in problem. But this should be easily found out next time I go to the range...