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...

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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

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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.