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2 Drills to Fix Your Shank

by Pete Styles
Practice / Drills

Fix a golf shank so that it never embarrasses you on the course again, we’ll quickly recap the causes of shank shots and then look at 2 drills to eradicate them from your game.

A shank is caused when the ball is struck out of the heel or hosel of the club. What causes that to happen is one, or a combination of, the following:

golf-shank-fix1. Setting up too close to the ball (see this video for measuring how far away you should be)

2. Poor balance and posture that causes you to fall forwards during the downswing

3. An over-the-top (also known as out-to-in) swing path

If you shank the ball on a regular basis, there’s a good chance you also suffer from a slice (also caused by an over-the-top swing path). You might want to see my step-by-step series for fixing a slice for good.

Assuming you’re setting up correctly and have good posture, this drill will all but eliminate shanks from your golf game.

Golf Shank Fix – Drill #1 golf-shank-fix-swing-paths

  • Using your 7 iron, set up to the ball as normal. Take care to focus on your distance away from the ball as well as maintaining good balance throughout your swing.
  • Start by placing the club behind the ball at address and make some good quality practice swings. However, during your down swing, pull the club inwards towards your body so that you actually miss the ball and brush the ground inside the ball. Repeat this process until you can confidently strike the floor in the intended area.
  • Now make some swings with a similar feel but this time aim to just clip the ball from the toe edge of the club. Done correctly, this will produce a weak ball flight that shoots out to the right and also sounds like a poor contact. It may even look like a shank but will feel very different.
  • Adjust slightly to hit the ball out the middle of the club.
  • If ever you’re worried about hitting a shank on the course, just make some practice swings addressing a specific patch of ground and then brushing the turf inside that patch by pulling the club in during your down swing. Then set up to the ball and maintain a swing thought of hitting the ball right out the centre of the club.
  • Watch video here.

Golf Shank Fix – Drill #2

It will help you to deliver the golf club on a more in-to-out swing path into the ball. The opposite of this (anout-to-in or over the top swing path) is a major cause of shank shots.

For more about the other causes of shank shots and how you can correct them, please see this golf shank page.

Golfers that shank the ball often suffer from a slice, because this also usually caused by a swing path that is too much from over the top. If this is the case for you and you’d like to eliminate your slice for good, please see my Fix A Golf Slice For Good series.

  • golf-shank-drillUsing your 7 iron, set up to the ball as normal, then place another ball about one balls width on the outside.
  • Now go ahead and address the ball nearest to you (the inside ball). Make a good swing and try to play the inside ball as normal.
  • If your swing is correct, the inside ball should fly nicely and the outside ball should remain in the same position. If the outside ball is moved, be aware that your club is not returning to the position at which it was when you addressed the ball.
  • watch video here.

Back to this anti golf shank drill, which I think you’ll find is very effective in purging shanks out of your game completely:

Pete Styles

Since becoming a Golf Professional 17 years ago, I have used my experiences of teaching every standard of golfer, from Tour Professionals to complete beginners, to develop, refine and hone my teaching skills.

My teaching combines a wealth of knowledge about golf and a great passion for seeing people improve, into a straight-talking, simple-to-follow style that is tried and tested over the course of 40,000 plus individual golf lessons.

I currently deliver my teaching to pupils in two forms – either in person at The Trafford Golf Centre next to the Trafford Centre in Manchester, or via Video lessons from my website free-online-golf-tips.com

My main passions in life apart from golf are, my family – wife Clare, son George and daughter Hannah.

I am also a qualified ski instructor and after living in the Italian Alps for a number of years, I now relish any opportunity to get back out on the slopes.

I also enjoy reading, particularly autobiographies and real-life adventure books and would encourage anybody who hasn’t already to find and read a copy of Touching The Void, and Between A Rock And A Hard Place.