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Shank Hand Path

The force pattern on the swing directly causes the looks of the swing. In the case of the shanks, a common look is that the handle is moving out toward the golf ball too late in the downswing. This usually happens when a golfer has an image in their mind that the club handle is moving down and out into impact. Instead, it's important to understand that the handle will actually be moving away from the golf ball during impact. This motion has to start earlier in the downswing than just at impact. Frequently, I use a wall to help create the spatial understanding of how a golfer needs to swing the club, but one of the most common uses for me is training a golfer out of the shank hand path.

Tags: Poor Contact, Concept

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This video is discussing the shank hand pad.

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So oftentimes golfers who struggle with the shank struggle for a couple common reasons,

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one pattern can be the lack of the flat spot or trying to extend the grip end of the

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club, trying to force the grip end of the club down into the golf ball or down in

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out.

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Instead of from around parallel, when the club is right around here, having the club coming

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more around this way as the club head goes down and out.

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So it's a subtle difference, but really powerful for golfers who tend to shank the ball.

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So if I demonstrate it again, if I get down into this position and then the grip from

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the down-the-line camera angle continues to move out, I will be much more likely to hit

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the ball on the heel or the hustle.

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As opposed to if I get it into that same position and then turn my body so that the grip

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is actually coming around this way as the club head is going down and out.

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So that can happen from a couple of different reasons.

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Weight position-wise, that'll happen if I'm in this position and then I'm drifting too

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much into my toes too much into the golf ball from the body.

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Even if I'm trying to pull in, if my body ends up moving that way, the net result is

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the hands are moving out too much that way and gets the hustle too close to the golf

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ball.

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The second and probably even the more common would be hitting it too much with the arms,

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especially the trail arm.

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Trail arm really kind of throwing out away, getting overly active early and going out

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that way as opposed to the body bringing my hands around as the wrists and forearms release

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as opposed to the shoulder.

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But oftentimes what I'll do is similar to the wall drill, I'll go next to a wall.

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So if we can imagine a wall on the outside of the golf ball, I'll have the golfer

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get to this parallel position and then feel like I'll do it vertical first.

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So now even though I'm bringing the grip away from the wall, kind of like this, you

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can see that the club head is still going out that way.

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That helps kind of squash the fear of how am I going to hit the golf ball if my hands

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are moving around this way.

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Moving around my body instead of going out towards the golf ball.

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Then we'll do it more down so we'll start up parallel first and then we'll do it down

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on the golf plane where the grip compared to this stick is coming around to the left and

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I'll just challenge the golfers and say okay even though the grip is coming around to

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the left, I want you to try to hit a straight or even a draw ball flight which means

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that the club would be coming slightly from the inside.

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That happens if the arms are soft enough and I can get some owner deviation and then

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supination through the ball.

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Where if I tend to have a lot of tension then the club head in the grip will tend to follow

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the same path or the same direction.

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So if you're struggling with the shanks you've set up some gates.

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That's not working for you.

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Trying to feel isn't working for you.

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We'll check this hand path for direction position of what's happening from club parallel

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down impact and make sure that the grip is coming around this way instead of going out

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that way.

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That can be one of the powerful aha moments if you're really struggling with your

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heel contact.

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So we'll put up that wall.

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We're going to exaggerate.

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We're going to try to get it way out to weigh in.

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That's pretty good.

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