Stop Shanking: Fix Your Hand Path for Better Contact

If you fight the shanks, the problem is often not just where the clubhead is going, but how your hands and grip end are moving on the way down. This drill trains a better hand path from shaft-parallel to impact so the hosel does not get shoved toward the ball. Instead of sending the handle down and out toward the ball, you learn to let your body turn while the hands work more around you. That small change can be a major breakthrough for heel strikes and hosel contact.

How the Drill Works

A lot of golfers who shank the ball make the same basic mistake in transition and early downswing: the grip end moves too far outward toward the ball line. From a down-the-line view, the handle keeps pushing away from you instead of tracing more around your body as the club approaches impact.

When that happens, the club’s hosel gets too close to the ball. Even if your intention is to hit the center of the face, the geometry of the swing has already been compromised. The result is often a heel strike at best, and a shank at worst.

This can happen for two common reasons:

Your body moves toward the ball, especially into your toes, during the downswing.
Your trail arm gets too active too early, throwing the club and handle outward instead of letting the body rotation deliver the club.

The drill uses a wall or an imagined wall just outside the ball line. That barrier gives you immediate feedback. If your hands and handle move out toward the ball, you will feel like you are running into the wall. If your hands work more around your body while the clubhead still travels down and out to the ball, you are on the right track.

The key concept is this: the handle and clubhead do not need to travel in the same direction. In a good delivery, the grip can be working more left and around you while the clubhead is still moving down, out, and into the ball from the inside. That is the piece many golfers never feel until they do a drill like this.

Step-by-Step

Create your wall reference. Stand so there is a wall, chair back, bag stand, or other safe vertical reference just outside the golf ball line. If you do not have a real wall, imagine one extending upward from just outside the ball.
Set up normally. Address the ball with your usual posture. Make sure your balance is centered over your feet, not pitched out toward your toes.
Move to shaft-parallel in the downswing. Rehearse to the point where the club is roughly parallel to the ground on the way down. From down the line, this is the checkpoint where many golfers start sending the handle too far out.
Do the first rehearsal vertically. Without worrying about the actual swing plane yet, feel the grip move away from the wall and more around your body. At the same time, notice that the clubhead can still work outward. This helps you separate hand path from clubhead path.
Now match it to the swing plane. Repeat the same idea, but this time let the club approach on a more realistic downswing angle. From shaft-parallel to impact, feel the handle tracing left and around while the clubhead continues down and out toward the ball.
Keep your arms soft. Let the wrists and forearms release naturally. If your arms are tense, the clubhead will tend to follow the handle too literally, and you may cut across the ball instead of delivering the club from the inside.
Hit small shots. Start with short punch shots or half swings. Your goal is to make contact without the feeling that the handle is being thrown at the ball.
Try to produce a straight shot or slight draw. This is important. Even though the handle is working more around you, the clubhead should still be delivered well enough to produce a neutral or slightly inside-to-out strike pattern.
Gradually exaggerate the feel. If you are a chronic shanker, you may need to feel like the hands are moving dramatically inward or left through impact. That exaggeration is often what gets you back to normal.

What You Should Feel

This drill can feel counterintuitive at first. If you are used to shoving the handle toward the ball, a better motion may seem like you are going to miss the ball entirely. In reality, you are usually just removing the move that sends the hosel into danger.

The handle works around, not at the ball

From the delivery position, you should feel that the grip end is moving around your body rather than chasing the ball. That does not mean you are yanking the handle left with your arms. It means your body rotation is carrying the hands around while the club releases.

The clubhead still goes down and out

One of the biggest revelations in this drill is that your hands can move one way while the clubhead moves another. You should feel that the clubhead is still reaching the ball, even though the handle is not being driven straight at it.

Less throw from the trail arm

If your trail arm tends to fire outward early, you may feel it staying softer and more patient. Instead of “punching” the club toward the ball, the trail arm supports the motion while your pivot helps deliver the club.

Pressure staying out of the toes

You should also feel your balance staying more centered, or even slightly more in the mid-foot to heel area, rather than lunging toward the ball. If your body moves closer to the ball in the downswing, your hands have almost no choice but to move outward.

A freer release

For the clubhead to still approach properly while the handle works around, you need enough freedom in the wrists and forearms. A good release allows the clubhead to line up with the ball without your shoulders or trail arm forcing it there.

Useful checkpoints include:

From shaft-parallel down, the grip is not racing toward the ball line.
Your chest is turning through instead of stalling.
Your weight is not dumping into the toes.
Contact moves away from the heel and back toward center face.
Shots start feeling less cramped and less “crowded” at impact.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Pushing the handle at the ball. This is the core issue the drill is trying to fix. If the grip keeps moving down and out toward the ball, the hosel gets too involved.
Drifting your body toward the ball. Even if your arms are trying to work better, moving into your toes can still send the whole system outward.
Overusing the trail arm. A hard throw from the right side often sends the club away from you too early.
Keeping too much arm tension. Tight arms make the clubhead and handle travel together too much, which can turn the drill into a pull-across move.
Confusing “around” with “cutting across.” The handle can work around you while the clubhead still approaches from the inside. Do not turn this into a steep slice move.
Trying full speed too soon. If you jump straight to full swings, the old pattern usually returns. Start with rehearsals and short shots.
Ignoring contact feedback. If the strike is still on the heel, you probably are not exaggerating enough yet.
Letting the chest stop. If your pivot stalls, your arms will usually take over and throw the club outward.

How This Fits Your Swing

This drill is not just a quick fix for shanks. It teaches an important piece of how the swing actually works: your body motion influences the hand path, and the hand path influences where the clubhead can go. If you only focus on the clubhead, you may never solve the underlying issue.

In a sound downswing, the club is not delivered by simply driving the handle straight toward the ball. Instead, your pivot keeps turning, your hands work around, and the clubhead releases into the strike. That relationship helps you control both contact location and curve.

If you tend to hit the heel, this drill gives you a practical way to change the geometry of impact. Rather than endlessly setting up tees or gates around the ball and hoping the strike improves, you are addressing one of the real causes: the outward-moving handle.

It also connects to other important swing pieces:

Posture and balance: Better hand path is hard to achieve if you are falling toward the ball.
Pivot: A turning body helps the hands move around correctly.
Arm structure: Softer, better-sequenced arms keep the trail side from throwing the club out.
Release pattern: Proper wrist and forearm motion allows the clubhead to still approach the ball effectively.

If the drill is working, you will usually see a progression like this: first, the shanks disappear; then heel strikes become less common; then contact starts moving toward the middle of the face; and finally, your ball flight becomes easier to control because the club is no longer being shoved out of position through impact.

For many golfers, this is one of those rare feels that creates an immediate “aha” moment. You realize that you do not need to send the handle at the ball to hit the ball solidly. In fact, for a player who shanks it, doing less of that is often exactly what allows the clubhead to arrive correctly.

Work on this slowly, exaggerate the feel if needed, and pay close attention to where the strike is on the face. When your hand path improves, your contact usually improves right along with it.