Shanking your irons? Where the shank comes from and four drills that make it go away

Few shots in golf feel as bad as the shank. The swing seems normal, then the ball leaves the club at a right angle, low and fast, toward the trees on the right for a right-hander, sometimes behind the player standing next to you. Then comes the fear: if it happened once, it can happen again, and the next swing gets tighter and more careful, which is exactly what makes a second one more likely. The good news is that the shank is not a mystery and not a curse. It has one physical cause, a handful of usual suspects that produce it, and a few simple drills that make it go away, often within a single range session. This guide explains what is really happening at impact, how to find out which version you have, and how to stop it on the course before it spreads through your round.

What actually happens in a shank

On an iron or a wedge, the clubface and the shaft meet at the hosel, the curved neck where the head joins the shaft. In a shank, the ball does not meet the face at all, or only its very heel edge. It strikes the rounded hosel, and because that surface is curved, the ball shoots off almost sideways, well right of the target for a right-handed player and left for a left-hander.

That has one useful consequence. Whatever the swing looks like, a shank always means the same thing at the bottom: the hosel arrived where the center of the face should have been. The clubhead was further from your body at impact than it was at address, by an inch or so. Every cure in this guide is a way of bringing it back toward you, or of stopping it from moving out.

It also explains why the shank is so different from a slice. A slice comes from a face that is open to the path, and the ball curves. A shank comes from where the ball meets the club, and the ball does not curve much at all; it simply starts in the wrong direction. Fixing your slice will not fix your shank, and the reverse is also true.

The five usual causes

Coaches meet the same patterns again and again. Most shankers have one of these, sometimes two.

Standing too close, or reaching too far. If you set up with the ball too near your feet, there is no room for the club to come back to the spot without the hands moving out. If you set up with the ball too far away, your weight drifts toward your toes during the swing to reach it. Both end on the hosel.

Weight moving onto the toes. This is the most common cause among amateurs. At address the weight is in the middle of the feet; during the downswing it slides forward toward the toes, the body moves closer to the ball, and the hands follow. Players who are tired late in a round, or playing from a ball that sits below their feet, often find the shank arrives at the same time.

Standing up through the shot. When the hips move toward the ball on the way down, a pattern coaches call early extension, there is less space between the body and the ball. The arms get pushed out to make room, and the clubhead goes with them.

A path that swings out. Some players shank from an over-the-top move, the club thrown outward at the start of the downswing. Others, often better players, shank from the opposite pattern: the club comes down too far from the inside, the face stays open, and the hands are pushed out toward the ball to save the shot. The path is different, the result is the same.

Tension and fear. A tight grip and locked forearms stop the face from closing and stop the arms from staying connected to the body. After a first shank, many players grip harder and slow down, which makes the next one more likely. The shank feeds on itself; that is why it seems to come in clusters.

Find your version before you fix it

Ten minutes on the range will tell you more than an afternoon of guessing.

Mark the strike. Spray the face of a 7-iron with athletic foot powder spray, or stick on impact tape, and hit five balls. If the marks sit on the heel side of the face, close to the hosel, you are not shanking at random: you are already near the edge and the shank is just the worst of a series. That is good to know, because it means the fix will also improve your solid shots.

Check your distance from the ball. Take your normal address with a 7-iron, then let go of the club with your trail hand and let that arm hang straight down. It should hang roughly between your lead hand and your body. If it hangs well inside your hands, you are reaching; if your hands are almost touching your thighs, you are crowding the ball.

Ask someone to film from behind. A phone placed on the ground behind your hands, pointed down the target line, shows whether your hips move toward the ball and whether your head rises or moves forward in the downswing. You only need to compare the start and the moment of impact.

Four drills that work

Each drill targets one of the causes above. Use the one that matches what you found, and hit half swings with a wedge or a 9-iron before moving to full swings.

The gate outside the ball. Place a second ball, or a headcover, about an inch and a half outside the ball you are going to hit, on the far side from your feet. Hit the inside ball without touching the outside one. If you hit both, the club moved out. This is the classic shank drill because it gives instant feedback and makes the brain look for the toe side of the face. Start with half swings; most players get through ten clean strikes within a few minutes.

Aim at the toe. Set up with the ball opposite the toe of the club rather than the center. Many shankers find they now strike the center. It feels strange for a dozen balls, then the feeling becomes a reference you can carry to the course.

Weight in the heels. Hit half shots with your toes slightly lifted inside your shoes, or with a club on the ground under the front of your feet for balance. If your weight cannot go onto your toes, your body cannot drift toward the ball. Ten shots like this, then ten normal ones, keeping the same sensation in the heels.

The wall behind you. Set up with your backside lightly touching a golf bag or a chair placed behind you. Make slow swings and keep contact with it through impact. This keeps the hips back and the space in front of you open. Do it without a ball at first; once you can keep the contact, hit easy shots.

Whatever the drill, relax your grip. On a scale of one to ten, hold the club at about four, firm enough to control it, loose enough for the forearms to rotate. That one change alone fixes some shanks.

When it happens on the course

Drills belong on the range. During a round you need something simpler, a way to get through the next shot without reopening the whole swing.

• Stand a little further back. Half an inch is enough. It is the quickest change and the one least likely to cause something new.
• Feel the weight in the heels at address, and make a slightly shorter, smoother swing.
• Look at the inside of the ball, the part closest to you. The eyes often guide where the club goes.
• Take one more club and swing easier. Effort pushes the body toward the ball. Three-quarter swings at two-thirds speed shank far less.
• Use the putter or a bump-and-run around the green if a short pitch suddenly feels dangerous. A chip with a 7-iron and a putting stroke keeps the hosel out of play while you finish the round.

One more thing about the rules. A shank that crosses the white stakes is out of bounds, and the standard answer is stroke and distance. Many U.S. courses have adopted the USGA’s Model Local Rule E-5, which lets you drop near where the ball went out for two penalty strokes instead of walking back; it only applies if the committee has put it in place, so check the scorecard or ask in the pro shop. For a casual round, it keeps the pace moving after the worst kind of miss.

Where U.S. golfers can get the shank sorted

A PGA coach. The shank is one of the problems a teaching professional fixes fastest, often in a single lesson, because the cause is visible on video. The PGA of America’s online coach directory at PGA.com lets you search for coaches by ZIP code. Say at the start that you came about a shank: it saves twenty minutes. Our guide to getting value from golf lessons explains how to prepare.

A range with a launch monitor. Many municipal and public ranges now have bays with ball-tracking screens. Strike location is not always shown, but the start direction is, and a shank is obvious. Bring foot spray or impact tape and you have a complete test session for the price of a bucket. Our guide to making a range session count shows how to organize it.

Indoor simulators through the winter. For golfers in the northern states, the off-season is a good time to work on it. The hitting mat makes heel strikes easy to hear and, with foot spray, easy to see. Be careful with one thing: on a mat, the club bounces off the surface, so a slightly heavy shot can still look fine. Concentrate on where the ball hits the face, not on the result.

Your setup first. Before anything else, check the fundamentals in our grip and setup guide. A large share of shanks start before the club moves, with a ball position or posture that has drifted over the season. And if the shank comes mostly from sloping lies, our article on uneven lies explains how to set up when the ball is below your feet.

The short version

• The cause: the hosel arrives where the center of the face should be. The club is further from you at impact than at address.
• The test: foot spray on the face, the hanging-arm check at address, a phone video from behind.
• The drills: the gate outside the ball, aiming at the toe, weight in the heels, the wall behind you.
• On the course: stand a little further away, weight in the heels, look at the inside of the ball, swing easier.
• The help: one lesson with a PGA coach usually finds the cause on video.

Next time you are at the range, take a can of foot spray and a second ball. Mark the face, hit five 7-irons, and look at where the strikes landed. If they sit near the heel, set up the gate and hit twenty half wedges without touching the outside ball. That is fifteen minutes, and for most golfers it is the end of the shank, or at least the end of the fear that comes with it.