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I'll bet you are hitting the longer irons better too. 5 and above. Like Shade says, "It aint the stick, it's the monkey holding it". Keep working hard.

lol at the long irons. To be honest, I haven't had the nerve to try them yet. I'm just going to gain confidence with the 5-I on down for now and maybe try the 3 and 4 later.

This shank thing has really destroyed alot of my confidence and it's hard to progress, so i'm learning how to crawl again before i walk.

1-swing-at-a-time :)

stag

Stag,
Work on the 5 iron, if you can hit that you can hit anything. The 5 iron is and always has been my confidence club. Buy the way, I carry a 1 iron, it is a great trouble club and even better off the tee. Don't believe all the hype, learn the swing and everything else will fall in place, even the putter.

I had a 1 iron that I used when I got into trouble too......I never could hit it, but it came in real handy as protection from snakes and other critters when I was searching the weeds and woods for my wayward shots.

i don't believe any of you guys. don't ya know God can't even hit a 1-iron? lol

maybe if i bend a 1-iron down to a loft of 27deg, it might work, lol

stag

Shank on purpose. That's right. Try to shank on purpose until you get really good at it. Shanking repeatedly on the course is usually caused by fear of doing it again. If you can do it on purpose then the fear will go away because you know what causes it. I hope that makes sense.

My 1 iron might have been close to that loft after my battle with a snake. I was deep in the brush looking for my ball when I stepped on a snake. Scared the bejesus out of me and my reactionary swing was typical of my 1 iron....a low "slice". I was angry with myself for what happened to the snake (a harmless garter snake, but I swear he looked 10 feet long as I started my over the top downswing!) but thankful for the damage to that dreaded 1 iron. I've still got the mangled thing in the garage somewhere. No, not the snake.....the 1 iron!

I totally agree with this FR. I spend a lot of time practicing from all sorts of postions with a 5 iron. It has magnificent versatility as a club. I practice my full swing starting with this club and half swings on up with it too. I also practice around the green with it. I have actually played several rounds of golf using only 5 iron, sandwedge and putter. Sometimes I have absolutely great rounds using this method, usually around 80 or so.

I also agree that learning the swing is the key to good golf, or at least understanding it, which can be a totally different thing don't you feel? Many learn the swing but don't understand it and then when something goes wrong, they do not have any idea of what to do and so look for a 'fix'. I think this is one of the single greatest causes of the fact that handicaps are not lowering much despite so much better technology and instruction.

What do you think?

Seek professional help. Seriously, get a good coach to look at your swing and help you adjust. If you do some checking, you may be able to get a free lesson. Sometimes, there are professional golf academies that give free lessons to the public a couple times a year. Just one lesson can change your game. Just be open to what they are telling you.

I never knew how to identify what I was doing while I was hitting my approaching pitch onto the green, but now I know the terminology after reading that article. "Shanking". Huh.

I do that a lot, mostly because I'm scared I'm going to do it, but if I simply take a couple practice swings before hitting my pitch, I am amazingly proficient and consistent at even 100 yard pitches, with my pitching stance and all! (That is, open stance, ball aligned just in front of the back toe, club square to target.)

shanks are not gone yet, but getting better. Going to a pga pro this friday to work on it and understand things better, and to get fitted and ball speed, launch monitor, the works. Then can just practice rest of yr. on the swing to get ready for next yr. and wait til the snow comes.

stag

You mentioned in another post that you have a flat swing well in this quote you are correcting that. Now you have a better swing plane which makes it easier for the club to return to the ball. The rewards are:

1. Greater clubhead speed
2. Less going on in the backswing so you have less chance for error

Good Job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just another update on learning. i discovered in my swing that on my downswing, my hips were staying somewhat level, but my shoulders were turning up and out just so slightly, thus not helping with my shank problem. i was trying to hit knock-down shots and wa-la, i think i have learned that actually, that's the way i should swing normal cuz now my arms turn over better and club meets ball in center of face with my hips and shoulders turning somewhat level, at least if feels that way. and by doing this, i've added around 15 to 20 yds. to my drives, just couldn't believe it.

it takes me a loooong time to learn, but maybe someone can accelerate there learning from this, at least i hope so.

stagday