Regina, SK, Canada
Last Seen: November 9, 2007
The "shanks" (herein referred to only as "S" so as not to attract attention and potentially have them creep back into my game) are a scary phenomenon where by hosel meets ball prior to clubface. This leads to a distinctly noticeable push to the far/extreme right. It also is accompanied by a dull yet piercing reverb up the shaft of the club into your hands, which leads to shivers and chills up the spine. Usually, once they show up it is not just for the one hole, but for a multitude of times in a round. Needless to say, for two years now I have struggled with them. They were especially predominant on pitches and chips shots closer to the green, but did show up once in while with even the 6 and 7 irons.
My research led me to understand that I must have an outside to out/in swing path or "casting", specifically with the shorter irons and wedges. There were quite a few suggestions on how to fix them, but I found one to be the most logical... the shoe box! On the practice range, I place a shoe box parallel to my target line just outside the toe of my golf club. I try to line up the front leading edge of the box just past the ball in my stance. (Note, I do not recommend you use this drill with driver, woods and/or hybrids as you will scuff up the paimted heads.) From here, I swing away. From full shots, pitches and chips I practice hitting balls with an inside to in/out swing path. If I should stray from that path, the result is flying cardboard and an embarrassing sound that turns heads on the practice range for sure. So the goal is... Do not hit the box. I've done this drill for hours and hours over the past year and a half. For the most part it helped. However, I feared there may be no cure for me.
That is until I found these new, strange looking wedges. Let me backup a bit first... So you know, I carry three wedges in the bag, a 45 degree PW, 50 degree AW (6 degrees bounce) and 56 degree SW. (12 degrees bounce). I used to carry four when I had a 54 degree (8 degrees bounce) SW and 60 degree (8 degrees bonce) LW, but that was when I tried too many things with my wedges (lob shots, bump and runs, flop shots, standing on my head shots..) and complicated the short game for myself. Now I use try to use the same swing with the different wedges to hit pitches to predetermined distances. I have learned to do the same with chips closer to the green as well. This has made things much simpler and less stressful for my game. However, a case of the S's still made up for the lack of stress and frustration ten fold. So here is what I determined on an impulse buy at my local golf shop. I after hours of practice, I still couldn't cure the S's, then what else could I do? The answer was... Technology.
I picked up the strangest looking club I had ever seen. Leading edge far forward, and hosel way back. I figured, what could I lose? I had tried everything else. So, I bought the 52 degree GW and 58 degree SW. (I had heard that these hit a bit farther than my traditional wedges, which is why I chose the lofts I did). I took them to the range and once I realized I needed to align the white groove line to my target line and not the deceiving leading edge, it was easy to hit shots. I didn't need to adjust any part of my set up. My distances didn't alter too much either. The heavy weight of the clubhead was actually helpful to my feel around the greens.
I have had these in the bag for 4 months, and have not yet hit a shank in practice on in a round. I practice about once per week and play a little shy of once per week. So, that is a significant number of times where the S's could rear their ugly heads. Now, the odd time the PW will extreme push on a pitch, but I try not to pitch/chip as much with that club anyway. Overall, these two new clubs have made my game more enjoyable. If I can find the 48 degree PW, then I may swap that out too.
Here is the latest chapter in my continuing search for the perfect combination of 14 clubs in my golf bag. This has been a three year adventure with some success and some failure. All has been well worth the while as I learn more about my game and what I need to improve. I will keep make/model information out of this blog as best I can. But if any of you wish to know any details on equipment, I will be glad to share.
I have struggled with too high a launch angle and excessive backspin. I have a fairly slow swing speed of about 88mph. My typical launch angle was about 15-17+ degrees, while my backspin numbers are well over 3700rpm. This leads to a fairly short overall average driving distance of only about 220-240 yards - realistically. Luckily I am fairly straight with a spray of only about 20-30 yards each way, mostly left now. Still the challenge of finding a few extra yards has led me to trying out all sorts of adjustments to my equipment. I have tried a variety of different drivers. I started with experimenting with different lofts.
I started a 410 cc 10.5 degree driver with a stock regular flex shaft three years ago. I went with a 400cc 12 degree loft game improvement "knockoff" driver with a custom stiff flex shaft. Obviously, this didn't work all too well for me when it came to distance, but it help me with hitting more fairways. In my search for the magic super long driver, I possibly went too quickly to a much lower lofted 460cc high MOI 8.5 degree driver plus regular flex shaft to gain some additional yards of carry and roll. The regular flex matched my slower swing speed but I had trouble squaring up the head. That led to a downward spiral of rights and lefts as I pushed and pulled my tee shots every which way. It was a frustrating experience where I lost all confidence in my swing off the tee. I resorted to three woods and hybrids off the tee much of the time. I almost took a long break from the game - I said almost.
I found a new 460cc tall face and low/back CG 9.5 degree driver with regular flex shaft that had two weight ports late last year. It really helped bring back my confidence as I found more fairways and got to a more acceptable driving distance. In March, I was lucky to play Spyglass Hill in Monterey, California and found 10 fairways on this very challenging layout. I was hooked. I believe the weighting, MOI and face height fit my eye and swing best. I still see bigger hitters in my foursomes, but I have resolved myself to knowing I won't be the longest ball out there. The faster I try to swing, the more trouble I put myself into. If I swing too hard, I get lazy hands and keep that face too open at impact, typically.
For kicks this spring, I tried carrying a second driver - like Phil. One for normal conditions and one for the windy days. Number two was a traditional pear shaped 460 cc 9.5 degree driver with a custom lower launch regular flex shaft, but couldn't keep it straight. So number two sits in my garage waiting for a better player to find it. I even borrowed a 9.5 degree 425cc, 4 weight port version of the driver I was already using to see if I could get a more penetrating ball flight for better launch conditions and more roll. That worked better, but not dramatically better than the trusted original.
So two weeks ago, I thought I would make the change in shafts to the driver head that I felt the most confidence with. The shaft manufacturer boasts a lower launch angle with lower backspin tendancies. The RSSR rating also matched my 85-90mph swingspeed in their regular flex model. My hope is that this brings my launch angle to a 14-15 degrees and reduce backspin to less than 3300. All else being equal, I suspect that this will add 5 - 10 yards with the same control right to left as before. Let's hope it does.
My next post will describe my equipment solution to a two year issue with the dreaded shanks.
