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.