Anyone else out there suddenly shanking balls enough to drive you insane? It seems somewhere along the way my swing progressed into throwing the club out towards the ball vs. on a proper path. After some experimentation today I think I discovered that my right knee has been remaining flexed, AND, rotating right on the backswing, then out towards the target line on the downswing. Not good.
So what I did was get in front of a mirror and stack over the ball with a straight right leg. It seems to me that a straight right leg retards the right side from moving towards the ball on the downswing. The reason is it's hard to throw the right knee/leg/hip at the ball at the start of the downswing if the right knee is straight vs. being bent. So I think I figured out if my right knee is flexed at the top, then it's much easier to thrust my right side, hip, towards the ball (target line) which not only leads to shanks but blocked shots, pulls, etc.
I've seen many online videos about stopping the shanks but I was wondering if anyone else has fallen into this trap and if there's a video on the website that discusses how to stop shanking? From my experience, the club head follows the hips and right knee movement, so if the hips (or right knee) "spins out", or move towards the target line, the clubhead will also travel outside the target line. I'm just not quite sure of the fix, or if the straight right knee at the top solves this problem.
BTW, over the course of time, I suspected something was becoming odd when I stopped hitting draws and hit more straight or blocked shots. So it seems that could have been a warning sign.
I wanted to circle back to this thread to provide an update.
Since posting the above, I did a lot of study on shanking and the causes. What I found in my case is an excessive in to out path. I thought at one point I was coming over the top, but since then I checked my swing and found I was getting too flat in the backswing. Or, I took the club back on a flatter plane, THEN laid it off even more to start the downswing. That move sends the club outwards. Since then, I have worked on trying to shank and yep, that's the easiest way for me to shank. I can stand on the range and shank all day...LOL.
The fix for me is backswing extension, and extension to the point I feel like the buttons on my shirt are pointing to the sky. As such, my swing plane is steeper, and the club shaft is now over my trail shoulder at the top, or just slightly flatter than being directly over from a down the line view. From that position I naturally want to shallow the club because it's starting from a steeper position. Conversely, starting from a flatter position without extension led to an even flatter swing. That flatter swing also contaminated my short game shots.
My new feel is the club shaft is my buttons point to the sky, and the shaft is "over my head" at the top because videos show the shaft over, or nearly over, my trail shoulder. The only way to get to that position is by extending during the backswing, at least for me. Plus, I've gained a ton of driver distance with extension, and +10-15 yards with irons. And my angle of attack is now back to taking bacon strip divots.
Hope this helps others.