Training Aids to Fix a Shank

The shank is the most feared word in golf, but it’s also one of the most fixable misses once you understand it. A shank happens when you strike the ball on the hosel— the joint where the shaft meets the clubhead — instead of the face, sending it firing off low and hard to the right. The cause is almost always the same: the clubhead moves out, away from your body and toward the ball line, through impact, so the hosel arrives where the face should be. Every genuine fix keeps the club from working out toward the ball — and the single best one is free.

First, understand the real cause

Before you buy anything, name what’s happening, because two very different swings produce a shank. In one, the club swings too far in-to-outand the hosel leads into the ball — common in players who’ve over-corrected a slice. In the other, the golfer stands too close, gets weight on the toes, or extends toward the ball (the arms and body pushing out through impact). Both end the same way: the hosel finds the ball. The through-line is that the clubhead is closer to the ball at impact than it was at address, so the fix is always about keeping the strike toward the toe and the club from drifting out.

The free fix: a gate drill

You can cure most shanks without spending a penny, and the alignment stick (or headcover) gate is the drill that does it. Place a second ball, a headcover, or an alignment stick just outsidethe toe of the ball you’re hitting, so that a club moving out toward the hosel-strike path will hit the obstacle first. Suddenly you get instant, physical feedback: catch the gate and you know the club came out; miss it and strike the ball off the middle of the face, and you’ve grooved the feel of keeping the hosel away from the ball. It’s the oldest, cheapest and most effective anti-shank drill there is, and it works because the feedback is impossible to fake.

For a body pushing toward the ball: a connection aid

If your shank comes from the arms running away from your body — extending or throwing the club out toward the ball through impact — a connection aid retrains the feel. Holding a Tour Striker Smart Ball or an Impact Ball between your forearms keeps the arms and chest turning together, so the club can’t drift out and away from you at the bottom. It trains a connected, body-led delivery that keeps the strike on the face rather than the hosel — the same connection skill that steadies a flip-and-scoop release, applied to the shank.

For an out-to-in or in-to-out path: a strike board and The Hanger

If you’re not sure whether your path is the culprit, a Divot Boardshows it plainly — the mark reads your low point and the direction the club travelled, so an exaggerated in-to-out path (a classic shank source) becomes obvious. And because so many shanks live alongside a clubface and delivery problem, The Hanger— which builds awareness of exactly where the face and the club are through impact — helps you feel a repeatable, on-plane delivery rather than the out-and-away move that finds the hosel. Diagnose the path first, then train the delivery that keeps the club in front of you.

What to be skeptical of

Two traps. First, panic and speed: shanks feed on tension, so gripping harder and swinging faster almost always makes them worse, not better — slow down and rehearse the gate drill before you add pace. A speed trainer like SuperSpeed is the wrong tool for a shank; fix the strike first. Second, anything that promises to cure a shank in one tip: the shank is a delivery fault, and delivery is built through repeated, honest feedback — a gate, a strike board, a connection aid — not through a gadget that does the swing for you.

The honest bottom line

Start with the free gate drill — it fixes most shanks on its own by forcing the strike toward the toe and away from the hosel. If your shank comes from your arms extending toward the ball, add a connection aid; if you’re unsure of your path, a Divot Board shows it and The Hanger trains a steadier delivery. That combination costs little and targets the shank at its source. Skip the miracle cures, slow down, and trust honest feedback — and if your bigger miss is a curve rather than a hosel strike, the slice and hook guides cover the face and path side of things.