So this year I was on my quest to break 90 in my second full year playing. I just putted for par on the 15th hole, and thought to myself, "I have been playing pretty well since the 1st hole", where I had a 7. I look at my scorecard, and I see I have a 72 with 3 holes to go. I think if I just play bogey golf the rest of the way I can break 90 finally. This is going to be my best round ever! I put my driver 270 down the middle on the par 4 leaving myself a 9 iron out. I get over the ball and shoot it directly right, right into the woods. I end up shooting a 98. That was 3 rounds ago, and I cannot hit an iron shot anymore. I literally shoot every iron shot to the right. Skulled. It only happens with my PW-6I. My 4 and 5 are fine, Driver is perfect, 3W is perfect. I had to play the back 9 the other day using my 3H off the tee, so I could leave myself another 190 so I could use a longer club. No idea how to fix this. Any suggestions.

wow, 26 on the last 3 holes. that's rough although i've been there lots of times (maybe not sitting at 72 after 15 holes though)... my buddy who's not that great a player just needed a double bogey to break 80 for 1st time (and very tight course). tripled 18 unfortunately.

can't really help u on the swing part. obviously google "shank"... some random thoughts:
move ball back in stance, hit down on it, relaxed arms hanging down, good tempo and weight shift... i usually only get shanks at driving range with plastic mats. almost never have it had them at the golf course (lots of other problems of course)

Go to driving range, hit little half swing wedges until you are hitting them ok, if you can't do this then hit chip shots instead, anything to repeatedly make good contact with a short club. Gradually lengthen the swing until you can hit a full wedge. If you get that far I'd be shocked if you can't also hit an iron fine. Your brain is overcompensating somewhere in the swing, only its making the wrong compensation (but really really hard to trick it into doing something else). It needs a positive outcome to just sort of relax and let your regular swing work again.

It has to be the craziest thing. All of a sudden out of the blue, never had this happen before. Now obviously it is in my head.

I've also been playing regularly for almost 2 years now and I had what I thought were a few different "aha!" moments out there, only to have something else go terribly wrong. It's certainly frustrating. I shot a 90 and 91 about 6 months in and haven't broken 93 since.

I have no idea how to help you with a shank. Luckily that's one thing I've never had an issue with. Though last round out I shanked a short pitch shot when I had my LW way open and bladed across the ball. That was weird but never seen this with any full iron shot.

the mini swing advice is good. i find chipping and pitching really helps my full swing. surprised more instructors don't seem to incorporate this

In my case shanks are usually result of poor weight shift- my weight is on my back foot.

So what helps me is pitching with half swing and weight constant on my front foot. Few solid contacts, a sip of water and you are ready to go

Ed, I've had it happen to me 3 times in my life. None of them were really of the hosel but the ball flight was the same as I was bringing the face through impact open about 45 degrees. The first time I had gradually developed a closed stance and it ended up getting so closed I couldn't turn my lower body through the swing anymore. The second time it was because I was keeping my weight too far forward on the backswing and I couldn't clear my front hip out of hte way once again getting "stuck" behind my body. the last time was just standing too close to the ball. I was hitting tte most beautiful fairway wood shots of my life and any short club I could not bring through square.


It could be none of those things, maybe you really are hitting the hosel instead, but I would definitely try standing farther from the ball than you feel comforatable and hitting a few wedges at the range to see if it's better.

If not then try hitting chip shots and gradually longer swings until you get to the shortest swing that you shank and the longerst that you don't and try to figure it out from there.

If that doesn't work then I would just take a lesson. IMO This is the kind of thing that is not worth trying to fix on your own since it makes the game so miserable.

had them off and on for 3 years or so. I posted about the first case here, it came a night after watching Tin Cup. I get it figured out every now and then, but still shanked few a tonight. Whenever I'm actively working on it, I get a SW, put my feet together, and go from 3 pm to 9 pm with my backswing and finish. It's really mindblowing I still shank, and obv super frustrating.

What death donkey said, and hit more balls. Don't take this the wrong way, but your post is kind of like a poker player who's been playing for a week and had his aces cracked twice in the same session.

I don't think so. Are you saying I'm having bad luck? Bad luck in golf to me would be a bad lie, or landing in a divot on the fairway. I'm literally standing over the ball now, saying to myself, "please don't shank this" and then I shank it. Don't see the analogy.

lay a 2x4 on outside of ball

enjoy

Flying blind with no video, but the absolute first thing I would do is check grip pressure. Try hitting some shots feeling like its lighter than normal.

Set up normally, swing back normally, then:
try to hit the ball with the toe edge of the club. I don't mean make contact out on the toe of the face, I mean
during the downswing try to rotate forearms, hands, clubface so that you actually contact the ball with the face pointing at you, and the toe/edge of the club pointing at the target.
You won't actually rotate it that much, but give it a try.
Would love to hear how this goes!
Best of luck!


edit to say the only way you might actually overdo this is by hanging back with weight way behind ball.
Don't do that!
Finish balanced with weight on left foot, chest facing target.