Stop Hitting The Ball On The Hosel / Ask Mike

Stop struggling with hitting the ball on the hosel and making pitch-out shots.

What causes you to hit the ball into the hosel? When you set up to the ball, your hands and arms move farther away from you, or your body moves closer, which runs the hosel into the ball.

Swinging too much from the inside can also cause you to hit the ball into the hosel because your hands and arms are moving away from you.

What’s the fix? First, set up to the ball, look at where your hands are, and make a swing. On the swing, make sure your left hip pushes out of the way as you come into the ball. Your hands must feel like they come closer to you and go around to the left. If your hands return to the same spot or inside that and go left, you won’t hit the ball into the hosel. It’s actually impossible.

The key is to make sure you move away from the ball. As you run the club into the ball at impact, that is the apex of the arc, and the club moves around to the left.

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2011 National PGA Teacher of the Year
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[guyrutherford]

Mike, I discovered you about two years ago as part of a re-introduction to the game of golf after a hiatus. You are, without a doubt, the best golf instructor out here. Your fundamental understanding of the physics and biomechanics of the golf swing combined with your ability to explain these forces, have made the journey back incredibly rewarding. You are the standard.

[jsant]

You just cured my shanks with this video. The instructions I got from my local PGA pro was to swing to the outside and it really gave me some problems. It made it worse. I saw this video and went out and hit 50 wedge shots without shanking any of them! Thank you.

[austinwilliams]

Subbed! Been at the sim shanking for an hour and fixed my hands and everything went back to normal.

BLESS YOU Coach.

[tAkg-bkqt]

You are Genius Mr. Malaska 🙂, greetings from Frankfurt/Germany

[danhnguyen-mmue]

❤ short, precise, no unecessary details. very helpful. Thanks

[jeromeslenk]

Excellent - simple and to the point. Much easier to release the club when you exit left. I have a tendency to keep my follow through at target and that’s why I hit heel shots.

[nickinportland]

Appreciate this. Idk if I made it up or someone told me I should be almost like reaching out when I strike the ball years and years ago. I think that’s what causes me to hit the hozzle sometimes. Working on it but good confirmation here that that’s what’s happening.

[richyclubsport]

Tragic 😂 yep, I've had them in the past, so bad i felt nervous with an iron in my hand, yips, when i over did the swinging out to right field as you call it over the pond

[UNEVENPAR]

so simple and so effective. instant results. been reconstructing my swing for the last month or so and this seems to be the last missing piece (hopefully lol). thank you!

[jonathanbarr]

I'm an 11hcp, and last 2 rounds have been an absolute stressful nightmare just off the greens. Used to be a reliable pitcher and flopper, but have mentally had to resort to bump running, even for 3yds of green between me and flag (rough too thick to putt).

Going to apply this to my next session, thank you!

[sheilasmith]

Yes that is what I am doing🤣 I am shallowing too much and trying to hit it out to the right. Thanks for showing me why my shots are going way to the right 😂

[yannh]

Thank you for being so clear, and understandable. Every advices of yours are helping understanding why i have been so terrible at golf and why somme people seem to swing at it so naturally ! Thank for all!

[jeffreylondongolf]

So simple - of course! Thank you Mike M!

[mattlayman]

Could you explain the alignment sticks? I've seen this setup in several of your videos. I'm particularly interested in the two out in front of the ball.

[mattsalisbury]

Thanks Mike, love your content.

Matt, Bedfordshire Golf Club, England

[lookmil]

Mike, I believe there is possibly another explanation as to why shanks occur. The vast majority of amateur golfers lose the feel of the club head approximately half way into their backswing. By the time transition begins these amateurs only have the “sense” of the “shaft” in their hands, and therefore no conscious sense of the club face. In other words, at transition these amateurs are essentially attempting to hit the ball with the hosel (shaft) as that is the dominate “sense” they have. I believe if amateurs were given an iron club with the entire club head “cut off” leaving only the iron hosel attached to the shaft and then practice swinging this “no club head” iron INSIDE the ball (which is exactly where the hosel is supposed to be) then the armature would begin to get a sense of the relationship of the “hosel to ball” distance that is, for lack of a better word, FUNDAMENTAL. By forcing an armature to develop this sense of the “distance” from the "hosel to the ball" by swinging an iron that has only the hosel to direct is something that is rarely if ever discussed. In simple terms, SHANKS therefore occur because on that day the amateur is not “SWIPING” the hosel inside fast enough to avoid the shank. It’s the subconscious sense of the shaft/hosel (alignment) WITHOUT a sense of the club face that makes the vast majority of amateurs swing out-to-in (over the top) as the club head moves into impact and consistently produces those “low on the toe” SWIPES. If the armature is having an average day swinging over the top then he gets “low on the toe” strikes or SWIPES. When a bad day occurs (usually path to much from the inside) this same amateur experiences the shank because he has nowhere to SWIPE to. He can not get the hosel "out of the way" and has no conscious thought to do so. Now he's trapped in Shank City.

Thanks for everything Mike.

[anthonyviola]

Thanks Mike for this vid lesson, very timely I did this 4 times yesterday! 😮👍

[golfdoc]

My divots when I shank look normal. Club face is square. I figured out my flaw, which is letting my weight go to my toes on the downswing, thereby moving the club face away from me. I think shanks aren’t all the same.

[golfprodave]

Hell Mike, hope your in good health.I used to hit from the hosel, now i just address the ball off the hosel and try hit off the toe, it brings my hands closer to my body. what do you think

[kevinbooth]

Thanks Mike that is my problem but it only happens at the driving range and virtually never on the course.