Shankopotamus

"Read the rule book, shankopotamus!" Great TV ad. It's given my golfing coterie an epithet that we can use often. Even though I haven't been playing, I've noticed at the range that every once in a while I shank a few balls. Then I make some correction, and the problem disappears. Since my last lesson with Brian Flanagan at Fairview Golf Center in Elmsford, NY, shanking (if it occurred to me at all) was a distant, if amusing, memory.

On Saturday, I wanted Brian to talk to me about the driver. At the start of the lesson, he asked me how my swinging was going, and I said, "I'll show you," and hit a 9-iron, fortunately hit pretty well, really high and on target. Then I hit a driver, and Brian said, "That's not your 9-iron swing. You wanted to jerk the club down to the ball." I recognized that immediately, and we went through the rest of the lesson talking about a smooth, long, shallow swing, with a level hip turn.

The lesson over, I went to a nearby mat and hit 300 of the free balls that a lesson provides a student and worked on what Brian had taught me. After about 150 balls, I started to get the feel of a level hip turn, and then everything fell into place, giving me the misconception that I had leaped to another level of golf competence.

The next day, I happened to be near the Doral course in Purchase, NY, and I hit about 60 balls at the range, generally cracking the ball and starting to feel like a pro. I hit mostly 3-metals, since Brian had told me, "That's the last piece of the puzzle." If I could hit that repeatedly well, then I had learned the swing. I left Doral feeling really good.

Today, I went to my usual range at Yorktown Baseball and Golf to hit several hundred balls. In the morning, I reviewed a Dave Stockton DVD on the short game, and at the range I tried out what he says about hitting various short shots. At first, I hit the ball great. Wedges right on target, irons right at the flag 155 yards away. All Systems Go.

Then, I made the fatal -- or revelatory, considering the eventual outcome -- mistake of trying to hit low punch shots. All of a sudden, I started shanking the ball. Time after time and no matter which club I picked up. If I made a slight adjustment, I could hit a 9-iron or a 7-iron OK. But the 5-iron was recalcitrant. No matter what I did, I shanked it into the net on the right side of the range.

I actually began to panic. "What has happened to me?" I wondered. "How could I have hit the ball so well yesterday, and now, today, I can't hit it any better than a complete beginner?" "What gives?"

Finally, I saw Eric, who sometimes works at the desk, and a very good golfer, come out the front door where I could walk over and talk to him. Desperate for help, I did.

"Eric! What causes a shank?"

He explained that it's being off-plane and swinging the hosel into the ball ahead of the club face. I recognized that as my problem instantly. Earlier in my practice, I had been hooking many balls way left, and now I understood why. I was coming from way inside and either shanking or hooking.

So I went back to my mat, with the mirror behind me, and paid close attention to the plane of my downswing. It didn't take me long to solve the shanking problem. Pretty soon, I had demonstrated to myself that I could hit the ball cleanly and straight. Then I started working on fades. I never really got it, but I could feel that I was close. And I thought that I need to go back to YouTube and find some instructional videos on shaping shots.

Three hundred balls and several hours after I started, once again, I felt as though I might be competent in the swing. Tomorrow, at the range, I'll see. But it felt like a good day's work.