Fix the Shanks: 6 Training Aids I Tested, $15-$157

I caught the shanks on the 7th hole at my club’s member-guest. I was two over through six. Then I shanked a 9-iron. Then a pitching wedge. Then another pitching wedge. By the 11th hole I was putting from 40 yards with a hybrid because I was too scared to swing an iron.

The shanks is golf’s most feared word. Tour pros whisper it. Amateurs quit over it. The harder you try to fix it, the worse it gets. Your brain tightens up, your arms fire early, and the hosel finds the ball like a heat-seeking missile.

These six training aids fixed my shanks. Each one addresses a different root cause. Together they rebuilt my iron swing in three weeks. Total cost: about $340 if you bought everything new. Roughly the price of two lessons with a decent pro, except these keep working every day.

Why You’re Shanking It

The shank is not one problem. It is four problems that all produce the same nightmare: the hosel hits the ball.

Over-the-top path. Your club comes down outside the target line and cuts across the ball. The heel reaches the ball first. This is the most common shank cause for mid-handicappers, and research confirms it is almost always a path issue, not an equipment one.

Arms disconnecting. Your arms outrace your body on the downswing. Hands fly away from your torso, clubhead gets thrown outside, hosel meets ball. You feel like you’re swinging hard but generating nothing.

Weight shifting to your toes. As you swing down, your weight drifts toward the ball instead of staying centered. Your body moves closer, the hosel moves closer, and the sweet spot has no room. This one is sneaky: you will not feel it, but your playing partners can see it.

No strike awareness. You cannot tell where on the face you are making contact. Was that heel? Center? Toe? If you do not know where you are missing, you cannot fix it.

You need feedback. Not another YouTube video. Not a swing thought. Physical feedback that tells your body something is wrong the instant it happens. That is where training aids earn their money.

The Aids That Fixed My Shanks

1. Tour Striker PlaneMate 2.0: $127–$157

The PlaneMate is a resistance band system connecting your club to a belt around your waist. It physically prevents the over-the-top move. When you try to come over the top, the band pulls tight and you feel immediate resistance. Your body learns fast: that path is wrong.

The drill: Attach the PlaneMate and make half swings with a 7-iron. Keep the band taut from takeaway through impact. If it goes slack, you came over the top. Do 20 swings, three times a week.

Time commitment: 10 minutes, three times a week for two weeks.

What it fixed: My outside-in path. Within 10 days the over-the-top shank was gone.

2. Tour Striker Smart Ball: $40–$50

The Smart Ball is an inflatable ball you squeeze between your forearms. It keeps your arms and body moving together. When your arms disconnect from your torso (a major shank trigger), the ball drops. No app. No sensor. Just a ball falling to the ground telling you your arms just threw the club outside.

The drill: Place the Smart Ball between your forearms and make half swings. Keep light pressure through impact. If it drops, your arms disconnected. Hit 15 balls this way, then five without it to see if the feeling sticks.

Time commitment: 10 minutes, three times a week for two weeks.

What it fixed: Disconnected arms throwing the clubhead outside the target line. After a week my swing felt shorter and tighter. The hosel stopped showing up.

3. Divot Board: $99.99

The Divot Board is a plastic board you hit balls off. It leaves a mark showing exactly where your club made contact: heel, center, or toe. For a shanker, this is gold. You finally see what you have been feeling (or not feeling).

The drill: Hit 10 balls off the Divot Board with a 7-iron. Check the mark after each swing. Center contact is the goal. Heel marks mean you are still shanking: you just got lucky the hosel missed. Move your setup half an inch farther from the ball and try again.

Time commitment: 10 minutes, every range session, for three weeks.

What it fixed: Strike awareness. I went from having zero idea where I was hitting the ball to knowing on every swing. That awareness alone cut my shanks in half.

4. WhyGolf Pressure Plate: $99.99

The Pressure Plate is a balance board with visual feedback zones under each foot. It shows where your weight is at address, during the backswing, and through impact. For shankers who drift toward their toes (and that is most of us), this is a mirror for your feet.

The drill: Set up on the Pressure Plate with a 7-iron. Make slow swings, focusing on pressure in the center of your front foot at impact, not the toes. Green zones mean centered. Red means you drifted forward. Do 15 slow swings, then 10 full speed.

Time commitment: 12 minutes, three times a week for two weeks.

What it fixed: The toe-weight drift pushing my body toward the ball on every downswing. When my weight stayed centered, the hosel stayed away.

5. Alignment Sticks: $15–$25

Two fiberglass sticks that cost less than a dozen Pro V1s. Set one on your target line and one angled outside it to create a visual gate. If your club comes over the top, it hits the outside stick. Simple physics. The full setup is detailed in our alignment stick drills guide.

The drill: Create a gate with two sticks: one on your target line, one angled six inches outside it. Hit 20 balls swinging from the inside. If you hit the outside stick, your path is still over the top.

Time commitment: 10 minutes, every range session.

What it fixed: The visual confirmation my path change was sticking. Paired with the PlaneMate indoors, these were my range reality check.

6. Impact Bag: $25–$40

A heavy canvas bag you hit instead of a ball. When you strike it, the bag shows where the clubface made contact and at what angle. For shankers, the goal is simple: hit the center, not the edge. The bag does not move, so you cannot cheat with timing. Either you deliver the club square, or you don’t.

The drill: Hit the Impact Bag at half speed, 10 swings, focusing on center contact with a square face. Heel-side hits confirm your path is still outside-in. Use this as a warm-up before every range session.

Time commitment: 5 minutes, before every range session.

What it fixed: Impact position awareness. Hitting a stationary object forced me to deliver the club from the inside with a square face. No ball flight to chase, just pure feedback.

The 3-Week Plan

Do not use all six at once. Stack them:

• Week 1: Smart Ball + Divot Board. Fix connection and see your strike. 15 minutes a day.
• Week 2: Add the PlaneMate. Now that your arms are connected, groove the path. 20 minutes a day.
• Week 3: Add the Pressure Plate. With connection and path sorted, clean up weight shift. 25 minutes a day.

Alignment sticks and Impact Bag are your warm-up tools throughout. Use them every session.

What I Would Skip

The Impact Bag at $25–$40 is useful, but if you already have a hitting net and the Divot Board, it is redundant. The Divot Board gives you the same strike feedback on real swings with real balls. Save the money.

Where to Buy

• Tour Striker PlaneMate 2.0: $127–$157
• Tour Striker Smart Ball: $40–$50
• Divot Board: $99.99
• WhyGolf Pressure Plate: $99.99
• SuperStroke Alignment Sticks: $15–$25
• Gary Wiren Impact Bag: $25–$40

I shanked four straight irons on the 7th hole and wanted to walk off the course. Three weeks later I flushed a 5-iron from 185 to 12 feet on the same hole. The shanks did not disappear because I thought my way out of them. They disappeared because six training aids gave me feedback my brain could not.