How to Stop Heel Shots in Golf

Nothing sends a shudder down a golfer’s spine quite like the sickening sound of a golf ball striking the hosel. That dreaded shank or heel shot rockets sideways, often causing more psychological damage than scorecard damage. The good news is that a heel shot isn't a random mystery, it's a predictable outcome of a specific swing flaw. This guide will break down exactly why you hit the ball on the heel and provide you with clear, actionable drills to eliminate it from your game for good.

Understanding the Heel Shot: Why Does It Happen?

At its core, a heel shot is simple geometry. It happens when the clubhead at impact is farther away from your body than it was at address. When you set up, the sweet spot of the clubface is perfectly aligned with the ball. But if your hands, arms, and club move closer to the ball during your swing, the part of the club that meets the ball is no longer the sweet spot - it’s the hosel, that thick part of the clubhead where the shaft connects.

Every golfer knows the feeling. You make what feels like a normal swing, and the ball shoots violently to the right (for a right-handed player). It feels like an accident, a total fluke. But it’s not. It's a direct result of one of three common issues:

• Setup and Posture: Your starting position may be forcing you into a bad motion.
• Balance and Weight Shift: You're losing your posture during the swing, almost always by moving towards the ball.
• Swing Path and Body Action: Your body isn't rotating correctly, causing your arms to be "thrown" at the ball.

One of these flaws, or a combination of them, is sending your club hurtling outwards and exposing the heel. Let’s look at how to identify which one is affecting you and how to fix it.

Fix #1: Re-evaluating Your Setup and Posture

Your golf swing is a chain reaction, and it all starts with your setup. A faulty setup puts you in a compromised position before you even begin the takeaway, making a compensation during the swing almost inevitable. For heel shots, two setup flaws are the usual suspects: standing too close to the ball or having your weight in the wrong place.

Finding the Right Distance from the Ball

Standing too close cramps your swing. It leaves no room for your hands and arms to travel on their natural path. Instinctively, your body will push the club *outward* to create the space it needs, shifting the impact point directly onto the heel. Conversely, standing too far away can cause you to lunge at the ball, also pushing your weight and clubhead out toward the hosel.

Here’s a simple way to find your perfect distance every single time:

1. Stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding the club in front of you.
2. Bend forward from your hips, not your waist, keeping your back relatively straight until the clubhead naturally touches the ground.
3. Let your arms hang straight down from your shoulders. They shouldn't be reaching out or pinned tightly to your chest. They should just hang athletically.

That's it. Where your arms hang naturally is the correct distance from the ball. This athletic posture creates the space you need for a free-flowing, rotational swing.

The Practice Station Drill for Perfect Distance

To burn this feeling into your muscle memory, you need a feedback mechanism. On the range, create a simple "practice station."

• Step 1: Address the golf ball as you normally would.
• Step 2: Place a second golf ball (or your headcover, or even an empty water bottle) directly outside the toe of your golf club. For an iron, It should be about an inch or two away from the toe.
• Step 3: Hit the inside ball without touching the outside object.

If you're hitting your heel shots because you're moving closer to the ball, you will clatter into that outside object. This drill gives you instant, undeniable feedback. Your goal is to swing freely, missing the outside target and striking the ball squarely on the face. You’ll quickly learn the feeling of keeping the club on its proper arc without "casting" it toward the ball.

Fix #2: Conquering Early Extension (The #1 Culprit)

If you only fix one thing to stop shanking, make it this. Early extension is the most common cause of heel shots among amateur golfers. It sounds technical, but the idea is simple: it’s when your hips and lower body thrust forward, towards the golf ball, during the downswing.

You start your swing in a good athletic posture with your backside out. But on the way down, your hips thrust in, your spine straightens up, and what happens to your arms? They get thrown out and away from your body. Your body is trying to create power, but by moving towards the ball, it pushes the club onto a path where the hosel is almost guaranteed to make contact first.

So, how do you stop it? You need to train your body to rotate your hips rather than thrust them.

The "Backside Against the Wall" Drill

This is one of the most effective swing drills in all of golf, and it directly corrects early extension.

1. Step 1: Find a wall, a golf bag standing on its end, or even a chair. Set up without a ball so your backside is just barely grazing the object.
2. Step 2: Take a practice backswing. Your right glute (for a righty) should maintain contact with the object or even press into it slightly as you turn.
3. Step 3: As you start your downswing, focus on turning your hips. The goal is to feel your left glute work its way back and make contact with the wall or bag. You are trying to keep your backside on that line throughout the entire swing.

The feedback is immediate. If your hips thrust forward, a big gap will open up between you and the wall. You failed the rep. But when you do it correctly, your glutes will work along that wall, forcing your hips to clear and rotate out of the way. This keeps your posture and creates a ton of room for your arms to swing down on the correct path, delivering the club's sweet spot right to the ball.

Fix #3: Making Your Body the Engine, Not Your Arms

Another common cause of the shanks is a swing that's dominated by the arms. This is closely related to early extension, but it's about the sequencing of your swing. Golfers who rely on their arms often "cast" the club from the top, throwing the clubhead away from their body in a big, loopy motion an effort to hit the ball hard.

A good golf swing is a sequence where the rotation of the lower body initiates the downswing, pulling the torso, shoulders, and finally the arms through. When your hips rotate correctly (like you practiced with the "Backside Against the Wall" drill), your arms will naturally drop into the "slot" and approach the ball from the inside. When your arms are in charge, they fire first and get thrown "over the top," away from you, and out toward the hosel.

The solution is to feel more “connected,” with your arms and body moving as a single, synchronized unit.

The "Towel Under the Arms" Drill

This classic drill is used by pros to stay connected and use their body as the engine.

1. Take a small glove or a golf towel and place one under each armpit. Don't clamp down on them hard, just hold them in place with light pressure from your upper arms against your chest.
2. Start by making half-swings without letting the towels fall out.
3. To accomplish this, you have no choice but to rotate your big muscles - your chest and torso - to move the club. Your arms are now passengers, connected to your torso's rotation.
4. As you get comfortable, you can build up to fuller swings. It’s okay if the towels drop out in your follow-through, but they should stay in place during the backswing and the start of the downswing.

This drill teaches you the sensation of a body-led swing. It trains your arms to stay back and work in sync with your turn instead of running a race to the ball that they can’t win. When your body leads, the path and position of the club at impact become far more consistent.

Final Thoughts

Eliminating heel shots comes down to creating and maintaining space in your golf swing. By correcting your setup, learning to rotate your hips instead of thrusting them, and syncing up your arm swing with your body's turn, you can build a more reliable motion that consistently delivers the sweet spot to the ball.

Developing that reliability on the range is paramount, but we also know that confidence on the course is a huge part of hitting solid shots. When you're facing a tough lie or are unsure of the right strategy, doubt can creep in and sabotage your mechanics. That's why we created Caddie AI. It provides a judgment-free, expert second opinion right in your pocket. You can get a simple play for a weird lie or a smart strategy for a tricky par 5, letting you step up to your shot with clarity and a quiet mind, free to make your best swing.