Shanks make golfers more nervous than any other shot in golf. And for good reason, when you hit a shank you've missed the clubface! The ball has struck the hosel of the club. The hosel is round and that explains why the ball shoots straight for a right handed golfer.
There's three solutions to fixing your shank. The video embedded in this blog post gives a good description on how make your shanks go away.
Cheers,
Tim