2001 Volkswagen GTI Hard Shift Stick

Part of the shifter could be broken. If you remove the air box under the hood, you should be able to see where the cables for the shifter hook to the trans. Unhook them and feel the shifter, if still the same, hook cables back up and reinstall air box. If shifter is ok, you have an internal trans problem. Next you will need to remove the plastic shroud (Console) around the shifter to gain access to where the cables hook to it. Disconnect the shifter and try it, if still stiff the shifter is bad, if not you may have bad shift cable. Hook up cables one at a time to find the bad one.