The Yips

[Matt MacIver]

Guilty as charged, since last Fall.  I cannot find the EXACT RIGHT MOMENT to start bringing the club back....is it NOW; or NOW; no, NOW....and remember: smooth back, right arm straight, etc etc.  It's invaded every aspect of the game, and has made it much less fun.  I think mine is a condition of confidence, and I hit a few good ones last weekend while trying some new stuff, so we'll see where that takes me.  I do think it's curable, FWIW: I have to. 

[A.G._Crockett]

By far the cheapest, and for me the best, cure.  When you start to get crazy, just press harder with the heels of your hands.  You still yip (at times) but the ball goes straight anyway, leading to less yips over time.  Plus you don't have to carry a long putter or belly putter; you sort of look normal while putting.  The adjustment period is brief, and you gradually break down the scar tissue.

Worth a try if you are desperate; I'm in my third year with it now and wouldn't change.

www.wishbonegrip.com

[Bill Gayne]

I bought the "Putting Arc" and set it up about three yards from the hole. My latest drill is to rake a ball into the spot and immediately go. With the "Putting Arc" it removes the anxiety of the ball going in the hole. I've been doing this about five times a week for the last three weeks or so and it's beginning to pay dividends in both putting and chipping.

[David Camponi]

There are all kinds of yips; I don't even really consider someone like Tom Watson who just struggled making putts from 3-5ft as even having the true yips, I consider him someone who just lost his ability to make short putts consistently. 

I have had friends who IMO had the true yips; meaning they literally could not make a putt over 8 inches, another of my playing partners swears to this day that he caught them from the other player.  These players were better from 8 ft then they were from 1 ft.; Charles Barkley is someone who has the yips, literally a mental block on swinging the club or putter.

The claw saved one of the above mentioned players and the long putter saved the other, neither was ever great but a child could make the putts they were missing.

I personally will have the chipping yips that come and go, sometimes I will literally stand over a chip and know that there is no possible way I can hit it; have tried with my eyes closed, one handed, etc..; as soon as they appear they leave, and I will have total confidence around the greens.  Golf is a funny game, and the yips tell you how mental it is.

When I start missing short putts, which happens with me occassionally, for example I played 9 the other day and hit all 9 fways and all 9 greens and shot 38 with 3 birdies, I will start spot putting even from 2 feet; I know that if I can roll the putt over something 1 inch from my ball then the putt will go in, rarely do you have to "feel' it to the hole from that close.