a case of the yips?

[Lang Stone]

First of all a big hello to all you regular guys and gals...been lurking and have decided to pop in now and again...so to jump straight in I need your advice etc...ahem (clears throat) I think I may be developing the dreaded yips

I play my golf only socially nowadays no comps etc...in today's round and the round before that I am suddenly finding it difficult to complete the swing especially on short chip shots around the green...I am literally quitting on the shot and the ball dinks about 2 or 3 yards in front of me...what the heck is going on I ask myself it's quite scary...by the way these are not your usual duff shots or miss hits them I can handle and attempt to put right...but this...this is..the yips!!..thoughts and especially remedies would be greatly appreciated!

 

[mcbroon]

First of all a big hello to all you regular guys and gals...been lurking and have decided to pop in now and again...so to jump straight in I need your advice etc...ahem (clears throat) I think I may be developing the dreaded yips

I play my golf only socially nowadays no comps etc...in today's round and the round before that I am suddenly finding it difficult to complete the swing especially on short chip shots around the green...I am literally quitting on the shot and the ball dinks about 2 or 3 yards in front of me...what the heck is going on I ask myself it's quite scary...by the way these are not your usual duff shots or miss hits them I can handle and attempt to put right...but this...this is..the yips!!..thoughts and especially remedies would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome along Lang Stone. Stick around and enjoy yourself

I've been where you are and it's not nice, so you have my sympathies (I don't mean Hampshire ).

My problem was similar to yours - quitting on the downswing and chunking the ball inches in front of myself. Infuriating and embarrassing in equal measure. I'm not any kind of expert but one thing that helped me was to take the club back deliberately slowly - almost feel like you're doing it in slow motion. You can't help but accelerate through the ball if you do that. Good luck :thup:

 

[Foxholer]

Technique and Temperament are apparently the cure.

Search me which/what/how of each though, so you have my sympathy.

One comment that might help. This time of year is not a nice time to be critical of any chunked chips on Parkland courses - a muddy, claggy surface is actually very conducive to causing such mis-hits. I'm always rather more forgiving of my cludged shots at this time of year.

Good Luck

 

[rickg]

Use a hybrid instead of a wedge..........almost impossible to chunk it and will immediately restore your confidence........with a bit of practice, you can become quite proficient with it......I'm getting up and down more using my hybrid, then I ever did with my wedge from the same distance.

 

[Lang Stone]

Thanks for the comments McB, FH, Rg all good sound advice worth considering...I'm hoping it's just a temporary lack of confidence brought about by the awful conditions at the moment and you've kind of reminded of that with these suggestions...thanks!

 

[London mike 61]

Welcome along! The better weather is best for perfecting style but if you are the sort of person who likes golf books then I would recommend Dave Pelz short game bible. I'm reading it at the moment and it's a revelation , some great stuff in there.
one thing he does say is that most people play their chips too far forward resulting in poor contact ,but he plays the shot off the back of the rear heel. This eliminates any grass getting between the club and the ball.
hope you find a solution , good luck!

 

[delc]

I thought this was a forbidden subject on this forum, so I'd better not comment! :mmm:

 

[G_Mulligan]

It may be the case of conditions as mentioned above. If you feel it is a more persistent problem or gets worse over time feel free to drop me a PM and I wil help you out as much as I can.

Somebody had a similar problem a few weeks back, have a search for it as I remember posting a few things in that thread which may help you.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I thought this was a forbidden subject on this forum, so I'd better not comment! :mmm:

Talking about it is fine, just don't start banging on about making the hole bigger :thup:

 

[daymond]

Having had the yips when putting and cured it by going left handed, I can assure those who have never had it that it is nothing to do with technique.but everything to do with an involuntary action be it a twitch, jerk or in the case of Lang Stone a sudden halt at impact.
Hoping you work through it LS and welcome to the forum.

 

[garyinderry]

buy yourself a 56 wedge with 14 degrees of bounce. when the ground firms up a bit, set the club up about an inch behind the ball, close your eyes and hit it fat. the ball WILL have popped up onto the green by the time you have opened your eyes again.


if it doesn't I will give you your money back for the wedge. :thup:

 

[the_coach]

First of all a big hello to all you regular guys and gals...been lurking and have decided to pop in now and again...so to jump straight in I need your advice etc...ahem (clears throat) I think I may be developing the dreaded yips

I play my golf only socially nowadays no comps etc...in today's round and the round before that I am suddenly finding it difficult to complete the swing especially on short chip shots around the green...I am literally quitting on the shot and the ball dinks about 2 or 3 yards in front of me...what the heck is going on I ask myself it's quite scary...by the way these are not your usual duff shots or miss hits them I can handle and attempt to put right...but this...this is..the yips!!..thoughts and especially remedies would be greatly appreciated!

I've had some success the helping folks with this troubling problem. Three things to focus on.
Weight firmly on left leg (assuming your RH, Right leg if lefty & obviously you'll have to transpose the following if you are) keep it there through the whole stroke.


Grip pressure, if 10 is strangle, have it at 4.

Govern a completely even paced same length back swing, same length through completely by the rotation of a small upper body pivot focus on feeling your left shoulder continuing to move away from your neck.
Try this out, and one last trick, imagine there's a small coin under the ball and that you have to see which side is up before being concerned where the ball went.

 

[SocketRocket]

In my experience this problem is due to making a backswing that is too long. When you do this you instinctively know in the downswing that you are generating too much power and give in on the shot to stop it flying over the green.

The answer is a shorter backswing and longer follow through.

 

[delc]

Having had the yips when putting and cured it by going left handed, I can assure those who have never had it that it is nothing to do with technique.but everything to do with an involuntary action be it a twitch, jerk or in the case of Lang Stone a sudden halt at impact.
Hoping you work through it LS and welcome to the forum.

I'm glad that somebody understands the problem!

In answer to the OP, I have had the same problem with chipping. I was hitting at the ball instead of swinging through it. My swing went from 9 o'clock to 6 o'clock as it where. I have improved quite a lot by shortening my backswing and lengthening my follow through. Also try not to rush the shot. Think glide through the ball, rather than hitting at it.

 

[Foxholer]

Having had the yips when putting and cured it by going left handed, I can assure those who have never had it that it is nothing to do with technique.but everything to do with an involuntary action be it a twitch, jerk or in the case of Lang Stone a sudden halt at impact.
Hoping you work through it LS and welcome to the forum.

This is an example of the 'technique' I was meaning. I know someone for whom this technique change worked too - migrating via a 2-putter bag (left for the short ones) to full left-handed.
Another applied Claw-grip putting solution to them to his chipping ones with good success.

Poor technique in itself - I have a tendency to stab or stall - isn't yips though, just bad technique. Yipping is different and almost painful to watch. I couldn't watch a Pro mate when he was struggling with the problem!

 

[G_Mulligan]

Having had the yips when putting and cured it by going left handed, I can assure those who have never had it that it is nothing to do with technique.but everything to do with an involuntary action be it a twitch, jerk or in the case of Lang Stone a sudden halt at impact.
Hoping you work through it LS and welcome to the forum.

Poor technique, or more specifically a lack of trust or confidence in your technique can lead to the yips. As others have said, fixing one can help the other, sometimes this is temporary, sometimes it can be permanent. Breaking the negative cycle is often key in tackling the yips. It builds anxiety toward the shot and creates tension. That increases the chance of poor technique and a poor shot, which then makes you even more anxious about the shot next time. This just continues until you can hardly bring yourself to play the shot and dread any time you have one to play and then you start yipping and suddenly the downward spiral sends you over a cliff.

 

[Lang Stone]

Poor technique, or more specifically a lack of trust or confidence in your technique can lead to the yips. As others have said, fixing one can help the other, sometimes this is temporary, sometimes it can be permanent. Breaking the negative cycle is often key in tackling the yips. It builds anxiety toward the shot and creates tension. That increases the chance of poor technique and a poor shot, which then makes you even more anxious about the shot next time. This just continues until you can hardly bring yourself to play the shot and dread any time you have one to play and then you start yipping and suddenly the downward spiral sends you over a cliff.

This just about sums it up...the problem has only just arisen and i'm hoping it doesn't develop into a long term problem...there are some useful suggestions above...thanks to all...that I will bear in mind. Think i may hit the practice area before my next round and try a few things out...

thanks :thup:

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Have a look at linear method on you tube or the internet. Not pretty but may give you something to work with at least short turn as it forces you to rotate more through the shot.

 

[JCW]

Welcome along! The better weather is best for perfecting style but if you are the sort of person who likes golf books then I would recommend Dave Pelz short game bible. I'm reading it at the moment and it's a revelation , some great stuff in there.
one thing he does say is that most people play their chips too far forward resulting in poor contact ,but he plays the shot off the back of the rear heel. This eliminates any grass getting between the club and the ball.
hope you find a solution , good luck!

That's a very long read ..............