Chipping yips!!

[dsanders9944]

I used to be a scratch golfer but developed the chipping yips and now struggle to break 80. I'm at the point now where I don't enjoy the game as if I miss the green it will be a certain bogey if I'm lucky!! I've seen my technique and it's fine and when I'm practicing it's fine but the moment I get on the golf course I either tense up before impact and thin it or decelerate and chunk it. Does anyone have any mental exercises that can help?

Thanks

 

[Jay1]

I've not got anything to help but I certainly feel your pain. I've had this problem since the beginning of last year and everytime I think I'm through it (1 round with ok chipping) it will come straight back again. I used to have a good, confident and aggressive short game and now I'm a mess if I miss the green. Even if I'm feeling confident over the ball, more often than not there will be a twitchy flick that results in a thin, or a complete deceleration and chunk.

It is so frustrating and really does make it hard work to enjoy a round.

I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this thread for any advice.

 

[Robobum]

I've never had what I'd call chipping yips, but it was pretty drastic and pretty embarrassing at the time.

I became too quick both snatching away at the backswing then a blur of a transition and a jab in the direction of the ball.

I had three key things I tried in order to get a short game:

First I wanted the club to be in motion prior to starting so, just before the backswing I would " bounce" the clubhead ever so gently to initiate the backswing.

Second I had to see the club hit the ball

Third, the one thought I have is "time". Give myself time to hit the ball, which smooths out the snatchiness!!

Then it's practice practice practice until the trust comes.

Good luck - it's not a nice situation!!

 

[G_Mulligan]

I've never had what I'd call chipping yips, but it was pretty drastic and pretty embarrassing at the time.

I became too quick both snatching away at the backswing then a blur of a transition and a jab in the direction of the ball.

I had three key things I tried in order to get a short game:

First I wanted the club to be in motion prior to starting so, just before the backswing I would " bounce" the clubhead ever so gently to initiate the backswing.

Second I had to see the club hit the ball

Third, the one thought I have is "time". Give myself time to hit the ball, which smooths out the snatchiness!!

Then it's practice practice practice until the trust comes.

Good luck - it's not a nice situation!!

Ok first and foremost I would like to mention that having the yips is not a sign of weakness (either physical or mental) in anyway. In fact you care too much and are trying too hard which are often seen as strengths in life (but not golf).

Certain studies have shown that players with the yips have elavated heart rates and increased grip pressure before and during the putting/chipping, so firstly you need to relax and breath. Take three short breaths in through the nose and breath out slowly from the mouth to a count of five. Ratio breathing of 3-5 breaths in (3) to out (5) will reduce your HR and release tension in your muscles. You can combine this with Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR). Grip the club as tightly as you can until it hurts (on the in breath) then fully relax (as you breath out) then do your hands and forearms together, then add the upper arms and repeat and then the shoulders and neck. Shake out any tension after the out breath and repeat the whole process.

OK this might work to some extent depending on how deep the problem has become ingrained into your mental approach and thought processes. Most golfers suffering from the yips report varying degrees of negative emotional and congnitive thoughts regarding the task which produces them i.e putting or chipping. Breaking this negative thought cycle is key to overcoming the yips.

As a starting point when you are practicing, firstly do the ratio breathing and PMR exercises. Then you need to replace negative thoughts such as don't thin it, fat it, miss, chunk, skull, shank etc. Don't think don't before chipping, think of the desired outcome, see the ball landing there and rolling to the hole. Look at the target, look at the ball, and chip. Just see it and do it confident in your stroke and of the outcome.

This is of course easier said than done. There are a few things I can recommend to help you so if you are interested send me a PM and I could send you either positive imagery, thought stopping, or positive self talk exercises depending on your specific problem and preference.

HTH

 

[standrew]

Im no expert by any means, but this study by somax performance states the main reason for the yips is physical. I can vouch for their golf knowledge (although the guy is a sales shark) as i have gone to a 12 hcp in 16 months using their golf method. If you watch his analysis videos you will see they compare with the TPI and other golf science boffins. I did a ton of research into golf before getting into it.


''I was interested to see why many of the great ball strikers like Snead, Hogan, and Trevino found their careers ended by the yips," says Bob Prichard. "I wondered if there was some commonality in their swings that might give us a clue to the origins of this terrible disorder where the muscles of the forearms spasm during putting or swinging the club, forcing the golfer to mishit the ball. Many hours of careful frame-by-frame measurement of their swing mechanics over several months showed me that the only thing they had in common was that they fought centrifugal force with their driver."

Adapting to Centrifugal Force During the downswing, the driver is traveling around 100 mph and is pulling away from the golfer with 100 lbs of force, the same amount of force we experience on our arms when we try to lift a 100 lb sack of cement, only for a much briefer time. Most golfers wisely adapt by allowing this centrifugal force to straighten their arms and club into a straight line. But as the arms and club straighten prior to impact, the distance from the shoulders to the club head increases about 7 inches compared to the distance at address.

This forces the golfer to stand up during the downswing in order to make contact with the ball. Because they can't see how many degrees they need to stand up, golfers have to hit thousands of golf balls to 'groove' their swing—and even then mishit the ball at the most critical moment. Snead, Hogan and Trevino determined they could make better ball contact by not allowing their arms and club to straighten, effectively returning their hands and club to the exact same position at impact as they were at address.

Restraining The Driver Causes the Yips While this adaptation was successful, and is unfortunately taught to many golfers today, it required tremendous forearm muscle contraction and grip pressure in order to resist 100 lbs of centrifugal force. These successful golfers used their technique not only while playing, but also while hitting thousands of golf balls at the range. By over-using their small forearm muscles to fight 100 lbs of centrifugal force, they tore many of the tens of thousands of tiny muscle fibers that make up each forearm muscle. As these fibers repaired, they became bigger and stronger.

Unfortunately a mild type of scar tissue, also formed in the connective tissue between their muscles as part of the healing process. This not only did not go away after the muscles repaired, it actually increased over time, making the forearms stiffer with age. In addition to physically binding adjacent connective tissue membranes together, scar tissue also binds tension into place. When these famous golfers tried gripping their putter very lightly, their stiff, tense forearm muscles went into spasm, forcing them to 'yip' their putts. "

The gradual accumulation of tension in the forearms" says Prichard, "is the main reason golfers get the yips. By releasing this scar tissue, our golfers have greatly improved their putting. They report that they have a much softer grip on their putter, have a better feel of the putter face, and can more reliably strike the ball with the center of the putter face." The Third Way "There is a third, more successful and safer way of dealing with centrifugal force during the downswing, one which we teach our golfers," says Prichard. "

By having our golfers extend their hands until their arms and club are in a straight line at address, they can allow centrifugal force extend their arms and hands, safe in the knowledge that their hands and club will be in the exact same position at impact as they were at address—but without the need to over-exert grip pressure. The result is that many of our golfers improve their percentage of fairways hit from 50-60% to 90% and more. In addition, they reduce their chances of ever getting the yips."

 

[G_Mulligan]

I've never had what I'd call chipping yips, but it was pretty drastic and pretty embarrassing at the time.

I became too quick both snatching away at the backswing then a blur of a transition and a jab in the direction of the ball.

I had three key things I tried in order to get a short game:

First I wanted the club to be in motion prior to starting so, just before the backswing I would " bounce" the clubhead ever so gently to initiate the backswing.

Second I had to see the club hit the ball

Third, the one thought I have is "time". Give myself time to hit the ball, which smooths out the snatchiness!!

Then it's practice practice practice until the trust comes.

Good luck - it's not a nice situation!!

apologies but I must have clicked the reply with quote from the wrong message, I was of course answering the op in my above reply.

 

[Robobum]

apologies but I must have clicked the reply with quote from the wrong message, I was of course answering the op in my above reply.

No probs, thought that was the case.

 

[dsanders9944]

Ok first and foremost I would like to mention that having the yips is not a sign of weakness (either physical or mental) in anyway. In fact you care too much and are trying too hard which are often seen as strengths in life (but not golf).

Certain studies have shown that players with the yips have elavated heart rates and increased grip pressure before and during the putting/chipping, so firstly you need to relax and breath. Take three short breaths in through the nose and breath out slowly from the mouth to a count of five. Ratio breathing of 3-5 breaths in (3) to out (5) will reduce your HR and release tension in your muscles. You can combine this with Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR). Grip the club as tightly as you can until it hurts (on the in breath) then fully relax (as you breath out) then do your hands and forearms together, then add the upper arms and repeat and then the shoulders and neck. Shake out any tension after the out breath and repeat the whole process.

OK this might work to some extent depending on how deep the problem has become ingrained into your mental approach and thought processes. Most golfers suffering from the yips report varying degrees of negative emotional and congnitive thoughts regarding the task which produces them i.e putting or chipping. Breaking this negative thought cycle is key to overcoming the yips.

As a starting point when you are practicing, firstly do the ratio breathing and PMR exercises. Then you need to replace negative thoughts such as don't thin it, fat it, miss, chunk, skull, shank etc. Don't think don't before chipping, think of the desired outcome, see the ball landing there and rolling to the hole. Look at the target, look at the ball, and chip. Just see it and do it confident in your stroke and of the outcome.

This is of course easier said than done. There are a few things I can recommend to help you so if you are interested send me a PM and I could send you either positive imagery, thought stopping, or positive self talk exercises depending on your specific problem and preference.

HTH

Thanks some good advice, I think this is purely mental, in the past I was doing positive affirmations 100 times everyday telling myself that I loved chipping and that it was the best part of my game. It did help to some extent. I was then also writing down my three best chips after every round to help me to remember the good shots that I hit, as well as only attaching emotion to the good shots(with a fist punch) and not the bad shot as I found myself doing that in the past. When I attached emotion to the bad one it was this shot that stayed in my memory bank when I was standing over the next chip. The problem was though, all of these mental techniques would maybe work for maybe 90% of the time but it would only take one bad chip and all of the confidence that I'd built up would quickly vanish!

 

[Sweep]

I am no expert, but I have been working on my chipping a lot (see seperate thread). I used to blade the ball miles across the green or chunk it altogether. I have found that there are lots of ways to chip, and none are wrong. The issue is complicated further as there are a wide variety of chip shots. However, if you have been a scratch golfer, you will know all about the various different methods. the one thing I found that was common to all kinds of chips and what is really never talked about is the need to relax through the shot. I realised that when I messed up it was because my forearm muscles were tense, especially at impact and just after the shot. this results in almost a punch, exactly what you don't want. I try to cure that now by trying to hold the club as lightly as possible, which makes you relax your arms. I have tried and it is not possible to hold the club too lightly. Try this and I think you will find you swing gently through the ball without the dreaded deceleration. Good luck!

 

[needmoreclub]

Like the rest of the guys, i'm no expert but had issues recently and found that the best method that worked for me and still does was to stand with both feet tight together and using a wedge, just take the club back putter style and accelerate through using the length of swing to control distance. Just my tuppence worth, but feel your pain.

 

[Sid Rixon IV]

I developed the "chipping yips" many weeks back.
I just started waggling the club way to many times, became anxious, reluctant to take the shot and my confidence was shot.
But I'm intelligent enough to know it was all in my head.
I went to the practice ground with and 8 iron and a wedge and stayed there until I was reasonably within target on all my shots.
I even just walked up to a ball and chipped it immediately, without thinking, telling myself "see how easy it is".
I even tried returning the balls to base one handed just to get the ball in the air - just walked up and swung saying "It's easy".
I had two sessions and next time out on the course my chipping was great because I remembered my practice.
Then it came back but then I knew even more so that it was in my head because I could remember how easy it had become.
So I kept telling myself "this is just bullox" as I addressed the ball.
It did take a while but I got over it.
For me it was no different to suddenly losing it off the tee and having to go back to basics.
Last week I couldn't hit a ball without a big fade.
Last two times out this week I got it totally under control.

 

[dsanders9944]

I like the tip of walking into the ball and just hit it as you don't give yourself time to think about dunging it 3 foot in front of you! I've just found this video on you tube and it says exactly what you said and it also has another good mental exercise that has also helped me

[video=youtube_share;BChwnnWaYhs]http://youtu.be/BChwnnWaYhs[/video]

 

[Sid Rixon IV]

With luck (and practice) it'll soon pass.

 

[woody69]

Distract your mind. Thinking box / playing box. Just think about how you want to play the shot then walk up to the ball but count down from 6 out loud and on 1 swing back and hit the ball. 6 seconds is plenty of time (Monty used to do it in 4 secs). Just step over an imaginary line out of the "thinking box" into the "playing box". As you will be concentrating on the count down it will prevent your mind from over thinking things before you hit it. I reckon that would help you.

 

[the_coach]

I used to be a scratch golfer but developed the chipping yips and now struggle to break 80. I'm at the point now where I don't enjoy the game as if I miss the green it will be a certain bogey if I'm lucky!! I've seen my technique and it's fine and when I'm practicing it's fine but the moment I get on the golf course I either tense up before impact and thin it or decelerate and chunk it. Does anyone have any mental exercises that can help?

Thanks

I had some success in mostly curing my father with this problem. The only way through was to work on his technique with a bunch and bunch and bunch of balls over a concentrated one month period.
He took jerked the club back too far, new it was too far, and so stopped the turn of the shoulder which then abruptly stopped arms, hands flipped, results fats thins, whiffs.
Got to really soften his grip on the handle to the point he didn't believe he'd hold onto the club then control the backswing clubhead to 3ft through his shoulders, weight stays totally on left foot right foot is placed with only toes on the ground heel off ground some 4 inches and stays that way throughout the swing. Feet around 1ft apart ball middle of stance, handle of club opposite front left thigh, giving forward lean of shaft you keep no independent moving of the hands going back focus is on shoulders and chest.
Told him only to focus on the turn of his shoulders back and through club head 3ft back 4ft through just thinking about line not distance in this practice drill, so he's not in this case looking at a target just chipping slow shoulders governing tempo and line of the club and just literally on a stretch of grass and focussing on what this felt like and just noticing where the balls were going as that wasn't an important outcome.
Few tragedies in the 1st bunch, 2nd bunch much better contact as the shoulders controlling the arms one piece move, stopped his hands picking the club up independently on the way back.
We started to get shallow path into the ball and much better solid contact as the shoulders kept moving through to his chest faced forwards club arms then out in front of chest.
Just got him to notice how far these balls were going with this length of swing with a 9i, did it with 8i and 7i, 6i then finally wedge and sand wedge, then overtime did it with hip high backswing to just past hip height through swing shoulders controlling the complete movement chest always finishing facing frontwards out towards where the balls went, gradually got his right heel back to ground, didn't all again with 2ft back to 3ft through all one paced shoulders controlled weight 85% on left foot.
He won't be taking Mickleson to the cleaners any time soon, but generally has solid contact now most of the time and is back down to 6 from 9 this season without wholly relying on the texas wedge from virtually every spot near a green as he'd had to do before. No flop shots just yet though but he's in a much much better place now.
Hope this is of help, wish you the best.
Cheers

 

[the_coach]

I used to be a scratch golfer but developed the chipping yips and now struggle to break 80. I'm at the point now where I don't enjoy the game as if I miss the green it will be a certain bogey if I'm lucky!! I've seen my technique and it's fine and when I'm practicing it's fine but the moment I get on the golf course I either tense up before impact and thin it or decelerate and chunk it. Does anyone have any mental exercises that can help?

Thanks

Often found although folks have said is not a technique problem it's not necessarily the case, if the chipping action is too arms and hands governed with no one pace speed control through the chest and shoulders, because if it is mostly arms/hands then under pressure this speeds up too much and you're in trouble.
Limiting the time you take over the ball can help but often that just speeds everything up even more and you're still in trouble, you just miss proper contact even quicker.
You don't mention putting so I guess that's ok and usually good putting is a one pace back and through, say on a one & two count pace lead by shoulders, if that's the case and you're putting ok try the same chipping focus shoulders chest one pace count (one & two) back and through focus on that and just focus on a landing spot rather than worrying about the flag once you've identified that spot.
Hope you get to sort it.
Cheers