Curing the yips!

[drewster]

They do exist. As an ex-sufferer, I can vouch for that. Couldn't putt for two years and I will admit that a poor technique was the start of it. In my case, I couldn't take the club away when I wanted. When I did, it was involuntary, snatched and unpredictable. It didn't matter if it was 2ft or 20ft, the same condition. Nerves never really came into it.

I cured it by moved to a Odyssey two-ball, hovering the putter and quickening up the putting process.

Sorry Sir and no disrespect to you at all but that all seems placebo to me. A change of putter and technique "cured " you. That to me says it was a
technical fault rather than a "condition" that you had. I'm going to be a non-believer until i experience this myself.

 

[Imurg]

in my opinion it's psychological not physical. All in the mind .

Therefore, in the mind of the sufferer, they exist.......

QED.

 

[Piece]

Sorry Sir and no disrespect to you at all but that all seems placebo to me. A change of putter and technique "cured " you. That to me says it was a
technical fault rather than a "condition" that you had. I'm going to be a non-believer until i experience this myself.

Not overnight it didn't. It took time to 'retrain the brain', and I'm talking 6 months plus. Its not something that can be switched on and off.

You don't want to experience the yips, trust me. It will kill your love of golf.

 

[delc]

Not overnight it didn't. It took time to 'retrain the brain', and I'm talking 6 months plus. Its not something that can be switched on and off.

You don't want to experience the yips, trust me. It will kill your love of golf.

True! It is difficult to make a good score when you are taking 4 or 5 putts on every green. My record was 6 putts on a par-3. Hit my tee shot to 20 feet and then yipped my way round and past the hole 5 times, until I somehow managed to hole one! However this is nowhere near Tommy Armour's record of 23 on a par-5, most of them on the green. Still stands as the record high score in USPGA history for one hole. Even John Daly has only managed an 18!

 

[Foxholer]

Tommy Armour's record of 23

That seems familiar....Oh, yeah! Post 110!

 

[Piece]

I've just read this thread end to end and I'm amazed at the generalisation and ignorance TBH, even from well established senior names.

Richard and Murph have it spot on. Yips are no laughing matter. Those who don't believe have obviously never experienced them.

Poor technique is often the start. Then technique breeds lack of confidence, breeds lack of results, the anxiety levels go up, and this is repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated, getting more serious each time, until the brain, thinking it is doing you a favour, tries to 'fight' the physical body by preventing you from putting. It is so frustrating, debilitating and you can eventually give up.

As I said in a previous post, the cure is to break the cycle and retrain the brain to lower the anxiety levels to 'normal' everyday parameters. It can be change of putter, technique, pro, lessons, less time over the ball, etc. but I would recommend a change in putter routine as a starter for ten so that the brain can learn something new and good to replace what is corrupted.

Proper yips won't be cured over night but over time. But they can be cured! My putting is now the best part of my game.

Its a bit of a rant, but it is a subject close to my heart and often, as demonstrated, misunderstood and ridiculed.

 

[chrisd]

True! It is difficult to make a good score when you are taking 4 or 5 putts on every green. My record was 6 putts on a par-3. Hit my tee shot to 20 feet and then yipped my way round and past the hole 5 times, until I somehow managed to hole one! However this is nowhere near Tommy Armour's record of 23 on a par-5, most of them on the green. Still stands as the record high score in USPGA history for one hole. Even John Daly has only managed an 18!

It's now that I usually post a story of my regular playing partner who started 4,5 and 6 putting. After a 5 putt I casually asked him if he'd like to borrow my Dave Peltz Putting Bible, he told me in very graphic terms what to do with it and queried what use it would be to him? I said that I wasn't suggesting he read it but if he put it behind the hole he wouldn't go so far past!!

A change to a broomhandle putter did the trick!

 

[North Mimms]

I think we should introduce the Fight Club rule.

The first rule about the yips is that we don't talk about the yips

 

[bobmac]

I think we should introduce the Fight Club rule.

The first rule about the yips is that we don't talk about the yips

Agreed.
Talking about the shanks is much more fun

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I think we should introduce the Fight Club rule.

The first rule about the yips is that we don't talk about the yips

What would delc talk about?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

What would delc talk about?

Larger holes , his HC and rules

 

[USER1999]

Agreed.
Talking about the shanks is much more fun

Jeez, not that as well. They visit periodically too! Currently 80 yards, or the 190 yard 16th.

 

[delc]

Jeez, not that as well. They visit periodically too! Currently 80 yards, or the 190 yard 16th.

I've suffered from them as well! Once I was having a good round in a medal at Wexham Park until I got to the par-4 14th, where I hit a pretty good drive down the middle of the fairway and then proceeded to shank 4 balls in a row over the OOB fence on the right.with a 7-iron. As my next shot would have been my 10th, I gave up and N/R'd. On another occasion I did something similar with my tee shot at the par-3 13th. I got my record low Stableford score of 11 points on another day when I was having a fit of the unmentionables, and I only got that many because I was chipping and putting well! A combination of the yips and then the shanks caused my handicap to go up from 13 to 19 over a 4 year period! Yet I was still capable of making good scores on occasions, including my best ever score of 72 (4 over par) in a match. I got called a bandit for that one!

 

[Ethan]

For those who think there is no such thing as the yips:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1654754-ranking-the-10-worst-cases-of-the-yips-in-golf-history

utt:

OK, a scientific report in a learned journal? No, not really.

If you read the first page, it refers to the 'dreaded mental affliction', so kinda undermines your basis premise somewhat, no?

It is hardly news that there have been some players with major putting crises. We have seen them on Sky and some of us have been among them. The argument you are advancing, however, is that there is a "proper" condition of a neurological nature which causes a set of symptoms including spasms, jerky stroke and the inability to start the stroke. But most of the sensible coverage of this suggests that there is only a small group of players who have such a problem but the majority are just bad putters or chokers who call their bad putting yipping. Miraculously many of these can be cured, or at least have symptoms reduced, by better technique or coaching. Presumably this is similar to the alcoholics anonymous argument of blaming the disease rather than oneself.

By the way, dystonia is a simply description of a functional problem, rather than identification of an underlying pathology. It is really just a fancy way of saying there is something funny going on with the muscles, just like dyslexia/dypraxia/dyspnoea means something funny going on with reading/movement/breathing. It is not a diagnosis, just a description of a disorder.

 

[EuanRoss]

What would delc talk about?

How seniors have a more rapidly declining ability than CONGU can keep up with?
Bigger holes?
Any rule of golf and how it's wrong/should be amended?
Anchoring?

The list goes on but is repetitive, wonder if he keeps a diary? Ah it's December, my rota suggests its time for a bigger hole thread.

 

[delc]

OK, a scientific report in a learned journal? No, not really.

If you read the first page, it refers to the 'dreaded mental affliction', so kinda undermines your basis premise somewhat, no?

It is hardly news that there have been some players with major putting crises. We have seen them on Sky and some of us have been among them. The argument you are advancing, however, is that there is a "proper" condition of a neurological nature which causes a set of symptoms including spasms, jerky stroke and the inability to start the stroke. But most of the sensible coverage of this suggests that there is only a small group of players who have such a problem but the majority are just bad putters or chokers who call their bad putting yipping. Miraculously many of these can be cured, or at least have symptoms reduced, by better technique or coaching. Presumably this is similar to the alcoholics anonymous argument of blaming the disease rather than oneself.

By the way, dystonia is a simply description of a functional problem, rather than identification of an underlying pathology. It is really just a fancy way of saying there is something funny going on with the muscles, just like dyslexia/dypraxia/dyspnoea means something funny going on with reading/movement/breathing. It is not a diagnosis, just a description of a disorder.

Try this link then:

http://www.puttingyips.com/2013/putting-yips-what-are-the-yips/

Hover putting (as suggested in the GM article) probably works because it gets your putter stroke flowing freely again. It seemed to help me anyway!