| The yips are a strange phenomenon that can happen to anybody and can show in many different ways. The most common place we see them is on short putts, but they can exist in all parts of the game. It also can affect all abilities of player – professional playing careers have been ended by them and plenty of Saturday morning medal rounds too!
It could be that you can’t trigger your driver takeaway, can’t hit a chip without a flinch in your hands at strike or can’t stop control the putter face from 2 feet. Most people believe that they begin with a crisis in confidence. I, however, look at it from a different perspective.
Yes your confidence is probably shot if you have the yips, but I can guarantee that the root cause is grounded in your technique. As the technique gets worse the shots get worse and gradually you start believing that you can’t hit the shot. From that point every time you leave yourself that same shot you will have the same stress/ fear reaction that causes the ‘yip’. It’s a really nasty cycle that can start to run through other parts of your game too.
One example, that I see all the time is in chipping. Everyone I have ever spoken to who ‘yips’ there chips approaches the ball too steeply with a leading edge that is digging the ground. The bounce of the club is not used and therefore the margin for error in your strike is minutely small often leading to thins and chunks. It’s not a ‘yip’ until you’ve let this problem grow and grow for a while until it starts to become a mental issue. My advice is simple – GET PROFESSIONAL COACHING before the technical issue gets too big. Once this has happened the natural ‘reprogramming’ of your confidence can begin. |
