Four tips to cure the yips
In the world of professional golf, players are ultimately measured by one statistic—the money list. Keeping your card as a TOUR player is pressure-packed, an experience the average golfer could never fathom. Success is measured weekly, and by year’s end, many players are left without a job and must reshuf- fle and start all over again. TOUR players often look at their driving distance, greens in regulation and up and down percentage, all of which are important measurements, in seeking an advantage over the field. But in my experience as a teaching professional, success starts not from the tee box that may be over 500 yards away but from the hole, with the ball only 3 feet away. I have come to realize that all players of all 12 G o l f T i p s www.golftipsmag.com levels struggle with the short putt at some point in their playing career, when participants huddle around the green, and the money is on the line. In many cases, the short putt has ru- ined the careers of TOUR profession- als and led some to quit the game altogether. This missed opportunity is simply referred to as the “yip.”
When faced with the yips, many golfers try to gloss over the prob- lem by seeking a quick fix (buying a new putter or changing their putting grip). This method usually creates a temporary honeymoon effect as the player rationalizes, “OK, I got it! My new $150.00 purchase will solve the problem—after all, the problem isn’t me; it’s the putter.” The other quick-fix remedy is to change their putting grip, a practice I see all too often on the PGA TOUR. There have been times where these changes have been successful, but for the average player, this attempt to find the flavor of the month with a new putter or grip change leads to more frustration, and, for some, a desire to leave the game.
Here are four of my favorite tips to eliminate the yips:
1. Remember, the closer we get to the hole, the more anxiety starts to set in, especially for those struggling with the putter. This often begins with excessive eye movement. Of all our five senses, the eyes provide the most feedback. In the case of the short putt, the eyes are often drawn to the hole, causing head movement that leads to mishits.
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To quiet the eye movement, a student must learn to train their eyes. A simple way to do this is to take a Sharpie pen and draw a single dot on your ball (I like to do this just behind the line that is used to line up putts). Now, in- stead of looking at the golf ball, focus the eyes on the single dot. This takes discipline and some practice, but the good news is everyone can do this. The idea is that focusing on the dot’s eyes eliminates the visual of the golf ball and the putter head movement. I focus on the dot as I swing the putter back and through, and as a result, my head does not move. After I have hit the ball, I then turn my head using only my neck to follow the ball as it enters the hole (never turning my body toward the hole).
2. Here is another great tip for the yips. Practice hitting 3-foot putts (I recommend straight uphill putts to improve confidence) with your eyes closed. The idea is to listen for the ball to go into the hole. This drill takes the ball out of play completely, allowing you to focus on the feel of the stroke as well as training the body not to follow the ball after impact.
3. One day I was practicing on the putting green, and for some rea- son, I picked up a 2-pound med- icine ball and put it in between my legs and started hitting putts. I was amazed at how solid my putts felt, leading to an “aha moment.” By stabilizing my body in supporting the medicine ball, the putter swung with freedom and ease. Although this would be illegal to do on the course, this drill really gave me the true feel for how to stabilize the core muscles in putting and improved my contact immediately. Try it and see for yourself.
4. The final drill is the use of the metronome. First, download a free version of a metronome on your cellphone and set it for 60 beats (1 second). Based on research done years ago from Swing Model, the TOUR player on average takes one second from the start of their swing to impact (this time does not include the follow-through), no matter the length of the putt. Let’s face it, all golfers can make the ball roll 3 feet, even the novice. The root problem with the yips is simple. The mind is like a filing cabinet that stores all our memories, both good and bad. Have you ever heard a song on the radio that reminded you of your high school prom or a party in college? In this example, your sense of hearing opened a file to a memory from the past, a file that you never knew existed. This effect, played out in the mind, is what players of all levels often face on the golf course.
The new player has a conversation in their mind that goes something like this: “If I make this putt, I will finally break 100.” The TOUR player may stand over the 3-footer saying, “I need to make this to make the cut.” Same problem, from two completely different perspectives and abilities, that often leads to disaster on the course. These failed attempts then get filed away in the mind in the form of negative memories, only to be pulled out again by the mind while standing over the next 3-footer. This nightmare on the course keeps players up at night and becomes the root cause of the yips over time. The previous three drills focus on stabi- lizing the body, but the metronome works on quieting the mind. Listen to the beat of the metronome, and count one, two, swing, swing to the beat. Practice this beat until you can do it without the metronome. The one and two give you the rhythm, and the swing, swing gives you per- mission to swing the club.
It has been proven that the mind can only think of one thing at a time, so focusing on the rhythm and the beat is where the mind needs to be, not opening a negative file and putting a value on the putt. Remem- ber, the 3-foot putt is one shot, just like all the others. The yips are real, rooted in the mind first, causing cha- os to the feel of the physical putting stroke. The good news is there is a cure for this problem, and it starts with four simple tips.
Why do I know this? Because I have experienced the yips in the past, and I know the vaccine to eliminate them for good!