The dread Yips

cack_handed

Been a long time lurker on this forum which have always found entertaining & useful so thought i'd go for it & post something that has been troubling me for a while.

Basically have the golfing yips but its nothing to do with putting, but a tendency for head & body to jerk slightly before hitting driver or irons, so by the time i play the shot, i never feel comfortable & its in the lap of the gods whether i hit a pure strike or not.

Just wondering if this was a common issue, haven't heard of it beyond putting myself, and if it can be cured, maybe there's a cure for putting yips that can work too. Presume dartitis is a variant of the same problem too! Anyway, its making my golfing life a bit of a misery & would appreciate any comments, thanks.

Creasy_bear

cack_handed wrote: »

Been a long time lurker on this forum which have always found entertaining & useful so thought i'd go for it & post something that has been troubling me for a while.

Basically have the golfing yips but its nothing to do with putting, but a tendency for head & body to jerk slightly before hitting driver or irons, so by the time i play the shot, i never feel comfortable & its in the lap of the gods whether i hit a pure strike or not.

Just wondering if this was a common issue, haven't heard of it beyond putting myself, and if it can be cured, maybe there's a cure for putting yips that can work too. Presume dartitis is a variant of the same problem too! Anyway, its making my golfing life a bit of a misery & would appreciate any comments, thanks.

I've seen putting/chipping yips, but that's it. Why don't you post a vid of your swing. Maybe someone might be able to give you some advice.

golfnut1

I have read most dr bob's books and alot have a chapter dedicated to yips. I've alway skipped these chapters out of fear of catching same. Perhaps you should have a read of these and see what he has to say.

GreeBo

Are you spending a long time over the ball?
Yips are purely psychological, maybe try a different preshot routine to break out of this
habit.
I'd try to speed up over the ball, I'm guessing you don't have this problem with your practice swings? Do you have it at the range or just on course?
+1 on reading dr bob.

whizbang

I have to disagree with Greebo here..
You will have to learn to get a good routine going.

Stand over the ball until you are fed up waiting; then wait a little longer. Keep waiting.
Eventually you will start moving the club without any real thought.
Just slowly, slowly, keep it moving back further, while not making any other movements, until the windup is there..
by slowly, I mean 1(one) INCH per second!

stockdam

whizbang wrote: »

I have to disagree with Greebo here..
You will have to learn to get a good routine going.

Stand over the ball until you are fed up waiting; then wait a little longer. Keep waiting.
Eventually you will start moving the club without any real thought.
Just slowly, slowly, keep it moving back further, while not making any other movements, until the windup is there..
by slowly, I mean 1(one) INCH per second!

Are you being serious?

If I was your playing partner I would have finished the hole before you had hit your tee shot.

whizbang

even you started somewhere...on the course ?

You will have to learn

slave1

Lessons my friend, lessons

evillive

slave1 wrote: »

Lessons my friend, lessons

+1
had serious issues earlier this year with my irons - 1 lesson,
change to grip, stance and follow through and a practice drill to work on and it worked wonders - i dont want to tempt fate but i have practically eliminated it from my game -

cack_handed

When you say "serious issues" and you managed to eliminate it evillive, do you mean something similar to what i was referring to or something different? Would be curious to know.

Greebo is very right when he says it is 100% psychological, it started initially 4 years ago, on the tee & spent a year in the horrors on the tee box, problem seemed to go away naturally after a year but has resurfaced with drivers & irons over past 18 months, nowhere near as bad as it was at first, but still a bit annoying.

Its not a technical issue, although my swing is a long long way from perfect, obviously have too much clutter in my head pre-shot, worrying too much about duffing, blading or hooking or whatever, "concentrating too hard on concentrating", as i heard someone describe it once. And it does happen on the range too, head & body begin to move while arms stay still, not ready to hit the shot. Anyway, think Rotella is a good start, cant imagine the principle is much different from putting yips & definitley trying to speed up pre-shot routine but it's incredibly difficult to do when your head's all over the place!

Thanks for all replies, very much appreciated!

evillive

cack_handed wrote: »

When you say "serious issues" and you managed to eliminate it evillive, do you mean something similar to what i was referring to or something different? Would be curious to know.

my problem was totally in my head at the time, i honestly would mentally be in tears over a 130 yard shot from the middle of the fairway to a wide open green, it was serious to me

you say you have a tendency to jerk/move, I could recognise when i may have lifted the head early, but that was only on a small percentage of the shots, (strangely enough when i got my lessons I hardly shanked at all ) but i guess i was involuntarily pushing the ball away or catching it with the outside of the club, my pals couldn't identify it either, it really only happened inches from contact

the outcome of my lessons was to
a - change grip - i was too open with right hand (i am right handed)
b - stance - centre ball and point toe more toward the target
c - follow through - i wasnt turning my hips all the way towards the target
(i know these are probably textbook - but i went from self taught controlled draw with my irons and big off the tee to a shambles)

and i have a drill on the range to put down a plastic bottle pointed longways towards the target, place ball no more than 2 inches inside this and hit - a strike without catching the bottle and along the line has improved my hits and invariably my confidence -

as soon as i started hitting them well my confidence soared and each shot was as good as the last whereas before it seemed i was able to increase the pure randomness of where the ball would end up

one other tip i read which i used to get the grip right is at times when i'm sitting at home watching tv is to have a club out in front of me and just grip and regrip for 10-20 mins - a big part of my improvement is getting the muscle memory right from my lessons

without having seen your swing - it sounds like the head/body movements are taking your swing totally off kilter, would you just try and practice swing to try and eliminate this - forget about hitting any balls, if you can develop a consistent back and forward swing along the same plane, then just maybe try and get the body to do the same thing when you hit a ball, but you will have to do it hundreds of times to get familiar with same

and not to be slow on your swing but maybe a lazy swing and club up if you aren't then getting the distance

but still see a pro - they arent as good as they are by luck, some may have different methods but the practical and psychological benefit i got was massive

hmmm, sorry for being longwinded - i even left out my tale of woe!!

pm me if you want details of the guy i got lessons from -

GreeBo

cack_handed wrote: »

When you say "serious issues" and you managed to eliminate it evillive, do you mean something similar to what i was referring to or something different? Would be curious to know.

Greebo is very right when he says it is 100% psychological, it started initially 4 years ago, on the tee & spent a year in the horrors on the tee box, problem seemed to go away naturally after a year but has resurfaced with drivers & irons over past 18 months, nowhere near as bad as it was at first, but still a bit annoying.

Its not a technical issue, although my swing is a long long way from perfect, obviously have too much clutter in my head pre-shot, worrying too much about duffing, blading or hooking or whatever, "concentrating too hard on concentrating", as i heard someone describe it once. And it does happen on the range too, head & body begin to move while arms stay still, not ready to hit the shot. Anyway, think Rotella is a good start, cant imagine the principle is much different from putting yips & definitley trying to speed up pre-shot routine but it's incredibly difficult to do when your head's all over the place!

Thanks for all replies, very much appreciated!

you aren't the first and certainly won't be the last with this issue.
does it happen if you are hitting into a net? I'm wondering is it related to a fear of the results or not.
a good rhythm drill is to line up 5 balls and hit them all without stopping your swing in between. just walk forward as you swing back, hit the ball and repeat without stopping or thinking.
best of luck.
i would strongly advise against increasing your time over the ball, you won't be helped by having more time to think imo.

cack_handed

Thanks guys, its great to hear different suggestions. Will be teeing up for a round in the morning and going to see if i can improve things. Should mention that I had my best round of the year yet last week, so even though all the usual problems were there, I can sometimes still manage to get the ball away! But its still an unpleasant feeling & it is costing me shots, so very anxious to find a cure if i can.

The frustrating thing is i always had a very short pre-shot routine, nothing cluttering my head - to give an indication how bad things got, i used to have to check my pockets on the tee box to make sure they were empty before driving, dont ask me why, just bonkers stuff - that madness passed thankfully, but my routine is still about 10 to 15 seconds longer than it used to be, & cant fathom why i cant just step up to the ball & strike it, without having to execute about 10 jason duffner-like waggles before i can let the damn club go!

Evillive, i may well give you a shout regarding that pro, definitely in need of a lesson or two, & i think ironing out a few flaws in my swing would give me more confidence & help beat these mental demons!

GreeBo

cack_handed wrote: »

The frustrating thing is i always had a very short pre-shot routine, nothing cluttering my head - to give an indication how bad things got, i used to have to check my pockets on the tee box to make sure they were empty before driving, dont ask me why, just bonkers stuff - that madness passed thankfully, but my routine is still about 10 to 15 seconds longer than it used to be, & cant fathom why i cant just step up to the ball & strike it, without having to execute about 10 jason duffner-like waggles before i can let the damn club go!

If thats 10 to 15 seconds over the ball then to me thats very long.
How long are we talking about in total?

Once I get over the ball its gone within 5 secs.
I take maybe 10-15secs behind the ball, but stand over, look at target and then hit.

cack_handed

No it wouldnt be 15 seconds over the ball..although there has been an odd time when that might happen, or when i might even have to step away my head would be so wrecked. But it could be anything UP TO 15 seconds & i agree it's too long, that's why i'm desperate to change this & get back to a time when i stabbed tee in, took 1 quick practise swing & then hit without hardly thinking about it.
Played this morning, not very well, but felt a little more comfortable, just by making an effort & on one or two tee-boxes it even all went out of my head & just hit normally, although most of the time i was too conscious of stuff. Had a chat with one of my playing partners who recommended a pro who he reckons would be good with this area so going to give him a try, cant do any harm anyway!

spacecoyote

I find a helpful tool for me is to take a single deep breath concentrating on my breathing. Just by focussing on that it completely clears my mind & I can swing free of any other thoughts