The yips

Quahog217

Anyone had a bad case of the yips and came back from it?

Im playing off 9 and have a really bad case of the yips when chipping and pitching.

My putting is really good and my ball striking is ok. Im playing off 8 and its ruining my game.

The strange thing is i get the same yips whether its the captains prize or if im just out for 9 holes on my own.

Im getting lessons and after 5 minutes im pitching well, then next time on the course its back square one. This has been going on for months and months and i shudder at the thought of the most simple pitch shots now.

Ive decided if i cant fix this problem, i am going to give up the game. I really dont want to give up because i love the game but the yips are ruining it for me.

Any advice would be great guys, thanks.

Daithio12

Dude seriously? do you not know there are two words in golf that should never be mentioned in public, one starts with an "s" and the other starts with a "y", but you aready know the latter.
If you insist on talking to someone about then it should be done in private and in a whisper.
Btw I play off 7 and have similiar issues with chipping and pitching only, also I know loads of guys off the 5-9 handicap range (and lower) who have the same problem, it's possibly got to do with lack of practice but most likely it's a mental thing, as in my experience it's rarely an issue until I play competitively.
So I suggest you practice more and learn to live with it or just give up as you say you would, but don't mention the unmentionably in public because it may be contagious.

Edit to say: for the love of God change the thread title.

levitronix

I hear ye !
I have the chipping yips don't know where it came from but best advice I could give it try your best to forget about it because its mental as you know, what is kinda working for me is im playing the most simple chip shots
Weight left foot hands pushed forward ball back in stance, short back swing try to eliminate the deceleration.

Best advice I could give is stop playing with anybody and play on your own because if the negative thoughts come you ll duff shin or whatever if you think your under pressure

levitronix

What does help as well is talking about it, my wife is a therapist strange as it sounds I talked about it with her and the anxiety that builds up and how to deal with. Breathing exercises help and muscle exercises help

good luck but don't give up

GreeBo

Get a lesson and ensure that your fundamentals (setup,grip, ball position, etc) are correct.
If you are fighting a setup issue then you are already in trouble, this lends pressure and pressure and fear cause these problems.

As a starter, for a basic chipping setup.
ball should be directly under your sternum
weight 60/40 on front foot/back foot
weak grip
stand tall
no wrists

try some chips/pitches with your eyes closed, this will tell you if you have the ball in the correct position or not.

If you have the above setup correct then you should be able to chip with your eyes closed and actually chip pretty well.


Dont give it up, try to fix it...the game is too much fun.

Sipper

Quahog217 wrote: »

Anyone had a bad case of the yips and came back from it?

Im playing off 9 and have a really bad case of the yips when chipping and pitching.

My putting is really good and my ball striking is ok. Im playing off 8 and its ruining my game.

The strange thing is i get the same yips whether its the captains prize or if im just out for 9 holes on my own.

Im getting lessons and after 5 minutes im pitching well, then next time on the course its back square one. This has been going on for months and months and i shudder at the thought of the most simple pitch shots now.

Ive decided if i cant fix this problem, i am going to give up the game. I really dont want to give up because i love the game but the yips are ruining it for me.

Any advice would be great guys, thanks.

This is an area of the game that I would have a lot of experience with. I managed to play to a high standard whilst suffering for almost 15 years with the short game yips. It would affect me on any partial shot that didn't require a full swing except for putting which I have always been fairly happy with. At its worst I would revert to putting from any distance up to 50 yards away because although I could see the shot that I would like to play I just wasn't able to play anything else except for a bunt along the ground. So any shot requiring height over a bunker , mound or god forbid water was just not an option.
But after realising that I was not the only sufferer and realising that there was no quick fix I decided to work my ass off over a period of maybe 12 months .I am now much happier with my short game and am confident of playing any shot in any situation .

When did yours start?
Can you trace it back to one particular round/ shot/ situation?
Where do you play mostly?
Is your putting affected?
What are the minimum and maximum distances of the shots when you get this feeling?
How much free time are you able to devote to improving this situation?

mike12

I'm in the same boat myself, it's totally mental. I can stay around the chipping green and play any sort of chip with any club but get to the course and i just cannot execute the simplest of chips.
Have been thinking of hypnosis as it is a phobia.
Practice or lessons don't help me at all.
Mike

levitronix

think we should start yippers anonymous, meet once a week and hug

PARlance

levitronix wrote: »

think we should start yippers anonymous, meet once a week and hug

Meet once a week and shake....... hands.

DeanAustin

levitronix wrote: »

think we should start yippers anonymous, meet once a week and hug

I don't have the yips (touches all sorts of wood) but I'll come along for the hug.

BoardsMember

I have the same issue.

I practised a fair bit last year, but found the old anxiety creeping into the shot, even though I was really good in practise.

The one thing that really helped me is to look at is as a bit of fun, or a challenge. Acknowledge that you are going to bone a few chips, so that when you hit a bad one, its ok, but when you hit a good one, its good for the confidence. The subtle change in mental approach from being really nervous about it happening, to accept that it might and not caring, helped me a lot.

I still bone chips, but I try to get the fundamentals right (like Greebo post earlier), and then let whatever happens happen. I also play off 9, the way I see it is that the rest of my game is pretty good if I am prone to this.

stringy

1. Grow a pair, and man up

2. Go to the practice ground, and hit as many chips as you can, trying to get every single one into the hole, until you can hit chips with your eyes closed and/or your arms/shoulders/hands ache.

3. Pitching - practice practice practice. Get the fundamentals drilled in to your heard from watching videos online and reading and visualizing technique, and then just practice, and practice some more.

All this will mean it's so ingrained, it will be autopilot, and you'll be looking forward to chipping because you'll know you may chip it it.

I love chipping in. I'm pretty confident that I'll chip all my chips in. Inevitably I don't but I do get my fair share and stick most of them fairly dead.

Confidence Confidence Confidence. It's like pulling birds, aim high, and you'll do well.

coddlesangers

Its not physical, it is mental. Practicing till your eyes bleed may not in fact fix it, but it's always a great idea to practice your short game. For me, I find that not looking at the hole AT ALL was the way to cure it, I now have a routine where i don't aim at the hole but pick a trajectory and a spot on the green to land the ball - and don't think about anything mechanical at all, i just imagine the shot working, the ball on the trajectory i want and landing on the spot i've picked. It works really really well and fixed my ch-yips pretty quickly. I don't think of anything during my chip swing other than those two images, and i let the rest take care of itself. Only time it goes horribly wrong is when i can't fix on the shot i want to play, then bad things can still happen.....

BoardsMember

stringy wrote: »

1. Grow a pair, and man up .......I love chipping in. I'm pretty confident that I'll chip all my chips in. Inevitably I don't but I do get my fair share and stick most of them fairly dead.

Confidence Confidence Confidence. It's like pulling birds, aim high, and you'll do well.

There is a tiny suggestion, almost invisible, that you may be missing the empathy gene. Practise alone rarely solves yips.

stringy

OK, fair enough. I'll join the support group, there was mention of hugs?

my alternative suggestion would be to try and start enjoying the shots, pictures the good ones you've hit in the past, think of how you'd like the shot to play out. Block out any negative thoughts, and think of the good ones.

Kevinmarkham

I had putting yips a couple of years back and I'll tell you what worked for me... as long as you promise not to laugh.

I became Peter Alliss inside my head and started describing Tiger standing over and then taking the putt. I couldn't do it myself so I pretended to be someone else. It worked, too, although I doubt Tiger would be happy with my stats.

coddlesangers

Thats a great thing to do, except that i spent a season thinking i was bernhard langer. Worked great till i had a 4 footer...

DeanAustin

coddlesangers wrote: »

Thats a great thing to do, except that i spent a season thinking i was bernhard langer. Worked great till i had a 4 footer...

Bernhard Langer's putting problems started when he began thinking he was me.

ForeRight

coddlesangers wrote: »

Thats a great thing to do, except that i spent a season thinking i was bernhard langer. Worked great till i had a 4 footer...

It looks weird putting on your knees using a normal size putter anchored to your chin too

trigger26

Had this problem myself a couple of years ago, took a good few months to sort out. I used Timothy Gallwey inner game book which is great. It's all about getting out of your own way and letting your body do it's thing. The more you try the more tense you get, thus upsetting the natural working of your body.

I found by having a routine has greatly helped, especially when chipping in competitions. I say 1,2,3 in my head as I take the chip, 1 as I lift the club away, 2 when I reach the back of the swing and 3 when I hit the ball, defo helped me.

harpsman

God.Didnt realise there were so many fellow chipping sufferers. I got a dose early last year. My problem shot is a shank/blade off to the right. Im not sure if Ive recovered even though I had a few good scores mid year. The problem is when I try to practice I start off with a few good chips and then the bad ones start.
I did get a lesson but wasnt mad about what he wanted me to do-very wristy stuff. Anyway I just try to live with it and accept im gonna have a few bad ones from time to time:and putt where I can get away with it.

Kevinmarkham

harpsman wrote: »

God.Didnt realise there were so many fellow chipping sufferers. I got a dose early last year. My problem shot is a shank/blade off to the right. Im not sure if Ive recovered even though I had a few good scores mid year. The problem is when I try to practice I start off with a few good chips and then the bad ones start.
I did get a lesson but wasnt mad about what he wanted me to do-very wristy stuff. Anyway I just try to live with it and accept im gonna have a few bad ones from time to time:and putt where I can get away with it.

My only piece of advice - having seen my dad do this a lot - is to make sure you accelerate into the ball. Look at it this way - would you rather go 20 yards past the pin or sh**k it?

harpsman

Kevinmarkham wrote: »

My only piece of advice - having seen my dad do this a lot - is to make sure you accelerate into the ball. Look at it this way - would you rather go 20 yards past the pin or sh**k it?

Thanks Kev. Ill keep that in mind.I think my main problem on course is just pure tension.

hades

I have the chipping yips big time. I'm petrified of taking any pitch/chip shot. But i have managed to somewhat cure it.

First things first, a buddy told me look at stricker making a pitch shot. No wrists, so it'll be a good help to @harpsman. This has helped me enormassly.

Next for the more delicate shots around the green i found a good tutorial on The Golf Channel. It helps with set up, posture and swing.

http://www.golfchannel.com/media/golf-fix-tip-chipping-setup-020413/

And lastly, i'm getting lessons. Having worked on those 2 techniques, my pro was able to fine tune it so i have a shot that can cover a multitude of situations. But what he's teaching me is based hugely around those 2 videos.

Try and work on a "go to" shot to get you out of most situations, and practice practice practice. Last night for example, i spent a good hour in the short game area working on my shots with my 52 and 60 wedge, picking different pins and working to each one. But before i finished up, i spent a good 15 minutes on using the 7 & 9 iron doing simple bump and runs. If the pressure is on, i can almost always hit this shot and leave the risk of using a more lofted club in the bag.

Quahog217

Just back from some practice this morning and good news.

My pitching was much improved and im starting to feel better about it already.

So what did i do? Well i got a lesson a few weeks ago so i took and old wedge and some plastic balls and hit the sitting room!

Been chipping in the sitting room all week just getting the feeling ingrained and its really working.

No wrists just rock the shoulders.

mike12

I think there is some confusion between the Yips and being a bad at chipping.

The yips are when you stand over the ball and it hard to explain but you have no control over what is going to happen next.

When I am practing I can open the face of a 60 degree wedge hit a full shot 40 yards into the air that land 20 yards away, when I stand over a simple bump and run from the edge of the green during a round anything can happen from a flicky poke at the ball to hitting the ground 6 inches behind it.

Physically there is nothing wrong with my technique in fact I have gone thru every possible chipping technique imaginable to try and get one my Brain likes.

Mike

harpsman

mike12 wrote: »

I think there is some confusion between the Yips and being a bad at chipping.

The yips are when you stand over the ball and it hard to explain but you have no control over what is going to happen next.

When I am practing I can open the face of a 60 degree wedge hit a full shot 40 yards into the air that land 20 yards away, when I stand over a simple bump and run from the edge of the green during a round anything can happen from a flicky poke at the ball to hitting the ground 6 inches behind it.

Physically there is nothing wrong with my technique in fact I have gone thru every possible chipping technique imaginable to try and get one my Brain likes.

Mike

I know what you re sayin Mike-it sounds like most of us here are a bit of both,eg little bump and runs that you could do with your eyes closed when noones watching all of a sudden you re freezing over them when out in competition.

levitronix

Heres whats working for me
I have a new chipping technique, trying to work on the hinge and hold techinque for every kinda of chip shot.
100 chip shots and 100 putts before each round.
I dont focus on the result of the chip shot, i focus on the routine and technique.
I try practice when other people are around, to try simulate the aniexty.
My other half is a therapist so i chatted with her about how to deal with aniexty.

So far i ve cured the duff double hit, my typical bad chip shot now is a thin.
I never suffered with aniexty before so i guess im going to have to just deal with it till it subsides.

kenkin

Just saw this thread and I'm also thinking about quitting the game.
I got the putting yips on the 2nd May 2014 ( yes I remember when it happened).
I was always a pretty decent putter but this strange thing happened to me that day. It stopped all of a sudden for about 6 weeks last year but came back just as suddenly. I am at the stage now when I say oh sh*t I'm on the green. It is also affecting my chipping for about the last 4 months. I'm totally Pi**ed off now.

yipsnomore

kenkin wrote: »

Just saw this thread and I'm also thinking about quitting the game.
I got the putting yips on the 2nd May 2014 ( yes I remember when it happened).
I was always a pretty decent putter but this strange thing happened to me that day. It stopped all of a sudden for about 6 weeks last year but came back just as suddenly. I am at the stage now when I say oh sh*t I'm on the green. It is also affecting my chipping for about the last 4 months. I'm totally Pi**ed off now.

I had the yips for a year. I remember one round where I never hit the ball so well in my life. Nearly every green in regulation. Shot 33 points because of the yips. Anyway I tried everything under the sun until I finally cured them. They've been gone over a year now. PM me if you want to try it out.

rrpc

yipsnomore wrote: »

I had the yips for a year. I remember one round where I never hit the ball so well in my life. Nearly every green in regulation. Shot 33 points because of the yips. Anyway I tried everything under the sun until I finally cured them. They've been gone over a year now. PM me if you want to try it out.

Not trying to be nosey or anything, but is there some reason you can't share this with the rest of us?

yipsnomore

rrpc wrote: »

Not trying to be nosey or anything, but is there some reason you can't share this with the rest of us?

Why should I ? Do you have the yips?

rrpc

yipsnomore wrote: »

Why should I ? Do you have the yips?

Not currently. And I hope I never do. But it would be useful to have an idea what to do if it ever does happen to me. Or for others coming to the forum looking for help.