A cure for the dreaded "yips."
A cure for the dreaded "yips."
Hi, I’m Mel Sole, Director of Instruction at the Mel Sole Golf School, headquartered at Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club in Pawleys Island, SC. We conduct 1, 2 and 3-day golf schools, hourly golf lessons, and senior golf schools—any golf instruction program your heart desires. Give us a call at 800-624-4653 or 843-237-4993. We will be happy to book a commuter school or a package that contains accommodations, golf, and golf school.
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I was recently paired with a golfer who did not have a good putting round. I noticed that he was very nervous over his putts. At first, I thought he was nervous playing with me, so I told him to relax and enjoy himself. He then told me that he had been experiencing the "yips" or a nervous twitch as he stroked his putts for quite some time.
The real solution.
Most people think the yips is a mental breakdown. The golfer sees the miss as a weakness and a measure of his self-esteem. The great Ben Hogan suffered terribly towards the end of his career with this affliction. Where the golfer's subconscious had had so many failures from that dreaded four-foot range, so he puts undue pressure on himself. This belief has proven to be false. Research has discovered that it is a "subconscious picture" problem. Fix the subconscious picture of you and fix the problem.
Change everything.
An expert in this field recently said that to overcome this. You have to change everything—putter-stance and grip—and start all over again. This creates a "new" picture in the subconscious, and the golfer has to start practicing his putting all over again as if from the beginning. A new putter and putting stance I will leave up to you (try several), but here are a few suggestions for grips that will help you make a smoother stroke.
Normal putting stance and grip.
A New Putting Grip.
Recently Mark O'Meara switched to the "saw" grip after experiencing the yips and resurrected his career. The left-hand grip is normal, but the four fingers of the right hand extend like a saw with the hand in the position seen below. The right wrist is then locked in a constant position. This grip (and the others pictured) takes the right hand out of the putt and allows the shoulders to repeatedly control the stroke, thus eliminating the yips.
Mark O'Meara's "Saw" grip.
Modification of the "saw" holding the putter,
with only the thumb and index fingers of the right hand.
Chris De Marco's "claw" grip. Just close the fingers of the "saw" grip.
The "claw" grip locks the right hand into place, and you use the right forearm like a piston and move it back and through.
Try these putting grips for A cure for the dreaded "yips" that seem to be so successful on the PGA Tour and see if one of them helps you.
Source: Mel Sole Golf School.
Thanks for reading - A cure for the dreaded "yips." I hope you don't need this article! But if you do, read on!
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