Nerves While Putting

[Piz]

You can think about making the putt...or worry about missing it.  Guess which option is more beneficial in the long run.

[iacas]

@GolfLug and @Piz, it doesn’t work like that.

I don’t think a book needs to be written about this, though. Change your grip. Change your eye focus - look at a spot ahead of the ball or something. Experiment. The end.

[Piz]

8 minutes ago, iacas said:

@GolfLug and @Piz, it doesn’t work like that.

I don’t think a book needs to be written about this, though. Change your grip. Change your eye focus - look at a spot ahead of the ball or something. Experiment. The end.

I agree...but a lack of confidence, or intent, can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  

[billchao]

1 hour ago, GolfLug said:

I am no scientist but IMHO yips are similar to a beginner skier going down a steeper slope than what their comfort level is. It is not a condition as much as it is a phenomenon. Combination of panic and indecision. I can't simply tell myself to not care as much as I care.

There is no 'mental solution'. You just have to find a comfort level by practicing the shit out of it. If you can make a full swing without hitching you can putt too. 

The yips are an actual condition, not just a mental hurdle. It’s just that most people who say they have the yips don’t really have them, but use it as a generic term that means they suck at putting.

[boogielicious]

15 minutes ago, billchao said:

The yips are an actual condition, not just a mental hurdle. It’s just that most people who say they have the yips don’t really have them, but use it as a generic term that means they suck at putting.

So they have the SAPs then. 😜

[billchao]

11 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

So they have the SAPs then. 😜

I certainly feel like a sap when I’m putting sometimes.

[phillyk]

Maybe yipper’s should go side saddle or use a wedge instead.    Just change it all up. 😁

I’ve always enjoyed using the TPM aid. Pushes you towards a fluid motion. I also wonder if making more putting games on the practice greens would help.

[woodzie264]

1 hour ago, phillyk said:

Maybe yipper’s should go side saddle or use a wedge instead.    Just change it all up. 😁

You joke BUT...

I don’t think I ever had the “yips,”but I actually played around with Side saddle putting for 6-8months...my distance control was better, but was awkward enough with not a great deal of reward so I abandoned it.  

[billchao]

6 minutes ago, woodzie264 said:

You joke BUT...

I don’t think I ever had the “yips,”but I actually played around with Side saddle putting for 6-8months...my distance control was better, but was awkward enough with not a great deal of reward so I abandoned it.  

I had thought about going side saddle in the past, but to do it right I needed a new putter and I wasn’t going spend $300 on an experiment.

But like everything else, it’s a skill that requires practice.

[woodzie264]

10 minutes ago, billchao said:

I had thought about going side saddle in the past, but to do it right I needed a new putter and I wasn’t going spend $300 on an experiment.

But like everything else, it’s a skill that requires practice.

After watching 7 days in Utopia 🙄, I bought an Odyssey 2ball long putter on clearance for $80...I figured it was worth the shot 

[GolfLug]

I guess to me yips is when you make a tight nervy stroke accelerating through the ball. It starts with a few bad rounds and then you start hyper-focussing to make things worse. At some point it spirals out to a point where even the thought of standing over a 4 footer induces terror. Ernie Els' 6 putt comes to mind. 

4 hours ago, billchao said:

The yips are an actual condition, not just a mental hurdle. 

Like a medical condition? Hmm. Will have to think about it.

5 hours ago, iacas said:

@GolfLug and @Piz, it doesn’t work like that.

I don’t think a book needs to be written about this, though. Change your grip. Change your eye focus - look at a spot ahead of the ball or something. Experiment. The end.

Certainly agree with the solution. To be clear, I never thought I had yips. I have posted in another putting thread that you gotta shake it up physically. You nailed it when you told me to stop accelerating. 

Maybe @billchaois right. I don't understand what real yips is.

Edited November 26, 2020 by GolfLug

[Esox]

I always did pretty darn well putting until I got into a best ball or scramble, when I felt pressured to perform for others. Odd it never affected the other parts of my game. My one buddy told me at a the fourth hole during a big time scramble by an auto manufacturers engineering corps:  "I asked you here for your driver and irons, just putt first and give us a read".  They didn't need to putt 6 of the holes coming in. He was also a great personnel manager.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, GolfLug said:

I don't understand what real yips is.

I don’t think you do. It’s involuntary. You can feel good about the putt you’re about to hit.

Dave (Wedzik) once three- or four-putted from like two feet. He went to tap it in and then four putts later he was done.

He shot 70 that day.

[Hardspoon]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

Dave (Wedzik) once three- or four-putted from like two feet. He went to tap it in and then four putts later he was done.

 

 

[HoganApexFan]

On 11/26/2020 at 2:42 PM, iacas said:

I don’t think you do. It’s involuntary. You can feel good about the putt you’re about to hit.

Agree 100% and then some!  The yips are completely involuntary and can appear completely out of the blue (like topped shots and hosel rockets on the PGA Tour, i.e., 2021 Players!)  I experienced a "wiggles" version of the yips on a golf trip with my son when I had recently been putting exceptionally well.  Because of this trauma I learned how to putt lead hand low and was not only putting so much better, but believed I had cured this ailment and would NEVER have to worry again.  Unfortunately, while practicing this fool-proof lead hand low technique with 14 foot putts during Dec/Jan the "wiggles" mysteriously returned...It was just basement practice (low care/stress) and I absolutely believed I would make a great putt, but then BAM!!!  Time to guess which direction the ball is going to go...

[Billy Z]

I convince my mind it's just a game. I the scheme of things, there are so many more important things in life to concern yourself with.         "Just do it!"

[iacas]

You have to "convince" yourself that the game is just a game?

[Billy Z]

6 minutes ago, iacas said:

You have to "convince" yourself that the game is just a game?

Absolutely, because some think is more important than anything else in life. It's just a game for most, unless it's your livelihood like a pga pro. Even then I would incorporate the same thought process. It's like you could either make golf a lion that could consume you, or you could make it a house cat that you could boot out the door.