The Yips

[False hopes]

So the last three rounds I have played I've had the chipping Yips.  The ball will either roll across the turf or shoot 90 degrees from my intended target or I'll sail one 30 yards past the hole.  I am beyond frustrated as this has been killing all the great shots and drives I've had. I'm sure someone in this great community has had this issue and overcome it.  Any advice is more than welcome.  Please Help!!!

[iacas]

Three suggestions:

• Change the technique.
• Change the method.
• Change the focus.

Change the technique: change what you're trying to do entirely with the shot. If you're playing the ball back, trying to hit it with a descending blow, etc., try the "quickie pitching" technique elsewhere here on TST.

Change the method: chip with only your left hand. Or only your right hand. Or cross-handed. Or do something else that completely changes the means by which you hit the shot you're trying to hit.

Change the focus: instead of focusing on the ball, think only about where you want the ball to land. Or brushing the ground. Or what your left shoulder is doing. Or something else - change what you're focused on (mentally and/or visually) during the shot.

[Piz]

What @iacas said.  I went through a bad patch about a year ago.  I put a left-handed club in the bag and used it for all chip shots.  Whatever heebie-jeebies had found their way into my right-handed chipping did not transfer to the other side and I still carry the left-handed club.  I was recovering, I should add, from a left wrist injury at the time...and that was likely the source of the problem.  At any rate...starting over from scratch, clearing the cache so to speak, will help sort out troubles associated with memory leak.

[Patch]

You did not mention your putting was bad, so assuming you can still putt well, why not try Paul Runyon's chip/putt stroke. You basically use your putting stroke to chip with. 

There are quite a few videos on You Tube showing this chipping stroke. 

I didn't have a problem chipping with the normal stroke, but when I found Runyon's info, it was an easy change, and I became a better chipper . 

[mcanadiens]

My wedge game hit the height of frustration this week. Tripled No.9, a par-4, and the SW was in my hands on 5 of those strokes. Hit the bathroom and calmed down. When I got out I looked at the SW and it was like the shaft had a bad case of scoliosis, Needless to say, I'm in the market for a new wedge.

Shot an 85 what @CarlSpackler would call our "confidence course". Would have been ...  Could have been ... Should have been ... My first 80-breaker. Oh well.  

The above suggestions sound pretty good. Looking forward to working on them when I get the fresh victim.

[Club Rat]

I struggled with chipping and pitching last month due to pain/stiffness in lower spine which lead to a close case of yips developing.
I knew my mechanics were affected by the inability to make proper motions and movements required for executing play I was attempting.
My remedy was as @iacas mentioned, change what I was attempting. Rather than chip, I putted from off the green or bumped the ball with irons. When I recovered from the soreness, I then concentrated on proper technics at the practice area. 
After a couple of weeks of rebuilding my confidence, I'm back to attempting all of my short game skills with success.

The practice which seemed to help the most was to hit short shots on an open area of our range with no intended target.
My concentration was solely focused on proper technic hitting the chips or pitch shots.

[False hopes]

Thanks for all the advice guys.  I'm off to the course tomorrow and will definitely start trying to sort this out with the advice given.  I'm going to start with changing my focus as I believe this might be mental, if that doesn't work I'll keep plugging away at it.

[Club Rat]

3 minutes ago, False hopes said:

if that doesn't work I'll keep plugging away at it.

Another thought I can offer, don't get discouraged and become frustrated and especially angry.
Things like this are situations which I usually try to shrug off and sometimes laugh about to myself.
Good luck. 

[False hopes]

2 hours ago, Club Rat said:

Another thought I can offer, don't get discouraged and become frustrated and especially angry.
Things like this are situations which I usually try to shrug off and sometimes laugh about to myself.
Good luck.   

Yeah I was definitely trying to laugh it off at first as just a thing that happens when golfing.  But the continuation of the problem has been hard to ignore.  I'm definitely not a person who gets angry on the course but it is disappointing when something that should be relatively easy becomes impossible.

[dennyjones]

You definitely aren't alone.  

[Buckeyebowman]

I like iacas' suggestions. Focus on what you WANT to do, not on what you DON'T want to do. I have a buddy who does this constantly! Don't hit it there, don't do this, don't do that!

I told him that instead of filling his mind w/negative thoughts, he should think about what he DOES want to do! Pick a target and hit it there. I know I tend to play much better when I can get myself to do that. I believe it's called "committing to the shot".

[boogielicious]

On 7/10/2018 at 8:20 AM, Patch said:

You did not mention your putting was bad, so assuming you can still putt well, why not try Paul Runyon's chip/putt stroke. You basically use your putting stroke to chip with. 

There are quite a few videos on You Tube showing this chipping stroke. 

I didn't have a problem chipping with the normal stroke, but when I found Runyon's info, it was an easy change, and I became a better chipper . 

 

This thread discusses it as well.

[False hopes]

So today went well and I didn't have any major disaster while chipping.  I decided to change my focus, I literally only thought about keeping my head down while chipping, no other swing thoughts.  Thanks @iacas for the idea.  I also am going start trying the putting/chipping idea that was mentioned in the post.  It definitely seems like an easier way to go about it.