What I've learned from 55 years of playing the game and working in the industry that might be helpful to average players. Sort of my humble version of Harvey Penick's [U]Little Red Book[/U].
The one sure cure for the yips
If anyone has ever had a worse case of the putting yips, I'd like to meet him or her. Wait a minute, maybe I wouldn't.
I'm a self-conscious perfectionist and have always taken the game very seriously. I'm sure this is the root of the problem, but what to do?
It all began at the tender age of 28. I can remember the exact moment. I was playing alone at a public course in Arizona I'd played many times before. I went to tap in a two-footer on the first green and felt a little electrical sort of twinge in my right wrist. "Huh, that was weird," was all I thought at the time.
Over the next year or so, it got worse but not unmanageable. I developed a method whereby I placed the ball way forward and sort of shoved it into the whole.
But then came a two-day tournament in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, of all places. Oh, [U]dear God[/U]. I was supposed to be the "A" player in a twosome with some guy I'd never even met before. I'm sure he still remembers me, because for two solid days I double-hit every two-footer and literally yipped six-inchers. Can you miss a 6" putt by 5"? Indeed you can, and I did. The yips simply EXPLODED. It was all I could do not to cry.
For the next several years, until I was 35, I was essentially hopeless on the greens. I'd hit 15 greens in regulation and shoot 84 when a decent putter would have shot 70 tops. I would - and I am not making this up - yip ten-footers putting alone on the carpet in the privacy of my office. I'd yip practice swings, for crying out loud.
My version of the yips is an involuntary twitch of my right wrist and hand as the putterhead approaches the ball. It's difficult to isolate exactly where the problem is. This is fortunate, because I probably would have resorted to self-surgery if I could've located the precise spot. "Honey, can you hand me a razor blade? I'm working on a little project here in the bathroom."
I'm now 67, so it's been 32 years since the age at which I described myself above as being "essentially hopeless." During those 32 years, I have tried everything: Long putters, all forms of bracing a la Bernhard Langer, cross-handed (left hand low), every weird grip imaginable. $1,000 on hypnosis sessions, a large array of tapes and CDs, even participation in the Mayo Clinic study.
Nothing has ever produced more than a very temporary cure. After the first hypnosis session, I played nine holes and was -3. On the ninth green, I faced a downhill, sharply breaking 5-footer. I [U]relished[/U] it and knocked it in the middle of the hole. Next day, the yips were back in full bloom. By the final session, the hypnotist was no longer even [U]trying[/U] to cure my yips but was instead focusing on childhood traumas. (I don't care about childhood traumas, you dolt, I'M HERE BECAUSE THE YIPS ARE MAKING ME INSANE!!!)
If there is such a thing as incurable yips, I have them. As Henry Longhurst famously quipped, "If you've had 'em, you've got 'em."
[U]Except I cured them[/U].
One day, 32 years ago, they were so bad I simply stood on the other side of my trusty old Bullseye and putted left handed. I knocked in a 15-footer for a birdie. My playing companion said "Geez, I love that stroke. Stick with it."
Yes, for several years it was kind of comical, the same way it might be if you suddenly decided to start signing documents left-handed. BUT I DID NOT YIP. My brain liked it. I looked forward to three-footers. I might miss one, but not because I yipped.
Every attempt to reconnect with right-handed putting sent me back to portside in short order. In 32 years, I have had perhaps three choke-type yips putting left-handed. I just laugh them off because I know I DO NOT YIP putting left-handed.
Now, at last, my left-handed putting is pretty normal. My distance control is quite good. Trying to putt right-handed now feels weird.
I am extremely left-eye dominant. Shooting a rifle feels more comfortable left-handed. Perhaps this is part of the answer. I really believe, however, that the brain of a natural right-hander just never completely adjusts to doing something left-handed. It always remains a bit scrambled, and that's a good thing.
There are two types of yips. There is the "choke" type, where the anxiety of putting for $500 or your best round ever causes you to miss. Then there is the "focal dystonia" type, which is more of a medical condition. It afflicts those who must focus intently on a precise, repetitive movement. Violinists and surgeons get this type of yips. My yips are of this type.
So there's your cure, brain surgeons. Just starting wielding that scalpel left-handed! Oh, and make sure your malpractice insurance is up to date.
I'm a self-conscious perfectionist and have always taken the game very seriously. I'm sure this is the root of the problem, but what to do?
It all began at the tender age of 28. I can remember the exact moment. I was playing alone at a public course in Arizona I'd played many times before. I went to tap in a two-footer on the first green and felt a little electrical sort of twinge in my right wrist. "Huh, that was weird," was all I thought at the time.
Over the next year or so, it got worse but not unmanageable. I developed a method whereby I placed the ball way forward and sort of shoved it into the whole.
But then came a two-day tournament in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, of all places. Oh, [U]dear God[/U]. I was supposed to be the "A" player in a twosome with some guy I'd never even met before. I'm sure he still remembers me, because for two solid days I double-hit every two-footer and literally yipped six-inchers. Can you miss a 6" putt by 5"? Indeed you can, and I did. The yips simply EXPLODED. It was all I could do not to cry.
For the next several years, until I was 35, I was essentially hopeless on the greens. I'd hit 15 greens in regulation and shoot 84 when a decent putter would have shot 70 tops. I would - and I am not making this up - yip ten-footers putting alone on the carpet in the privacy of my office. I'd yip practice swings, for crying out loud.
My version of the yips is an involuntary twitch of my right wrist and hand as the putterhead approaches the ball. It's difficult to isolate exactly where the problem is. This is fortunate, because I probably would have resorted to self-surgery if I could've located the precise spot. "Honey, can you hand me a razor blade? I'm working on a little project here in the bathroom."
I'm now 67, so it's been 32 years since the age at which I described myself above as being "essentially hopeless." During those 32 years, I have tried everything: Long putters, all forms of bracing a la Bernhard Langer, cross-handed (left hand low), every weird grip imaginable. $1,000 on hypnosis sessions, a large array of tapes and CDs, even participation in the Mayo Clinic study.
Nothing has ever produced more than a very temporary cure. After the first hypnosis session, I played nine holes and was -3. On the ninth green, I faced a downhill, sharply breaking 5-footer. I [U]relished[/U] it and knocked it in the middle of the hole. Next day, the yips were back in full bloom. By the final session, the hypnotist was no longer even [U]trying[/U] to cure my yips but was instead focusing on childhood traumas. (I don't care about childhood traumas, you dolt, I'M HERE BECAUSE THE YIPS ARE MAKING ME INSANE!!!)
If there is such a thing as incurable yips, I have them. As Henry Longhurst famously quipped, "If you've had 'em, you've got 'em."
[U]Except I cured them[/U].
One day, 32 years ago, they were so bad I simply stood on the other side of my trusty old Bullseye and putted left handed. I knocked in a 15-footer for a birdie. My playing companion said "Geez, I love that stroke. Stick with it."
Yes, for several years it was kind of comical, the same way it might be if you suddenly decided to start signing documents left-handed. BUT I DID NOT YIP. My brain liked it. I looked forward to three-footers. I might miss one, but not because I yipped.
Every attempt to reconnect with right-handed putting sent me back to portside in short order. In 32 years, I have had perhaps three choke-type yips putting left-handed. I just laugh them off because I know I DO NOT YIP putting left-handed.
Now, at last, my left-handed putting is pretty normal. My distance control is quite good. Trying to putt right-handed now feels weird.
I am extremely left-eye dominant. Shooting a rifle feels more comfortable left-handed. Perhaps this is part of the answer. I really believe, however, that the brain of a natural right-hander just never completely adjusts to doing something left-handed. It always remains a bit scrambled, and that's a good thing.
There are two types of yips. There is the "choke" type, where the anxiety of putting for $500 or your best round ever causes you to miss. Then there is the "focal dystonia" type, which is more of a medical condition. It afflicts those who must focus intently on a precise, repetitive movement. Violinists and surgeons get this type of yips. My yips are of this type.
So there's your cure, brain surgeons. Just starting wielding that scalpel left-handed! Oh, and make sure your malpractice insurance is up to date.
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