[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Unfortunately, it appears that Tiger has developed the yips in his chipping game. This can be disastrous to ones golf game. I know. It happened to me.

I wasn't at Tiger's level, but it brought me to a point where I didn't want to play any more.

Most people associate the yips with putting, but it can occur in any part of your golf game. In fact it happens to people in other endeavors as well. It is well known to musicians, especially pianists.

There are a lot of solutions for players who get it in their putting game. Cross handed grip, claw grip, long putter and all kinds of other tools have helped players like Bernhard Langer to be successful in spite of putting yips. When you get the yips with your driver or in your chipping game, there are no such "cures".

The condition is technically called focal dystonia and it has been studied by experts for years. In some instances it has been overcome with a lot of hard work and various therapies. In most cases it never is completely cured.

It's pretty ironic that the foremost expert on the yips in golf is Tiger's former teacher, Hank Haney. Hank helped my with my yips about ten years ago with a small amount of success. I was also fortunate to be able to get some help from the noted sports psychologist, Bob Rotella, but even with that, I was never completely cured. I think that the split between Tiger and Hank was a bit acrimonious but I can't say for sure. (Hank never really said anything to me about it, but I got the impression that he wasn't happy. All he ever said was that he was happy to have had the opportunity to have worked with the greatest player in the world and that it increased his income but a huge amount. But I always got the impression that he wasn't very happy about being dismissed, especially after having helped Tiger to win more majors than any other coach.) So I don't know if Tiger can go to him for help or not.

Hank has done numerous studies on the yips and works with a couple of German doctors on learning as much as he can about the condition and possible remedies. Hank himself had the yips with his driver. It was so bad that he couldn't finish a round of golf. If there is anyone that can help Tiger, it's Hank and his staff.

Can Tiger come back from this? In my very humble opinion, it's highly unlikely, but we're talking about Tiger Woods here. Tiger works harder than anyone in the history of the game. He thinks about his golf game and how to improve it 24/7. Tiger has done things that no other human has done I would be impressed, but not totally surprised if he could overcome this. True, he's going to be 40 this year, but in this day and age, players play and continue to win into their fifties. If he can get his body in shape and somehow be cured of the yips who knows what he might accomplish? But, those are two big ifs. With the physical problems he's had and now this, he seems to have two strikes against him.

It's really pretty sad to see. I was thinking that I night see all of Jack Nicklaus' records broken in my lifetime. Tiger even had a shot at Byron nelson's record which I have always maintained is the one record in all of sports that will never be broken.

But whatever happens, it's been a joy and a privilege to have watched this guy play this game.