Putting yips
 

short putt yips, got em only during competition, any suggestions other than taking up tennis? thanks

Concentration and you are not following through the same on every putt. You may be trying to "steer" the putt and not allowing the putter to follow through. Shoulders, arms and hands are not moving together as one unit. Finding out which is out of sync is the key.

Ok, now THIS is supposed to be a new THREAD in the new Golf Forum.

Try putting by looking at the hole not the ball (after you make sure that you're lined up on the ball of course :)). Seems to bring me back.

Dave Pelz did some study on this and found it to be effective.

I used to play quite a bit of amateur golf (with little success :sigh:) and can feel your pain. There is nothing worse than making a nice sand shot or other recovery to be left with a bogey anyway.....

I take that back, I once played in a MA State Publinks with the shanks and survived the day :)

YIPS IMO are a mental issue, period. The brain is allowed to put too much value on the wrong result (did the ball go in). There is a tendency to put too much emphasis on the mechanics of the stroke when this happens. In this state of mind people HIT the ball instead of making a free stroke with the ball in the way.

When it happens to me, I head to a putting green and work on my putting routine only. I make it the same every time. I work on making MY STROKE as free as I can. As an example of a routine I have used:

I read the putt, I RELAX, soft hands, breath!
<routine starts here>
looking at the hole, I make a practice stroke, feeling the size of the stoke for speed. I may make two.
Now that I feel the stroke, I address the ball, I look at the ball, I look at the hole, I look at the ball and I make the exact stroke I practiced just as free as I did when it was a practice stroke.
<end>

Some folks believe the routine must have the same amount of practice strokes, IMO it is more important that you feel a stroke you can commit to.

The only place I make sure it is the same everytime is that amount of time I take after I address the ball. Find your rhythym for 1.Look at the Ball, 2. Look at the hole, 3. look at the ball, 4. make the stroke you practiced.

I evaluate my result ON ONE THING; whether or not I made same stroke when I hit the putt as I did when I made the practice stroke and nothing else.

I believe Brad Faxon once said something along the lines.... Put like you do not give a ____.

Good luck!!!

When I stand over a putt of less than 5 feet and the little voice says: "Geez, anybody could make this, don't blow it", I know how much pressure is swimming around me and how much more likely I am to miss the putt. If I then feel like standing up and starting over, I KNOW the pressure is really near out of control. Trying to concentrate on each step of the process, like the above post suggests, doesn't work for me. So instead, I abbreviate and simplify the process: I first relax my grip then concentrate on a shortened backswing.

This may sound crazy; "changing my stroke" for a short putt, but the reasons I think it works for me is that I am only concentrating on one thing, and because the shorter backswing seems to minimize the chances of pushing or pulling the putt. Anyway, it's what I have brainwashed myself to do and I've had good success with it.

Take two weeks off! Then Quit!

yupps
 

Get a belly putter. I got one, it is great. Never going back.

Make a deal with your foursome under 10 feet = gimmie