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Full Swing Yips. Help!!


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I am now struggling to break 90. I warm up fine. Everything is OK. Then, get over the ball during a rouond and feel like I am wound tight like a rubber band. I get to the top of my back swing and just jerk causing all kinds of problems. I have heard of putter yips and I know it is mental. Has anyone ever experienced and if so how do you overcome it? I literally dread my next round. Help. Thanks

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Relax, most of us are not making $ at the game. Get the situation into perspective - you're paying $ to have fun. As far as a tip, I am thinking the 3/4 shot seems to be suggested here quite a bit here. I wd think it's a swing that wd not get out of control. After the yips are gone - go back to what has worked in the past. One other suggestion, go to an easier course to get

confidence back. A par 3 , executive or the older ones with no forced carries or shorter distance. After two rounds there, go back to your favorite course with lots of confidence.

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You know you have to play with confidence for I know the situation you are in: Been there and the above advice is good!!!

 

Stop thinking swing and think Target!! forget about how it looks be a player

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Here are a couple of options for you to try 1st off on the practive groung try to hit some balls/pitch shots with your left armk alone doing this will make you have to turn your body through the shot to release the club and if you do not you will be constantly hitting it off centre....commit to the turn of the left abs in this drill and this turn WILL drag the club through the ball.

 

 

Secendly:- I remember a drill Faldo did when I was at his junior series many years back!!!!! he said he often hit balls with his eyes shut or with a blindfold on this did 2 things for him..1) made him conscious of what he was trying to achive and feel the club during the swing as your other senses take over 2) it made him commit to the shot and have almost total disregard for the result just commiting to the swing.....this made him strike it great and have total control and belief in his swing.

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All of these are really great tips. After reading Haney's book on stopping the yips, the main point is that you need to take hitting the ball out of your mind, things such as thinking target, closing your eyes, one arm only are all great tips. Even go out and buy wiffle balls and hit those in the yard for a while. Yips are all mental and you need to take the ball out of it so try not looking at the ball for a while, focus on the bill of your cap, close your eyes etc. once you get out of the mindframe of hitting the ball, you'll be fine.

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  • 1 year later...

I went through this for a year and a 1/2 and am just fixing the problem. Had multiple lessons, etc. Hit it great on the range and lessons and froze on the first tee. Finally figured out on the course I was dipping my head in the back swing towards the ground and not doing it on the range. Have since had only 1 swing thought, keep my head up and high, it is working. Check your swing on tape on practice range and on course to see if mechanical, not mental.

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The problem in dealing with what players call the "yips" is that it is a [b]result[/b], not the [b]cause.[/b] It is a[b] glitch [/b]not a [b]disease. [/b]It is a mechanical result, created by physiological tension that is inevitable when one faces uncertainly, doubt, or danger. Guaranteed, that every player who has ever held a club has some of that going on, doubled up by expectation and hope for what he is about to do when standing on the first tee with driver in hand and a 10 buck Nassau in the works.

Yips is the result of the natural effect of nature's auto-immune system's first response to any perceived (actual or imagined) threat to life, limb, or action. Every golf shot qualifies. That means that we players must have a way of blocking the signals that ignite the system long enough to keep the pressure down and hit a yips-uninterrupted shot. Players I work with know how to do that successfully. But you will not find that in any book or on any website or mentioned in any formal presentation. What you will hear is a legion of ways to fix the mechanical result, which ultimately will qualify only for what Johnny Miller calls the WOOD method - Works Only One Day.

"Yips" is the result of the system's immediate physiological changes in response to any pressure (anxiety), and those changes come in the form of tension, rapid heart beat, perspiration, shaking muscles, feeling weak, nausea, stiffness, reduced body rotation, truncated back and through swinging, reverse pivot, tight hands, rigid muscles, inability to get the club moving jerky action, and a thousand more symptoms. You can either spend your life trying to fix each of those results, or you can learn to manage the signals that produce them. Even Haney does not know that, and it is also what is making Tiger look like a newcomer to the game at the moment. "Playing though it" may sound good, but it is a poor man's attempt toward a remedy that comes from a mistaken belief, not a sound principle. It makes no difference if you are a king, emperor, best player in the world, or a homeless one living under a bridge. No one is exempt, because "yips" is directly related to nature's first line of defense and is there to keep you from dying on the spot. So until we figure that out, the yips will not go away.

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You can learn how to interrupt the yips neurological circuit in many ways. The best is to pick a focal point for your conscious mind to absorb itself into - 100% concentration - from a list of possible focal points that tend to strengthen the mind/body connection and allow a sense of psychological "space" or security or comfort to flourish. The key is to stay mentally "awake" during the entire swing from start to finish - no "blacking out" and ideally emotionally neutral or emotionally positive but in a low level of intensity. Even when you are having trouble with detaching somewhat emotionally from the possible bad shot outcome (pretty common) the mentally staying awake part will still really help a lot. The actual flinch or yip occurs during the blackout or "blind spot" in most severe cases of yips. Target Picture works very well for most of my students who have suffered from the yips. So does a tempo or rhythm cue, grip pressure, balance, Finish position are also very good. If you keep your sensory channel the same from start to finish - visual, auditory or kinesthetic - and keep the focal point in your awareness "seamlessly", it is impossible to flinch.

Never use the following "forbidden list" of focal points: the golf ball, your swing mechanics, impact, trying to track the clubhead from internal visual channel, "what people watching me are thinking", your score, a bad shot outcome, talking to body parts, talking to "yourself" (how many people are in there??).

I have seen severe cases of yips in my students completely cured in as few as three swings. It is possible, there is always hope. The new focal point acts as a pattern interrupt, so the old yip circuit never has a chance to trigger.

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I had the driver yips big time for awhile, and I still get chipping yips from time to time.

As far as the driver was concerned, I went to a longer and heavier one, and I have learned a lot about the swing. Lessons, and Swing LIke a Pro. I can now hit a driver under pressure - it's easier if I hit a fade; it's also easier if I stay in motion before my swing, and start my takeaway as a reflex from my last waggle - I never sole my club. Knowing my swing has made big improvements.

Also, focusing on finishing in balance is a big help - anything but focusing on hitting the ball. If you think too much about the ball, and trying to control the club through impact, you are in for big trouble. You have no way to control impact, so stop worrying about the ball, and go from start (takeaway right after a waggle) to finish (a nice balanced finish, belly button facing target, hands as extended as far away from the head as possible (same as the backswing).

Chipping - had to change my grip to the one that Gene Sarazen used (thumb off the shaft), and I have to think about my finish position, not hitting the ball. Or, I'm screwed.

Putting yips - I went to side-saddle.

I guess, if you like the game enough, you find a way. After giving up a few times.

Unseen, in the background, Fate was quietly slipping the lead into the boxing-glove.  P.G. Wodehouse
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  • 3 years later...

[quote name='Meanmachinemoe' timestamp='1211588667' post='1083841']
I am now struggling to break 90. I warm up fine. Everything is OK. Then, get over the ball during a rouond and feel like I am wound tight like a rubber band. I get to the top of my back swing and just jerk causing all kinds of problems. I have heard of putter yips and I know it is mental. Has anyone ever experienced and if so how do you overcome it? I literally dread my next round. Help. Thanks
[/quote]

Here is what I did to conquer it. Start of on the range with the following:

1. First off breath deep in through your nose and exhale from your mouth right as you start to approach the ball. When you do this, you fell all the muscles relax through your body. Continue this pattern as you address the ball. Many of us with this issue tend to forget to breathe at address and thus the tension starts to build.

2. With a metronome device (you can find these really cheap on ebay or eyelinegolf.com) set it to a 4 beat pattern at around 45-50 BPM (for full swing). The first 3 beeps will be identical with the 4th being more high pitched. With a 1-2-3-4 count, on the first beep give the target a look. The second beep eyes back the ball. Third beep start the swing and finally the 4th beep start the downswing. This rhythm might seem quite slow and it is, but you will see the results pretty quick. So to recap I say the numbers as the beeps take place, 1-2-3-4. Try this for about 30 minutes. I promise you, you will hear these beeps for days after spending time on the range doing this, but it works. Oh yeah, for putting its the same concept, except ramp up the BPM to 65 with the same 1-2-3-4 pattern. Good luck.

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  • 2 years later...

Hi Guys,

 

I really feel for the golfers with the YIPS (yes I said that nasty word, OK I'll say $hank as well) as I've been fighting FULL SWING YIPS for 2 1/2 years now.

 

I got down to 2 h'cap and playing to it and decided to play some interstate senior events at Royal Melbourne (West/East/Composite), Yarra Yarra, Victoria GC, Kingston Heath and Huntingdale in the Victorian sand belt area, amazing courses but you don't get a practice round so I was playing all seeing for the first time. Anyway, in Adelaide I was generally the better player in my group but playing those events, I was the worst as I was the last person in the ballot to get a spot. All of a sudden I was playing with +2, +3 and +4 senior golfers and I felt inferior, became too self conscience about my game and very quickly felt additional anxiety trying to compete well and my game went to pieces, I just couldn't get the club away, it started bouncing up and down and along the ground for up to 12 inches, I became further embarrassed. MY BODY WAS FROZEN, refused to rotate so my arms/hands were trying to move the club, snatch away, bouncing up/down and along the ground, not pretty for anyone to watch.

 

On my return to Adelaide my usual golfing buddies could sense something was wrong with my takeaway, I sensed it but didn't know why.

 

From all my research on the YIPS subject, it's really the sub conscience saying TO YOU that the golfing activity/experience is painful to you, whether putting, chipping, full swing etc. and because you build-up so much anxiety and muscle tension trying to play golf, it becomes very uncomfortable and many will give up golf from the EMBARRASSMENT they feel, I did.

 

IF YOU GIVE UP GOLF, you no longer feel anxious or uncomfortable. BUT IT ISN'T A FIX.

 

I stopped playing golf for periods of 3 to 6 months over the last 2 1/2 years because even thinking about golf made me anxious, again, the sub-conscience was saying that activity is painful SO DON'T DO IT.

 

After 3 months or so, my mind would be clearer and I didn't feel as anxious thinking about golf but conscience started teaming up with my sub-conscience. Just the thought of playing golf, an inner voice would be saying:

  • What about the embarrassment you'll feel?
  • You'll have to play with people you've never played with, WHAT WILL THEY BE THINKING
  • Think of all the people around the 1st tee that WILL BE WATCHING YOU
  • Everyone will be TALKING ABOUT ME and my affliction
  • and so on

Sometimes I built up the courage to go onto the practice range, but only when others weren't there. Many times, I'd try to take the club away but was frozen, body wouldn't rotate, just club bouncing up and down and along the ground, I'd leave without hitting a single ball.

 

I started having lessons with my long time swing coach but I was embarrassed, really struggled. One day I was supposed to have a playing lesson on the course but when he saw me on the range, he said, no point as we won't finish, I was that bad.

 

SORRY FOR MY RAMBLINGS, but this is a complex issue.

 

Anyway, rather than that playing lesson, Warren decided to connect me to his laptop via the head band to see what my brain waves were doing, conscience and sub conscience and facial muscle tension. While just talking my brain waves were pretty normal, but as soon as my eyes saw the golf ball, the waves hit the top of the scale, even if he said GOLF BALL, I spiked.

 

Warren said I'd turned a sub conscience FUN GAME into a conscience unpleasant activity. I continued to try on the range, slowly improved, saw a Sports Psychologist numerous times, was given audio tapes to listen to so I could reprogram my bodies response to muscle tension and reduce anxiety levels.

 

I started spending more time on the range, was getting really good but all of a sudden on the range, it was like someone flicked a light switch, my body would become FROZEN again, I couldn't take the club away smoothly.

 

I did a lot of thinking and sole searching and basically decided I'd give up the game I LOVED SO MUCH and after 34 1/2 years at my golf club, I decided to cancel my membership, I WAS NOW FREE, or I thought I was.

 

I quickly determined I still wanted practice range facility to try and hit some balls and one of my golfing buddies I'd been playing golf with for 20 years decided to join another golf course and asked did I want to follow. The thought of paying A$8,000 joining fee plus A$3,900 per year was hard to comprehend not knowing if I would every play golf on the course again but after 3 weeks decided I'd take the chance and pay the money. YIKES, my wife won't be happy if I don't play again.

 

I started going to the range 2 to 3 times a week and was slowly improving, my pitching/chipping/bunker play became really good, better than ever before as I didn't have too much trouble getting the club away on short shots.

 

Range became OK, but 1st tee, anxiety dramas and body freezes, started feeling embarrassed again, same as before, I wasn't cured, my mind felt clearer but my sub conscience was putting up barriers again.

 

I'd invested too much money to walk away again, I had to persevere.

 

I started a checklist that I had to tick off for my recovery to proceed: (most seem insignificant to others, but were critical to me)

  • Play on the course, not just the range
  • Play in a Friday completion, not too many other golfers around to watch me
  • Play in a Wednesday comp, more people around 1st tee
  • Play in a Saturday comp, MANY PEOPLE WATCHING ME :(
  • Play with other golfers I hadn't met before
  • Play in interclub Senior Pennant (match play off the stick)
  • Play in Senior Order of Merit events (still to do)

Playing on the course was difficult for me because for some reason, as the length of the club got longer, I found it more difficult to get the club away because of frozen body. As most courses start with a par 4 or 5, the driver would come out immediately and I was reassured immediately because of my stuttering, SEE, IT'S A PAINFUL EXPERIENCE and my anxiety levels escalated and my muscle tension would increase during the round, my upper back would get SO TIGHT, it felt unpleasant and I'd count how many more shots I probably had to finish the round.

 

When I was at my worse, I would be hyper-ventilating on the course, I'd have to capture my breath.

 

As my body was frozen standing over the ball, the longer I looked at the ball, the worse my anxiety would get and stuttering would get uncontrollable. What I decided to do was to try and get my mind and body used to rotating again, so I would stand behind the ball, pick out an intermediate spot, walk to the ball from the side and start swinging as soon as my feet were in position, there was no pause, no more looking at the target, no glances at ball, no waggles, JUST SWING AND HIT.

 

The guys were amazed and were wondering what I was doing, I wasn't doing a Happy Gilmour, JUST WALKING UP TO THE BALL AND SWING. I believe it started working after a few practice and course sessions. Weirdest thing, my swing almost felt like my PRACTICE SWING where I had no trouble taking club away, it felt smooth as well but results were very inconsistent, sometimes pull hooks, some high cuts and many good results but my body and mind were getting conditioned to rotation. At times I could sense my body was starting the backswing but my mind was saying, YOU'RE NOT READY but I tried to start anyway.

 

I'm not cured yet, but meeting MY FEARS head-on and walking up to ball and just swinging were the turning point.

 

My last 2 rounds have been my best for sometime, shot 76 at Kooyonga GC, my home course, a very tough course in Adelaide, SA. Still a little jittery getting club away, but a lot better and my muscles aren't getting tense and best of all, I'M STARTING TO ENJOY GOLF AGAIN.

 

What am I doing differently NOW?

  • TARGET FOCUS - picking out specific leaves AT THE TOP OF THE TREE/SHRUB. VISUALISATION IS KEY TO THE CURE but you have to keep/retain the TARGET FOCUS when your eyes come back to the ball, you DON'T SEE THE BALL, YOU ONLY SEE YOUR TARGET. When my eyes retain/hold the TARGET FOCUS, I say TARGET and when eyes are coming back to the ball, I say TARGET AGAIN.
  • SWING ROUTINE - I'm now using a REMEDIAL SWING TRIGGER - my yip routine caused me to lift the club up and drop down. Now I'm hovering the club about 3 inches above the ground, then after getting my alignment setup and a couple quiet waggles, I'm lowering the club and body down so the club is 1" above the ground and this crouching process is setting the weight on my feet and I take back club immediately. To others, it would look like the ROCCO MEDIATE routine.
  • GRIP CHANGE - I always felt my HANDS/ARMS were fighting against each other. Now I'm taking my left hand grip (RH golfer) and sliding the RIGHT HAND up the grip until the RH lifeline overlaps the LH thumb, I still overlap RH little pinky but my RH doesn't cover the LH thumb as much, wrists don't feel as tight and RH grip pressure seems better
  • BREATHING - (at times before I wouldn't take a breath for upto 45 seconds, my coach timed me one day, he could see the muscle tension going up from my hands to my shoulders) - Now I'm concentrating more on my breathing leading upto my pre-shot routine and REMEDIAL SWING TRIGGER as above, taking deep breathes focusing on Diaphragmatic breathing - http://breakingmuscl...and-performance

Cheerz :) :D ;)

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Hi Guys,

 

I really feel for the golfers with the YIPS (yes I said that nasty word, OK I'll say $hank as well) as I've been fighting FULL SWING YIPS for 2 1/2 years now.

 

I got down to 2 h'cap and playing to it and decided to play some interstate senior events at Royal Melbourne (West/East/Composite), Yarra Yarra, Victoria GC, Kingston Heath and Huntingdale in the Victorian sand belt area, amazing courses but you don't get a practice round so I was playing all seeing for the first time. Anyway, in Adelaide I was generally the better player in my group but playing those events, I was the worst as I was the last person in the ballot to get a spot. All of a sudden I was playing with +2, +3 and +4 senior golfers and I felt inferior, became too self conscience about my game and very quickly felt additional anxiety trying to compete well and my game went to pieces, I just couldn't get the club away, it started bouncing up and down and along the ground for up to 12 inches, I became further embarrassed.

 

On my return to Adelaide my usual golfing buddies could sense something was wrong with my takeaway, I sensed it but didn't know why.

 

From all my research on the YIPS subject, it's really the sub conscience saying the golfing activity/experience is painful to you, whether putting, chipping, full swing etc. and because you build-up so much anxiety and muscle tension trying to play golf, it becomes very uncomfortable and many will give up golf from the EMBARRASSMENT they feel, I did.

 

IF YOU GIVE UP GOLF, you no longer feel anxious or uncomfortable. BUT IT ISN'T A FIX.

 

I stopped playing golf for periods of 3 to 6 months over the last 2 1/2 years because even thinking about golf made me anxious, again, the sub-conscience was saying that activity is painful SO DON'T DO IT.

 

After 3 months or so, my mind was clearer and I didn't feel anxious thinking about golf anymore but conscience started teaming up with my sub-conscience. Just the thought of playing golf, an inner voice would be saying:

  • What about the embarrassment you'll feel?
  • You'll have to play with people you've never played with, WHAT WILL THEY BE THINKING
  • Think of all the people around the 1st tee that WILL BE WATCHING YOU
  • Everyone will be TALKING ABOUT ME and my affliction
  • and so on

Sometimes I build up the courage to go onto the practice range, but only when no others were there. Many times, I'd try to take the club away but was frozen, body wouldn't move, just club bouncing up and down and along the ground, I'd leave without hitting a single ball.

 

I started having lesson with my long time swing coach but I was embarrassed, really struggled. One day we were supposed to have a playing lesson on the course but when he saw me on the range, he said, no point as we won't finish a few holes, I was that bad. SORRY FOR MY RAMBLINGS, but this is a complex issue.

 

Anyway, rather than that playing lesson, Warren decided to connect me to his laptop via the head band to see what my brain waves were doing, conscience and sub conscience and facial muscle tension. We just talking and my brain waves were pretty normal, but as soon as my eyes saw the golf ball, the waves hit the top of the scale, even if he said GOLF BALL, I spiked.

 

Warren said I'd turned a sub conscience fun game into a conscience unpleasant experience. I continued to try on the range, slowly improved, saw a Sports Psychologist numerous times, was given audio tapes to listen to so I could reprogram my bodies response to muscle tension and reduce anxiety levels.

 

I started spending more time on the range, was getting really good but all of a sudden, it was like someone flicked a light switch, my body would become FROZEN again, I couldn't take the club away smoothly.

 

I did a lot of thinking and sole searching and basically decided I'd give up the game I LOVED SO MUCH and after 34 1/2 years at my golf club, I decided to cancel m y membership, I WAS NOW FREE, or I thought I was.

 

I quickly determined I still wanted practice range facility to try and hit some balls and one of my golfing buddies I'd been playing golf with for 20 years decided to join another golf course, did I want to follow. The thought of paying A$8,000 joining fee plus A$3,900 per year was hard to comprehend not knowing if I would every play golf on the course again but after 3 weeks decided I'd take the chance and pay the money.

 

I started going to the range 2 to 3 times a week and was slowly improving, my pitching/chipping/bunker play became really good, better than ever before as I didn't have too much trouble getting the club away on short shots.

 

Range became OK, but 1st tee, anxiety dramas and body freezes, started feeling embarrassed again, same as before, I wasn't cured, my mind felt clearer but my sub conscience was putting up barriers again.

 

I'd invested too much money to walk away again, I had to persevere.

 

I started a checklist that I had to tick off for my recovery to commence: (most seem insignificant to others, but were critical to me)

  • Play on the course, not just the range
  • Play in a Friday completion, not too many other golfers around to watch me
  • Play in a Wednesday comp, more people around 1st tee
  • Play in a Saturday comp, MANY PEOPLE WATCHING ME :(
  • Play with other golfers I hadn't met before
  • Play in interclub Senior Pennant (match play off the stick)
  • Play in Senior Order of Merit events (still to do)

I'm not cured yet, but meeting MY FEARS head-on was the turning point.

 

My last 2 rounds have been my best for sometime, shot 76 at Kooyonga GC, my home course, a very tough course in Adelaide, SA. Still a little jittery getting club away, but a lot better and my muscles aren't getting tense and best of all, I'M STARTING TO ENJOY GOLF AGAIN.

 

What am I doing differently?

  • TARGET FOCUS - picking out specific leaves AT THE TOP OF THE TREE/SHRUB. VISUALISATION IS KEY TO THE CURE but you have to keep/retain the TARGET FOCUS when your eyes come back to the ball, you DON'T SEE THE BALL, YOU ONLY SEE YOUR TARGET.
  • SWING ROUTINE - I'm now using a REMEDIAL SWING TRIGGER - my yip routine caused me to lift the club up and drop down. Now I'm hovering the club about 6 inches above the ground, then after getting my alignment setup, I'm lowering the club and body down so the club is 1" above the ground and this crouching process is setting the weight on my feet and take back club immediately. To others, it would look like the ROCCO MEDIATE routine.
  • GRIP CHANGE - I always felt my HANDS/ARMS were fighting against each other. Now I'm taking my left hand grip (RH golfer) and sliding the RIGHT HAND up the grip until the RH lifeline overlaps the LH thumb, I still overlap RH little pinky but my RH doesn't cover the LH thumb as much, wrists don't feel as tight and RH grip pressure seems better

Cheerz :) :D ;)

 

I think you may be my doppelgänger

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TM M3 3 wood - 14.25* - Tensei Pro White 80TX
Srixon u45 DI - 19* - Tensei Pro White Hybrid 100TX
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Hogan TK wedges - 50*, 54*, 58* - Nippon Modus3 120x
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Hi,

 

Just a follow-up report.

 

This yippy stuff is really weird, I'm making good progress on the range, as the length of the club gets longer I may stutter a little more, but still moving forward positively.

 

If I can hit it great on the range, my golf swing fundamentals must be sound, it's just on the course, I feel my swing routine changes slightly but I can't put a finger on it yet.

 

Anyway, I think I'm starting to turn the corner on the course with the longer length clubs, I go through my usual pre-shot routine, focus on my target, eyes come back to the ball and I find myself commencing the backswing.

 

It's like my mind is putting up a barrier by saying you're not ready to start but I continue anyway, most of the time with good results.

 

I can't explain it but it's like the brain has to be rewired, maybe I've had to break down the barriers and force myself through the embarrassment that had built up over the previous 2 1/2 years.

 

Cheerz :) :D ;)

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Best post I have read on Golfwrx.

 

 

Hi Guys,

 

I really feel for the golfers with the YIPS (yes I said that nasty word, OK I'll say $hank as well) as I've been fighting FULL SWING YIPS for 2 1/2 years now.

 

I got down to 2 h'cap and playing to it and decided to play some interstate senior events at Royal Melbourne (West/East/Composite), Yarra Yarra, Victoria GC, Kingston Heath and Huntingdale in the Victorian sand belt area, amazing courses but you don't get a practice round so I was playing all seeing for the first time. Anyway, in Adelaide I was generally the better player in my group but playing those events, I was the worst as I was the last person in the ballot to get a spot. All of a sudden I was playing with +2, +3 and +4 senior golfers and I felt inferior, became too self conscience about my game and very quickly felt additional anxiety trying to compete well and my game went to pieces, I just couldn't get the club away, it started bouncing up and down and along the ground for up to 12 inches, I became further embarrassed. MY BODY WAS FROZEN, refused to rotate so my arms/hands were trying to move the club, snatch away, bouncing up/down and along the ground, not pretty for anyone to watch.

 

On my return to Adelaide my usual golfing buddies could sense something was wrong with my takeaway, I sensed it but didn't know why.

 

From all my research on the YIPS subject, it's really the sub conscience saying TO YOU that the golfing activity/experience is painful to you, whether putting, chipping, full swing etc. and because you build-up so much anxiety and muscle tension trying to play golf, it becomes very uncomfortable and many will give up golf from the EMBARRASSMENT they feel, I did.

 

IF YOU GIVE UP GOLF, you no longer feel anxious or uncomfortable. BUT IT ISN'T A FIX.

 

I stopped playing golf for periods of 3 to 6 months over the last 2 1/2 years because even thinking about golf made me anxious, again, the sub-conscience was saying that activity is painful SO DON'T DO IT.

 

After 3 months or so, my mind would be clearer and I didn't feel as anxious thinking about golf but conscience started teaming up with my sub-conscience. Just the thought of playing golf, an inner voice would be saying:

  • What about the embarrassment you'll feel?
  • You'll have to play with people you've never played with, WHAT WILL THEY BE THINKING
  • Think of all the people around the 1st tee that WILL BE WATCHING YOU
  • Everyone will be TALKING ABOUT ME and my affliction
  • and so on

Sometimes I built up the courage to go onto the practice range, but only when others weren't there. Many times, I'd try to take the club away but was frozen, body wouldn't rotate, just club bouncing up and down and along the ground, I'd leave without hitting a single ball.

 

I started having lessons with my long time swing coach but I was embarrassed, really struggled. One day I was supposed to have a playing lesson on the course but when he saw me on the range, he said, no point as we won't finish, I was that bad.

 

SORRY FOR MY RAMBLINGS, but this is a complex issue.

 

Anyway, rather than that playing lesson, Warren decided to connect me to his laptop via the head band to see what my brain waves were doing, conscience and sub conscience and facial muscle tension. While just talking my brain waves were pretty normal, but as soon as my eyes saw the golf ball, the waves hit the top of the scale, even if he said GOLF BALL, I spiked.

 

Warren said I'd turned a sub conscience FUN GAME into a conscience unpleasant activity. I continued to try on the range, slowly improved, saw a Sports Psychologist numerous times, was given audio tapes to listen to so I could reprogram my bodies response to muscle tension and reduce anxiety levels.

 

I started spending more time on the range, was getting really good but all of a sudden on the range, it was like someone flicked a light switch, my body would become FROZEN again, I couldn't take the club away smoothly.

 

I did a lot of thinking and sole searching and basically decided I'd give up the game I LOVED SO MUCH and after 34 1/2 years at my golf club, I decided to cancel my membership, I WAS NOW FREE, or I thought I was.

 

I quickly determined I still wanted practice range facility to try and hit some balls and one of my golfing buddies I'd been playing golf with for 20 years decided to join another golf course and asked did I want to follow. The thought of paying A$8,000 joining fee plus A$3,900 per year was hard to comprehend not knowing if I would every play golf on the course again but after 3 weeks decided I'd take the chance and pay the money. YIKES, my wife won't be happy if I don't play again.

 

I started going to the range 2 to 3 times a week and was slowly improving, my pitching/chipping/bunker play became really good, better than ever before as I didn't have too much trouble getting the club away on short shots.

 

Range became OK, but 1st tee, anxiety dramas and body freezes, started feeling embarrassed again, same as before, I wasn't cured, my mind felt clearer but my sub conscience was putting up barriers again.

 

I'd invested too much money to walk away again, I had to persevere.

 

I started a checklist that I had to tick off for my recovery to proceed: (most seem insignificant to others, but were critical to me)

  • Play on the course, not just the range
  • Play in a Friday completion, not too many other golfers around to watch me
  • Play in a Wednesday comp, more people around 1st tee
  • Play in a Saturday comp, MANY PEOPLE WATCHING ME :(
  • Play with other golfers I hadn't met before
  • Play in interclub Senior Pennant (match play off the stick)
  • Play in Senior Order of Merit events (still to do)

Playing on the course was difficult for me because for some reason, as the length of the club got longer, I found it more difficult to get the club away because of frozen body. As most courses start with a par 4 or 5, the driver would come out immediately and I was reassured immediately because of my stuttering, SEE, IT'S A PAINFUL EXPERIENCE and my anxiety levels escalated and my muscle tension would increase during the round, my upper back would get SO TIGHT, it felt unpleasant and I'd count how many more shots I probably had to finish the round.

 

When I was at my worse, I would be hyper-ventilating on the course, I'd have to capture my breath.

 

I'm not cured yet, but meeting MY FEARS head-on was the turning point.

 

My last 2 rounds have been my best for sometime, shot 76 at Kooyonga GC, my home course, a very tough course in Adelaide, SA. Still a little jittery getting club away, but a lot better and my muscles aren't getting tense and best of all, I'M STARTING TO ENJOY GOLF AGAIN.

 

What am I doing differently NOW?

  • TARGET FOCUS - picking out specific leaves AT THE TOP OF THE TREE/SHRUB. VISUALISATION IS KEY TO THE CURE but you have to keep/retain the TARGET FOCUS when your eyes come back to the ball, you DON'T SEE THE BALL, YOU ONLY SEE YOUR TARGET. When my eyes retain/hold the TARGET FOCUS, I say TARGET and when eyes are coming back to the ball, I say TARGET AGAIN.
  • SWING ROUTINE - I'm now using a REMEDIAL SWING TRIGGER - my yip routine caused me to lift the club up and drop down. Now I'm hovering the club about 3 inches above the ground, then after getting my alignment setup and a couple quiet waggles, I'm lowering the club and body down so the club is 1" above the ground and this crouching process is setting the weight on my feet and I take back club immediately. To others, it would look like the ROCCO MEDIATE routine.
  • GRIP CHANGE - I always felt my HANDS/ARMS were fighting against each other. Now I'm taking my left hand grip (RH golfer) and sliding the RIGHT HAND up the grip until the RH lifeline overlaps the LH thumb, I still overlap RH little pinky but my RH doesn't cover the LH thumb as much, wrists don't feel as tight and RH grip pressure seems better
  • BREATHING - (at times before I wouldn't take a breath for upto 45 seconds, my coach timed me one day, he could see the muscle tension going up from my hands to my shoulders) - Now I'm concentrating more on my breathing leading upto my pre-shot routine and REMEDIAL SWING TRIGGER as above, taking deep breathes focusing on Diaphragmatic breathing - http://breakingmuscl...and-performance

Cheerz :) :D ;)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi,

 

I've changed my interim pre-shot setup and it's working really well, virtually NO STUTTERS during oncourse competition rounds, maybe just the odd hiccup, maybe one or two per round.

 

What I'm now doing is:

  1. From behind the ball, visualise the target and pick an intermediate spot a foot or two in front of the ball
  2. Just before moving to the ball, I take my grip
  3. I walk to the side of the ball with left foot placed in my usual hitting position
  4. Immediately my left foot is planted, I move my right foot to the right in my usual hitting position
  5. As soon as right foot is planted, COMMENCE MY BACKSWING

I racked my brain for days to figure out why the above process is working on the course, finally figured it out.

 

With my stuttering, my body would become frozen ALONG WITH MY LEGS AND FEET, no weight shift, nothing wanted to move. I tried a lateral shift to the right but I tended to sway, not turn.

 

What point 5. above IS DOING FOR ME, IS CREATING THE WEIGHT SHIFT TO THE RIGHT SIDE/FOOT AUTOMATICALLY and this weight shift is a trigger for my body to turn.

 

Some of the guys I play with have given me a new nickname, HG standing for Happy Gilmour. My routine is nothing like Happy Gilmour but compared to how I was at my worse with my stuttering, it's lightening fast.

 

Point 5. above evolved from a previous routine where I would visualise target, pick an intermediate spot, take grip then walk from behind the ball until I was in position next to the ball and start swing, this was more extreme as there was no stopping once I started walking from behind the ball.

 

I'm starting to love my current swing routine, it's controlled with little pauses and gives me NO CHANCE FOR ANY NEGATIVE THOUGHTS and my actual swing feels almost like MY PRACTICE SWING, fluent and body moving correctly.

 

My ball striking is very solid, hitting straighter drives than ever before and longer, maybe 10 metres or more.

 

My only issue at this stage is I'm hitting a number of irons to the right, pushed straight right, I'm probably just not rotating back fully but I'm sure I can work it out.

 

Cheerz :) :D ;)

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  • 3 years later...

Hard relate with this post.

I used to be an 11 HC with my best gross score being 78 ( played it numerous times). Would always play for money and the pressure lead to me getting the putting yips. Battled that for about 16 months and managed to come out of that hole.

Then the driver yips came a visiting. It's been another 16 months now and can't get a handle on them (till now). Haven't broken 100 in a long time.

The amount of pressure we put on yourselves is unbelievable. What will people think? Why can't I do this anymore? I used to be so good at this? Etc etc.

Funny thing is, I can do everything fine on the range. But soon as I get to the course, boom, it's like there's someone else playing.

I tried most everything. Meditation. Swing changes. Trying to not care. Nothing worked. Then I came across this thread and post in particular.

Have completely revamped my pre shot routine. Stand behind, get a target, line up with interim target, and just shoot. Also, during the swing, trying to keep an external focus on where the clubhead is.

It's just been a few days and I realize that this will take a while. So currently playing alone. But it seems to be getting better. Sometimes it takes a second ball for the right swing but I'm beginning to understand that because of the fear and dread at the top of the swing I was completely out of sync coming down. More importantly, I'm maybe, just maybe, beginning to recognise what a normal tee shot feels like.

More, later today.

 

 

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your detailed explanation and astute analysis is perhaps the best I have ever read-and that is saying a lot because I quit for 15 years due to the full swing yips and played at a handicap level very similar to yours. Have posted extensively about the full swing yips on these discussion threads and participated in the Mayo Clinic study on the yips among many other heroic efforts to overcome them.

Instead of spending post time praising you for so brilliantly educating all of us about what’s really going on inside a full swing yipper’s head (you are Spot On!) let’s get to the way I and others similarly afflicted can help our own yip struggles.

 

Combining my decades of yips research with your succinct kinesthetic explanations, here’s my take on what it takes to beat this devil at its own game.

1— there needs to be a preset routine that has pretty constant motion prior to pulling the club back for the takeaway.

2– there is No One Magic “thing” that alone suffices to win the day. As with most complex health issues one needs to employ a variety of modalities: mental cues, physical reshot changes, grip adjustments.

3– in Hank Haney’s 2003 full swing yips “cure” he looked at the inside brim of his hat and never the ball during the swing. ( yes that takes spectacular athleticism to pull off) but it’s all about not concentrating on any way on the ball. It truly is the ball fixation-visually and/or mentally- that catalyzes the yip response.

And I’ll add one thing to your description of “target” “ball” “target... trying to hold off until your mind quiets itself on “target”:

physicalky back away from the shot until you fixate on target and not ball. But! Your mind will try to test you and it will challenge you to not think of ball. It’s like a dare.

Here’s what you do: accept and admit to yourself that yes you could totally yip it, hit it 35degrees off line and out of play-But also “admit” that you’re capable (and actually have accomplished it) of hitting it well under the current conditions too!

 

then say to yourself “let’s see what happens”. Being indifferent to the result is Key.

 

more later...

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Wow. Thank you for posting this. I am in a bad way right now. Was down to scratch at one time then hip and knee replacement slowed me down a little. The game was coming back but the yips hit me. I am the best player in the world on the range right now, hitting every shot very well. As soon as I get on the course, my body starts freezing up. Last night on the first tee I almost stopped at the top with my 3 wood. I've really noticed my yips are at their worst when I am in the middle of the fairway, I can barely hit the ball. What is strange is out of the rough or a trouble shot.. like a punch out.. I seem to do okay. Anyway, thank you for posting this. I really don't want to quit the game, but as I am writing this I was supposed to be teeing off with my Saturday group at the club. After yesterday, I didn't want to be out there.

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  • 1 month later...
On 7/11/2020 at 8:31 AM, FOOTJOY16 said:

Wow. Thank you for posting this. I am in a bad way right now. Was down to scratch at one time then hip and knee replacement slowed me down a little. The game was coming back but the yips hit me. I am the best player in the world on the range right now, hitting every shot very well. As soon as I get on the course, my body starts freezing up. Last night on the first tee I almost stopped at the top with my 3 wood. I've really noticed my yips are at their worst when I am in the middle of the fairway, I can barely hit the ball. What is strange is out of the rough or a trouble shot.. like a punch out.. I seem to do okay. Anyway, thank you for posting this. I really don't want to quit the game, but as I am writing this I was supposed to be teeing off with my Saturday group at the club. After yesterday, I didn't want to be out there.

 

I hear you. Just last week I experienced the full swing yips for the first time. I am scrambling like crazy to figure this out. Like you, my short game is fine, in fact, never better. Thank you (and the others) for sharing your experience. Best of good wishes for a positive outcome.

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I'm battling the chipping yips. I used to laugh at other players who would decelerate at the ball and say, why do they decelerate. I know they are worried about thinning it over the green. Now, I am doing the same very thing. But, I'm not worried about that, I just flinch at the ball. I've improved with daily practice and just let the clubhead swing. But, the flinch has not gone away. 

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  • 1 year later...

I have had the full swing yips for 3 years.  Golf is no fun...I went from 2.6 handicap to a 7 handicap.  My full swing had a loop at the top (like an A) and a rythm to get the club back into the slot.  So, one day I practiced the pause drill to get rid of the loop at the top of my swing.  Since that day, I have had an exaggerated pause and sometimes it can last 4 seconds and I have to back away from the shot.  I tried to play through it but I get teased and heckled a lot by my buddies.  My exaggerated pause only happens with full shots.  I can chip, putt, and even hit half wedge shots.  Long shots are a nightmare!  Any suggestions???

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