Calling all yippy chippers..

[milesgiles]

11 minutes ago, nitram said:

So don't try to check the bump and run. Hit your spot and let it roll. Knowing your "air to ground" ratio is the key to 'putting with loft' and a lot more predictable than depending on spin to get it close.

 

i dont mean they are hitting flop shots for no reason, just that second bounce check on a low shot, still running it out to some extent. Watched and played with a lot of pro's, I would claim they all do this. I think. 

[596]

Tempo is huge.  Lots of "accelerate" instruction.   For lots of people this turns into a jerky motion as they try to accelerate with their hands with short chip backswing.   Tempo is most important.  I practice trying to hit an 8 iron chip from about 30 feet from the fringe with the longest backswing I can.  I helps to learn tempo and moving slowly instead of a lunge or jerky downswing.

[nitram]

2 minutes ago, milesgiles said:

 

i dont mean they are hitting flop shots for no reason, just that second bounce check on a low shot, still running it out to some extent. Watched and played with a lot of pro's, I would claim they all do this. I think. 

I get what you're saying mate and not saying you're wrong on this ut most folks reading this thread need help with finding a dependable way to get the ball close from just off the green. Think about this, if you will. Most of the pro's you're referencing aren't dealing with the yips, yet. They spend more time practicing this part of their game than most reading this thread spend practicing their entire game. They regularly play on greens that stimp 12 or better with lots of undulation. And lastly, they are playing a tour ball that spins by design.

 

Again, I'm not saying you're wrong on this but most good players depend on simplicity and dependability when something is on the line. 🍻

[Pastit]

2 hours ago, milesgiles said:

 

Can only speak of the best players Ive played with, they all put at least a little check on even the most straightforward chips. Id say do whatever to get it inside 6 feet, for me the no spin option rarely does that..

I’m sure that’s correct but for those of us with either less ability or less time to get that ability, I think the percentage shot for the non-elite is to forget spinning the ball with chips. I could only get the Srixon ball to spin readily anyway and the grooves took the paint off. 
 

For myself, in my hayday, if I could not run up most chips to < 3’ and hole 2 per round I’d have a long face. I find the golf pundits frequent use of use-the-bounce a lot of BS when, clearly, players have the ball behind their back foot. They must know better.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Pastit
Punctuation

[milesgiles]

^I think any chip in the air is going to spin to some extent.. I still think you need to be at least a little aggressive if you want to get up and down a lot..

[Nard_S]

Hard to see but you look scoopy & stabbing. If your going to stab, stab down. But real fix is to incorporate more shoulder rotation, more lead side control, save dominant hand for final control of face and release. Watch Spieth & Tiger, their technique is turn, ->, turn and get open to target. An intent to get open to target is a great one for chipping. Chips are mini swings. Chips are not putts with loft. Putting is shoulder rocking, chips are shoulder turning.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Nard_S

[naj959]

Shallow strike, slightly open face and contact lower on the face; that's all you need to get the ball to check up (assuming you have sharp grooves and play a tour ball). I have no problem getting my shoulder rock motion to dig in when I need it.

[nitram]

22 hours ago, Nard_S said:

 Chips are mini swings. Chips are not putts with loft. Putting is shoulder rocking, chips are shoulder turning.

Paul Runyan would disagree and not all putters are shoulder rockers.

[Nard_S]

1 hour ago, nitram said:

Paul Runyan would disagree and not all putters are shoulder rockers.

So I have not sought short game advice in 4 years, thought maybe Runyan was some new guru. Googled him, hah! Are you kidding me?

 

Tiger talks a lot about his hands and control of clubs with them. But look at his stroke,.Hands ride the "shoulder rock".

 

Watch him or Speith with chipping they rotate the shoulders......no rocking.

 

 

 

[Santiago Golf]

When I teaching golf schools I saw 3 types of yips

 

1) Golfers who play the ball way to far back and make way to big of a swing

 

2) Golfers who take the club to far inside and very low 

 

3) They don't have the yips ... they just play golf to degrade themselves

 

Here where the fixes we would try to get them to adpot

 

1) Widen their stance, move the ball forward, and get them to understand length of swing

 

2) Get the golfer to hit shots with just there right hand and incorporate the left hand

 

3) Understand how close the worst tour pro is from the fairway, rough, and sand

     Fairway - 6 feet

     Rough - 12 feet

     Sand - 20 feet

     If you leave a 20 yard shot from the fairway 10 feet short and your 16 handicap ... you should cheer not complain

 

 

Yips are very mental ... but the mental is a lack of understanding what your doing wrong

[Pepperturbo]

Not aware of what grip the OP uses, and didn't read all the posts.  IMO chipping yips are caused by lack of confidence and or NO mental connection with the subtle details and feel of the soft, short shot using a club that you swing really hard for distance.  

 

I've watched what I am about to say so many times it's sad.  Most people at the range grab a bucket of balls and head to the chipping green and begin to hit balls too quickly; it's as if they are in a hurry; balls ricochet off other balls, in various directions.  Except for a maybe 1-2 lucky shots, most balls don't even get near the cup, much less in the cup, making it a TOTAL waste of time.

 

IMO - the best grip for chipping is the reverse overlap because the right hand is then dominate.  Its grip position is much like throwing a ball underhanded, only using a club face. 

 

Go the chipping green but use ONLY "2-3" golf balls...no more.  Put a ball in the palm of your right hand, determine where you think you need to land the ball to get the ball to run up and into the cup.  You want to HOLE OUT, NOT just get close, close is worse case.  Throw the ball underhanded at your predetermined landing spot.  Now watch how the ball behaves as it move towards the pin/cup.  Repeat that throw at different landing spots until you find the correct landing spot where the ball runs up to and into the cup. 

 

Again, the goal is hole out and the effects of redundancy develops your visualization and feel for throwing the ball various distances.  Now, repeat that from different lengths.  After a few months of above, you develop comfort and move to using LW and chip the ball to the same landing spot, over and over; watch how the ball behaves. 

 

This is NOT an exercise in how many balls you can get to ricochet off each other.  Doing that makes it a waste of time.  It's an exercise in accurately throwing the ball to a predetermined spot, and learning how the ball behaves from landing to finishing in the cup.  Using two-three balls allows you time to think about what you just did and what you saw happen. 

 

If you can't do this relatively simple exercise in the steps as described, you are not likely to ever have chipping confidence or a great short game.

[Haroputt]

What are the yips anyway? The worse I seen are two types 

One is a short stabby stroke and generally ends up chunky fat that moves ball only a few feet 

The other is long jerky motion that can end up a duff under the ball or a scull across the green 

Edited December 21, 2021 by Haroputt

[milesgiles]

1 hour ago, Haroputt said:

What are the yips anyway? The worse I seen are two types 

One is a short stabby stroke and generally ends up chunky fat that moves ball only a few feet 

The other is long jerky motion that can end up a duff under the ball or a scull across the green 

 

all I can tell you is that Im perfectly capable of yipping with a short quick stroke or a long slow one. Or anything in between. Its an involuntary jerk into impact of hands/head/right knee/left elbow/anything that fudges up the shot.

 

Ive left the split grip for the minute that was in my original post (even though I think there might be something to it) and Im standing closed looking a yard ahead of the ball and rotating my body  through impact.. 

[596]

Yips?  That's is where you take an 8 iron and attempt to chip the ball 15 feet to the hole off the fringe but you actually MISS the ball.  Yes!  My yips appeared over night and made me cry.  That is the truth. I was an excellent chipper and could get up and down from anywhere.  Over night it happened.  One day I was great, the next day I could fully miss the ball with a simple chip shot.  This did not affect my other parts of the game.  Only chipping. Not pitching.  I almost quit the game.  It's taken nearly 3 years to get remotely close again.  My last game saw 5 out of 6 up and downs and the 6th was a putt that was 1/2 inch short of dead center. I was estatic with my chipping for the first time in years! 👍Yips are real!

[Ty_Webb]

Ho boy - this one again. I hate this topic, but really need to read it all and keep working at it. Mine started about 20 years ago. One day I was at the chipping green before going out to play and I couldn't hit it. The previous day I was absolutely fine, but then out of nowhere just nothing worked. It feels like a foot from the ball I'm way open to it and I can't figure out how to get it back to square. If I try to I wind up hitting it 30 degrees left and 30% too far. If I don't try to then I leave it open and wind up hitting it 30 degrees right and 50% too short. It's a horrible feeling. From there it got worse. I likened it to the top of my backswing on a chip lit the fuse in my arms and then the fuse burned down to my hands at impact where they exploded. Ball could go anywhere. Or nowhere. I've double hit it, whiffed it, bladed it, duffed it. You name it I've done it. 

 

I think that some people think that they have the yips. They go through a bad spell and they call it that. It's like when people were talking about Tiger having them at one point and it was just like yeah no he doesn't. Anyone who actually has the yips *knows* that they have them. There is zero doubt about it.

 

Anyway, there are a few things that I have found helpful. I do think now that it is a technique issue to begin with. Most likely a radius problem where you either lengthen or shorten the distance from your chest to the clubhead through your swing. If you change that then you have to change it back again if you want to make decent contact. That's where the problem comes in. Then over time it becomes mental where you tighten up and think about it when you don't want to. So you need to work on the mechanics and changing things around helps. Mine affects my longer putting as well as my chipping (and on bad days my pitching too). Putting I switched to the claw grip, which has basically completely fixed it. I sometimes get a little feeling of it on really long putts (think 100 feet or so), but it doesn't affect the outcome.

 

Other things that help me. Cut out caffeine, cut out alcohol and I've found CBD gummies to be helpful too. They calm it down and I can make a functional attempt at it now. My scrambling percentage is around 30%, which is pretty darn bad for my skill level, but it's way better than it has been at times (with the double hits, I'm not sure if you start counting negative scores when you don't get it down in 3 either). 

 

To all fellow sufferers - good luck!

[milesgiles]

7 hours ago, Ty_Webb said:

Ho boy - this one again. I hate this topic, but really need to read it all and keep working at it. Mine started about 20 years ago. One day I was at the chipping green before going out to play and I couldn't hit it. The previous day I was absolutely fine, but then out of nowhere just nothing worked. It feels like a foot from the ball I'm way open to it and I can't figure out how to get it back to square. If I try to I wind up hitting it 30 degrees left and 30% too far. If I don't try to then I leave it open and wind up hitting it 30 degrees right and 50% too short. It's a horrible feeling. From there it got worse. I likened it to the top of my backswing on a chip lit the fuse in my arms and then the fuse burned down to my hands at impact where they exploded. Ball could go anywhere. Or nowhere. I've double hit it, whiffed it, bladed it, duffed it. You name it I've done it. 

 

I think that some people think that they have the yips. They go through a bad spell and they call it that. It's like when people were talking about Tiger having them at one point and it was just like yeah no he doesn't. Anyone who actually has the yips *knows* that they have them. There is zero doubt about it.

 

Anyway, there are a few things that I have found helpful. I do think now that it is a technique issue to begin with. Most likely a radius problem where you either lengthen or shorten the distance from your chest to the clubhead through your swing. If you change that then you have to change it back again if you want to make decent contact. That's where the problem comes in. Then over time it becomes mental where you tighten up and think about it when you don't want to. So you need to work on the mechanics and changing things around helps. Mine affects my longer putting as well as my chipping (and on bad days my pitching too). Putting I switched to the claw grip, which has basically completely fixed it. I sometimes get a little feeling of it on really long putts (think 100 feet or so), but it doesn't affect the outcome.

 

Other things that help me. Cut out caffeine, cut out alcohol and I've found CBD gummies to be helpful too. They calm it down and I can make a functional attempt at it now. My scrambling percentage is around 30%, which is pretty darn bad for my skill level, but it's way better than it has been at times (with the double hits, I'm not sure if you start counting negative scores when you don't get it down in 3 either). 

 

To all fellow sufferers - good luck!

 

I hope youre aware a double hit is no longer a double hit on the scorecard.. (rule change).. Ive got up and down a couple of times with this 'technique'. Thoroughly recommend if you want to put your partners off their game, particularly if they dont know the rule. (I didnt until someone did it to me..)

[Ty_Webb]

2 hours ago, milesgiles said:

 

I hope youre aware a double hit is no longer a double hit on the scorecard.. (rule change).. Ive got up and down a couple of times with this 'technique'. Thoroughly recommend if you want to put your partners off their game, particularly if they dont know the rule. (I didnt until someone did it to me..)

Double hitting it on purpose is quite the flex...

[Pastit]

10 hours ago, Ty_Webb said:

Ho boy - this one again. I hate this topic, but really need to read it all and keep working at it. Mine started about 20 years ago. One day I was at the chipping green before going out to play and I couldn't hit it. The previous day I was absolutely fine, but then out of nowhere just nothing worked. It feels like a foot from the ball I'm way open to it and I can't figure out how to get it back to square. If I try to I wind up hitting it 30 degrees left and 30% too far. If I don't try to then I leave it open and wind up hitting it 30 degrees right and 50% too short. It's a horrible feeling. From there it got worse. I likened it to the top of my backswing on a chip lit the fuse in my arms and then the fuse burned down to my hands at impact where they exploded. Ball could go anywhere. Or nowhere. I've double hit it, whiffed it, bladed it, duffed it. You name it I've done it. 

 

I think that some people think that they have the yips. They go through a bad spell and they call it that. It's like when people were talking about Tiger having them at one point and it was just like yeah no he doesn't. Anyone who actually has the yips *knows* that they have them. There is zero doubt about it.

 

Anyway, there are a few things that I have found helpful. I do think now that it is a technique issue to begin with. Most likely a radius problem where you either lengthen or shorten the distance from your chest to the clubhead through your swing. If you change that then you have to change it back again if you want to make decent contact. That's where the problem comes in. Then over time it becomes mental where you tighten up and think about it when you don't want to. So you need to work on the mechanics and changing things around helps. Mine affects my longer putting as well as my chipping (and on bad days my pitching too). Putting I switched to the claw grip, which has basically completely fixed it. I sometimes get a little feeling of it on really long putts (think 100 feet or so), but it doesn't affect the outcome.

 

Other things that help me. Cut out caffeine, cut out alcohol and I've found CBD gummies to be helpful too. They calm it down and I can make a functional attempt at it now. My scrambling percentage is around 30%, which is pretty darn bad for my skill level, but it's way better than it has been at times (with the double hits, I'm not sure if you start counting negative scores when you don't get it down in 3 either). 

 

To all fellow sufferers - good luck!

 

 If all that lot fails to work try wrapping yourself in bandages a la the “ Invisible Man “.  

[milesgiles]

35 minutes ago, Ty_Webb said:

Double hitting it on purpose is quite the flex...

 

certainly not on purpose, done it accidentally

[naj959]

On 12/21/2021 at 6:46 PM, Ty_Webb said:

Ho boy - this one again. I hate this topic, but really need to read it all and keep working at it. Mine started about 20 years ago. One day I was at the chipping green before going out to play and I couldn't hit it. The previous day I was absolutely fine, but then out of nowhere just nothing worked. It feels like a foot from the ball I'm way open to it and I can't figure out how to get it back to square. If I try to I wind up hitting it 30 degrees left and 30% too far. If I don't try to then I leave it open and wind up hitting it 30 degrees right and 50% too short. It's a horrible feeling. From there it got worse. I likened it to the top of my backswing on a chip lit the fuse in my arms and then the fuse burned down to my hands at impact where they exploded. Ball could go anywhere. Or nowhere. I've double hit it, whiffed it, bladed it, duffed it. You name it I've done it. 

 

I think that some people think that they have the yips. They go through a bad spell and they call it that. It's like when people were talking about Tiger having them at one point and it was just like yeah no he doesn't. Anyone who actually has the yips *knows* that they have them. There is zero doubt about it.

 

Anyway, there are a few things that I have found helpful. I do think now that it is a technique issue to begin with. Most likely a radius problem where you either lengthen or shorten the distance from your chest to the clubhead through your swing. If you change that then you have to change it back again if you want to make decent contact. That's where the problem comes in. Then over time it becomes mental where you tighten up and think about it when you don't want to. So you need to work on the mechanics and changing things around helps. Mine affects my longer putting as well as my chipping (and on bad days my pitching too). Putting I switched to the claw grip, which has basically completely fixed it. I sometimes get a little feeling of it on really long putts (think 100 feet or so), but it doesn't affect the outcome.

 

Other things that help me. Cut out caffeine, cut out alcohol and I've found CBD gummies to be helpful too. They calm it down and I can make a functional attempt at it now. My scrambling percentage is around 30%, which is pretty darn bad for my skill level, but it's way better than it has been at times (with the double hits, I'm not sure if you start counting negative scores when you don't get it down in 3 either). 

 

To all fellow sufferers - good luck!

This x 1000

Been there and done all of that. I always act like nothing happened whenever I get the old TC Chin going.

I couldn't agree more about the importance of maintaining the radius. As soon as I get wristy in my takeaway I try and recover the radius through the strike and blade or chunk it. Absolute death move for me. I'm an advocate for yippers adopting a Jason Day type of stroke to eliminate moving parts. Not a fan of the wrist set technique that seems to be in vogue these days. I only try that If I have no other option than to hit a high flop shot that requires speed.

 

On a side note, has anyone tried coute-rbalancing their wedges? I had an epiphany the other day that if the head feels less heavy, I may be less inclined to use my hands and wrists to start the club back. Will probably start a thread on this subject.

[Pastit]

7 hours ago, naj959 said:

This x 1000

Been there and done all of that. I always act like nothing happened whenever I get the old TC Chin going.

I couldn't agree more about the importance of maintaining the radius. As soon as I get wristy in my takeaway I try and recover the radius through the strike and blade or chunk it. Absolute death move for me. I'm an advocate for yippers adopting a Jason Day type of stroke to eliminate moving parts. Not a fan of the wrist set technique that seems to be in vogue these days. I only try that If I have no other option than to hit a high flop shot that requires speed.

 

On a side note, has anyone tried coute-rbalancing their wedges? I had an epiphany the other day that if the head feels less heavy, I may be less inclined to use my hands and wrists to start the club back. Will probably start a thread on this subject.

Jason Allday and Bryson look very wooden whilst chipping don’t they ? But it seems to work. 

[ChaosTheory]

I’m surprised no one ever mentions the type of grass they play on.  I’m a few months into a move from northern grasses to Bermuda grass.  I am having to relearn chipping.  Bermuda is way more difficult to chip from.  You see it on tour at certain events.  Using the bounce here is a crapshoot with bad odds.  Instead, you have to be sure to hit the ball first.  I can see where this grass would lead to mental breakdowns. 

 

 

[596]

The Jumbo Max XL Ultra Light large grip improved my chipping 10 fold.  I put the grip on my 8 iron that I use for chipping to try them out.  It takes the hands out of the stroke.  You can't flip at it unless you actually try to flip.  My only problem now is I'm leaving everything a tad short.  I can't seem to hit the ball hard or far enough because I had the yips for so long I feel as though if I swing for the distance I'm gonna scull it over the green.  I have to learn to trust the new chipping stroke and I'll be good again.  

 

You know you have the yips and not just a technique issue if you can totally miss the ball on a chip shot.  I know...I've miss more then my fair share.  I'm a high single cap and could miss the ball completely on a chip.  I don't care what or how bad your technique is, you can't/won't miss the ball.  A yipper can have good technique and miss the ball.  I tried 100 different ways to hit a chip after the yips hit me.  All could produce a complete miss at one time or another.  The best thing that happened to me was the large grips.   I actually like chipping again!!

[ingster1]

On 12/20/2021 at 8:39 AM, 596 said:

Tempo is huge.  Lots of "accelerate" instruction.   For lots of people this turns into a jerky motion as they try to accelerate with their hands with short chip backswing.   Tempo is most important.  I practice trying to hit an 8 iron chip from about 30 feet from the fringe with the longest backswing I can.  I helps to learn tempo and moving slowly instead of a lunge or jerky downswing.

I agree about tempo but found a different way of addressing it.  While I worked on some mechanical/technique changes, I also started really focusing on how hard I needed to strike the ball to get it to fly the necessary distance.  I tended to really struggle with shorter chips that required a softer strike and I found this new focus really helped.  I stopped over accelerating and stabbing at the ball.  Instead I found myself slowing down my swing and allowing the ball to come off the face softly.  

[596]

12 minutes ago, ingster1 said:

I agree about tempo but found a different way of addressing it.  While I worked on some mechanical/technique changes, I also started really focusing on how hard I needed to strike the ball to get it to fly the necessary distance.  I tended to really struggle with shorter chips that required a softer strike and I found this new focus really helped.  I stopped over accelerating and stabbing at the ball.  Instead I found myself slowing down my swing and allowing the ball to come off the face softly.  

I agree.  I work on slowing everything down to what feels like a crawl.  That's why I've said before about the old adage, "accelerate".  If you have the yips this can be a death sentence for some.  That's why I practice hitting a 30 foot chip with the longest swinging 8 iron I can.  It slows me down and smooths out my swing.

[nova6868]

On 12/3/2021 at 5:19 PM, Sipper said:

 

 

Part 2:

 

 

 

 

I recently experimented around with "hinge and hold" and after this led to several chunked shots I went back to my "use the bounce" shallow chipping. Only I kept yipping just as he described here - rapid acceleration of my hands into the ball. This caused several blades straight across the green. It's maddening because it's just a reaction or "flinch" and you don't want to do it but it just keeps happening. 

 

Anyway after watching these videos I went out the practice green with about 50 balls and alternated between chipping staring at the hole the entire time or just closing my eyes. Shanked the very first ball and the next 49 were nearly all pure shots, no issues at all. It's all in my head.  🤪

 

 

[milesgiles]

4 hours ago, nova6868 said:

 

Part 2:

 

 

 

 

I recently experimented around with "hinge and hold" and after this led to several chunked shots I went back to my "use the bounce" shallow chipping. Only I kept yipping just as he described here - rapid acceleration of my hands into the ball. This caused several blades straight across the green. It's maddening because it's just a reaction or "flinch" and you don't want to do it but it just keeps happening. 

 

Anyway after watching these videos I went out the practice green with about 50 balls and alternated between chipping staring at the hole the entire time or just closing my eyes. Shanked the very first ball and the next 49 were nearly all pure shots, no issues at all. It's all in my head.  🤪

 

 

 

agree, it is about distracting yourself. Have tried the other two, not single handed though.

 

However, reference a few of the clips Ive posted, I can chip all day around a practise green withour flubbing, the only measure is on the course