Getting Over The Yips

We have all had days when the putting yips have gotten the better of us and we felt a need to apportion blame onto our putter usually, but why blame the putter? We are prone as a species to blame something inanimate sooner than ourselves when we find ourselves in a situation where we are not getting what we want! So we can go out and buy another putter and put the old one with the rest of the old ones that have already let us down, does this sound familiar? It is we as a golfer using a putter that are at fault and not our golf putter.
So what is the solution? First stop blaming your putter, find a putter that you have already bought and reappraise the reasons it did not work for you. Select a putter that feels comfortable to your hands and that you feel you can set your eye with it. You may have a putter that you have used before but rather than admit to the putting yips, you went out and bought another putter and put the one that stopped working for you away? Think about it honestly, it is the person using the putter that's changed, so here is where the solution lies. So do not rush out and buy the most expensive putter you can afford, look at what you are doing, and reflect on the past games or putting practice.
We all age at different rates and that is to say we can be a youthful fifty compared to another for instance. Now let’s get back to the game play: Your golf swing will change as you age, this is why we have to keep up the practice and a really good excuse to get in an extra round where you can. Sure we all get a bit weaker as we age but that should not affect our putting game, a great deal of physical strength is not required usually when putting, so that should remain a focus for your short game. So where are you going wrong you may well ask?
You may have been a really good putter in the past and a master of the short game, if so it is probably something that you have chosen to do differently and perhaps without realizing it. This being the case, it is probably something very minor you may have changed within you putting stroke, or the way you focus upon the ball changed, ask yourself if you are not keeping your posture as still and balanced as you used to? There are many questions that you can ask yourself; have you changed your posture? Are you gripping your putter tighter than you used to? There are so many variables that it could be, so it is not a simple question to answer outright as it may be several things and not any one or two picked out of the list just read. These are all factors in changing your putting drill. Why do I say putting drill? Because that is how you should approach regaining your putting form, go through the routine of setting up your putts on something like a training green or even your own lawn with a target to aim for, you want somewhere that is flat and you can practice with distractions, then go through the drill bit by bit.

So why have you lost your form at all? This can be because of many gradual changes have probably been made and you did not notice the subtle changes that one by one they built up into a changed short game! The perceived outcome is an improved short game. Just go through the swing part of your putting drill for a few minutes before each actual strike of the ball, try and relax there is no need to feel the yips now, this is not a game, you are just finding where you lost that putting form! When you feel that you have a consistent putting swing drill, then move on to focusing for the putting shot and practice the full drill with a goal of getting every putt into the hole or marker. Then as you find your form returning, you will find that the putter in your hand feels like an old friend and to be treated as such.
Now you are set up for your putting drill, get to know your putter even better, take short putts to start with and only hold the putter in one hand, the hand that is your prominent golfing hand and swing through as if making a putt with both hands on the club, this drill may not work for everybody and I am not claiming it will, these are just some tips to try and recover your short game with your putter. Nothing here is rocket science, it is designed to be just a few tips that we can all do, and who knows it may just bring your form right back?
The final points I would care to suggest is to; also practice your follow through when carrying out your putting drill, make sure that you are following the flow of the putter through the ball.

Fred Monck has been an avid fan of the great game of golf for many years, but now he has to be content with watching others and writing about golf. http://fifteenthclub.com http://www.puttsofgold.com

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