Eliminating The Yips

The first step in eliminating the yips is to understand why you have them. The yips are caused from having fear about missing a putt. It may be a recent condition or one that you have had for years.

Let's take a look at the comments from two golfers with the yips. "I'm looking to see if I could find a cure for my intermittent problem which surfaced when I was playing my 5th match in our Club's match play championship and I was favored to win." In this situation, the golfer's yips occurred when he was faced with winning a tournament. With proper insights, his yips can be eliminated very quickly.

However, it may take longer for this golfer to cure her yips because she feels her problem doesn't originate from her concern or fear about missing a putt. "I have been suffering from a serious case of the putting yips for over 20 years. I read everything I can on the subject. And don't tell me not to worry about missing a putt. I can miss any putt on any green with miraculous ease. The problem is in not allowing myself to make the putt."

Both of these golfers' yips result from fear. Once you acknowledge that you fear missing a putt, the next step is to realize that fear only can exist when you are concerned about the outcome or making the putt. Whenever you about to putt, your mind will replay the same emotional experience of fear and recreate the yips.

The only way to eliminate the yips is to train your mind to stop focusing on making the putt and focus solely on the process. This is easier said than done. However, if you can stay in the present and not worry about the outcome, you will not have fear and you will be more relaxed. This will allow your mind to instinctively read the green, determine how the ball will break and give you the proper direction and force to apply to sink the putt.

You can train your mind to stay in the present and remove your fear of missing the putt. If you miss the putt, don't worry because you would have missed it with the yips anyway. After you putt allow your mind to learn from the feedback, so you can make the appropriate adjustments needed to sink future putts. In time you will make more putts as your fears and yips gradually disappear.

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