by Brian Kelly
Hello
I live in the UK and was just trawling through the internet looking for web site that might help me with my problem. I have developed a situation where I freeze over the ball and either grip the putter extremely hard or push it into the ground. Eventually I release the putter with no feeling for the distance. Any tips from anybody would be grateful.I am close to packing the game in after 20 years. Brian Kelly

by Kristen
I posted an update on Neil including a video of him putting on my site:
http://www.thegolfchick.com/2007/10/03/how-to-live-with-the-putting-yips-video/

by allan weisberg
reat article and just to aad that the yips are not just located in the puttong stroke I have had the full swing yips for about 4 years, it coimes and goes, mostly comes and makes playing very difficult, when i bring the club back it is difficult to bring it foward, it almost that i am locked up. If you have ever seen Charles barkely play golf you can see what is happening, it is very embarassing and i only play late in the day when i can play alone, it has taken the fun out of golf, Allan

by allan
Brian, so nice of you to respond to my message, I will look up the European tour and also hope that more research will find an answer. I still try plugging away and trying to get rid of them. the silver lining is that you learn things about yourself and put this thing in its proper perspective, afterall the yips wont kill you. Thanaks again for responding, Allan

by Alistair
Hi. I too was looking around the internet on the yips and came across this article. I have been playing off 5 for many years and last year starting getting the yips in my putting. It soon spread to my chipping and now to my horror, my irons including driver. Its a complete nightmare and thought I was the only one - its also the sort of thing you dont publisise. Its sort of nice to know I'm not, but know the pain you are going through. I am thinking of giving up as its so frustrating and don't enjoy it anymore.

by Brian Walker
Allan
You have my utmost sympathy. Most people imagine the yips as a putting condition but, like you, mine has progressed throughout my game. I have 'cured' the original yips by putting left-handed and to some extent the chipping yips similarly. However, the last progression of the disease was to my long game and since I am not willing to, learn to play left handed after 50 years I appear to be stuck with them. This has been a long process and I have gone from low single figure handicap to often not able to break ninety. There are a variety of cures offered through the internet, etc. However, I would be cynical about most of these. The most promising is offered by a psychologist who has cured several European Tour players and I am sure that you could get her name from an e-mail to the European Tour. However, the course is residential and so obviously involves a significant outlay and I am still deciding whether I can go on it without the wife finding out!

by patricia
A most interesting post. I would think less intense golfers would be far less susceptible...if not immune, however we have an ultra easy-going friend who's afflicted. He's a great player otherwise and doesn't seem to let it bother him...it hasn't become devastating to his game... but it persists, which indicates the neurological aspect. Strange.
Hope it's not contagious ;o)

by Geoff Mangum
Dear Kristen,
The Mayo Clinic "sports science" team in Rochester MN initially studied the yips and got the issue all confused, claiming it was mostly psychological and not neurological. After this article directed the Rochester team to their own neurologist in Scottsdale AZ, they changed their tune in a second study consistent with this article, now claiming that the yips are neurological: "The Neurophysiology of Golf Putting: The Mayo Clinic takes a "Stab" at the Yips." See http://www.puttingzone.com/Science/sciresneuroscience2.html#YIPS, where a number of yips-related studies are collected. The Mayo Clinic neurologist is now engaged in a third study focusing on the muscles of the hand and arm, which is not at all likely to tell us much about the brain neurology that is the real problem.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
PuttingZone.com