The Putting Yips ... Ah, the very words strike fear into amateurs and professionals alike. They have struck down many a great player before their time.
A search of the internet shows a general consensus that the putting yips are a mental affliction caused by fear and a lack of confidence. As is normally the case when considering conventional wisdom, the symptoms are confused with the cause.
As long as golfers are lead to believe the symptoms of the yips are the cause, it is a losing battle to try to fight them. A doctor who treats your symptoms cannot cure you. He can only make you feel a little better while going through the illness and your body cures itself. A teacher that treats the symptoms of your golf putting yips cannot cure you either.
Putting yips are caused by a physical reflex I have termed the "impact reflex". Simply stated, your eyes have a built in aversion to watching impacting objects. It doesn't matter if it is a car collision or a putter head striking a golf ball, your eyes instintively don't want to look at it.
The normal reaction is a blink of the eyes at the instant of the impact. Alternatively, the eyes will simply look away from the impact. Did you really think you were trying to peek at the hole?
If you have the yips, there are two things you need to do. First is to re-establish your confidence by hitting a lot of the longest putt you cannot miss. It may be 18 inches or two feet. Whatever, just don't miss any putts for while.
Once you have lessened the symptoms a little bit by making a lot of putts, you will need to address the way your eyes perceive the contact with the ball. Perhaps just being aware of the impact reflex and its effect on your putting will help you get it back under control.
Now let me show you my putting solution.
