Tip From the Archives

Driver Yips

Problem

Your tee shots are very unpredictable and you cannot pinpoint a cause for it. You might even notice a jerking sensation in your arms or hands at impact.

Cure

Small spasms or twitching of the muscles in the arms at impact causes an unpredictable clubhead movement, just as you see with the putting yips. When you suffer from the yips, the way your brain and muscles controlling your hands communicates is disrupted somehow, causing you to unintentionally move the club in anticipation of contact. As you would with the putting yips, you need to change the way you perceive the point of impact either mentally or physically.

Therapy

Try different gripping styles with or without overlapping your fingers and see if this helps. Start by aligning your fingers onto the grip or squeezing the grip with your palms and then wrap your fingers around it for support. This can change the way your brain interprets the signals it receives from your hands. The simplest way to cure the driving yips is to change your preshot routine trigger. For example, one golf pro says that her trigger is to touch her golf bag and it mentally prepares her to swing. Try changing your key thoughts as you swing. These are thoughts you use to improve your swing; such as, keep your head down or make a full follow through. Most people watch the ball as they make contact and think: keep your eyes on the ball. One thing you could do is to start staring at your nose instead of the ball. This requires that you trust the way you set up to the ball and your swing. The benefit to this is that it reduces your anxiety or simply changes the way your brain interprets the swing in hopes to prevent the yips.

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11 votes

 
charles pollack | 4 years ago, mid-August

I get the yips as I start my back swing with short and medium irons. It is a jerky move which throws my swing off. I would appreciate any help for my problem.

charles pollack | 4 years ago, mid-August

I get the yips as I start my back swing with short and medium irons. It is a jerky move which throws my swing off. I would appreciate any help for my problem.

james | 3 years ago, at the start of May

My problem, in looking at my swing, occurs at the top of my backswing the instant before I start my downswing. My left wrist breaks over and the club gets loose and throws the plane off. All the other mechanics of my swing are solid but this issue continues to plague me. i can't even feel the move which irritates me to no end.

Barbara Smith | 3 years ago, mid-August

Three years ago I gave up golf because of driving yips. They started at a time when I was playing my best golf. I suddenly felt a movement as I took my back swing and from then on I couldn't drive in anticipation of it happening again. At one point I froze on my back swing. My stableford points went down as low as 3, and I lost a national matchplay final because of them. After a break of six months I started playing again and they had gone. However, it has returned several times since then but only for short periods. Each time I manage to fend them off after a few games. The sad thing is that I don't enjoy my golf nearly as much now because whenever I get close to a final or an important match, I have fears that they will return.

Themba | 2 years ago, mid-December

I too have been suffering from this nasty experience. Mine happens mostly with my driver and irons, including chipping and bunker shots. I freeze just as I need to take the club back to start the backswing. I have developed a trigger, which unfortunately leads to reverse pivot. It sometimes gets so bad that I tee before my playing partners have shut up and this seems to work as my focus is less on the ball, but this works in the middle of a bad round. The tighter the game, the worse it gets. I have tried banging the club on the ground, but the fear of slowing play is what is making me force myself. I really need help

Darlene | last year, mid-March

I have been struggeling with Driver Yips for 1 1/2 years and am about ready to walk away from the game. Our life revolves around golf so this is especially difficult. It has always been my favorite club & strength. It happened so fast in one round and suddenly I couldn't feel the club at the top of the swing. As a result I didn't know where the club was and the result was a swing that could go anywhere along with the ball. I am such a feel player and when something feels wrong, I'm lost. I have tried putting weight on my club head. I have a new driver that has adjustable weights on it. I read The Inner Game of Golf by W.Timothy Gallwey and his suggestions helped for awhile but I am now lost again and feel like I'm going crazy. It's nice to know that this is a real thing and I'm not alone but I really need to find a cure that will stay. I have been a former Club Champion and played on our golf team for years and now I don't know if I can even play with the ladies this year. Any suggestion?

Darlene | last year, mid-March

I have been struggeling with Driver Yips for 1 1/2 years and am about ready to walk away from the game. Our life revolves around golf so this is especially difficult. It has always been my favorite club & strength. It happened so fast in one round and suddenly I couldn't feel the club at the top of the swing. As a result I didn't know where the club was and the result was a swing that could go anywhere along with the ball. I am such a feel player and when something feels wrong, I'm lost. I have tried putting weight on my club head. I have a new driver that has adjustable weights on it. I read The Inner Game of Golf by W.Timothy Gallwey and his suggestions helped for awhile but I am now lost again and feel like I'm going crazy. It's nice to know that this is a real thing and I'm not alone but I really need to find a cure that will stay. I have been a former Club Champion and played on our golf team for years and now I don't know if I can even play with the ladies this year. Any suggestion?

Patrick | last year, mid-June

I suffer from a similar affliction that is ruining golf for me. I’m a single digit handicapper that drives like a 35 handicap. The ball could go anywhere or nowhere. Usually it goes right off the planet… either the left or right side. Sometimes I top it and try to push it straight down to China. It’s been 3 years of torture. Before that I rarely ever had issues. I found this article which gave me some hope that at least I’m not alone (before finding this thread we are on): http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HFI/is_8_55/ai_n13467303/?tag=mantle_skin;content Interesting that Hank suffered the same thing. The only thing that has had some positive impact for me to date is an impact bag. I’m using it to remove all swing thoughts and take it down to a physical level… just using my muscles to beat the impact bag. On the tee, I visualize hitting the impact bag and not the ball. That’s been the best thing I’ve come up with to date.

Ben | last year, at the end of August

Ihave had backswing yips for at least 10 years. In my case I can't initiate the backswing,just freeze .there is one solution that for me works but it is a little drastic. When you are over the ball make small forward swing over the ball and use this momentum to go straight into your backswing . Hope this may help



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