I've taught and played with a lot of golfers, some of them very good golfers, who have had issues with the short game and it's something that I can certainly relate to.
First off, I don't like 'The Yips' as a term. Once you call 'it' something, you are no longer in control. That thing or issue has the power over your brain and your game. You might have the club in your hand but there's something else telling you what you can or can't do with it.
So for me, part of the battle is not calling it a name. It's simply an area of your game that needs improving.
Generally mental weaknesses in this area come from a lack of confidence. Lack of confidence generally comes from poor technique. Poor techinique then tends to result in poor shots. The more poor shots you play, the more you question technique, loss of confidence becomes greater, so much so that you begin to fear the shot in question.
When you get in this mind-set, given the choice between getting in a cage with a grizzly bear or face a 40 yard pitch over a trap, you'd take the chance with the grizzly. I've been there, the bear sh*t himself!
As a kid I was always a very natural golfer, very little thought went into hitting a golf shot. I just saw the shot and played it the way I wanted, generally with good results.
The 18th hole at Bromborough (my home club), runs alongside the club house which has a large balcony. During the Summer it's usually full of members who've played that day. The green is very narrow with a large, high faced bunker running the length of the right side of the green. I remember being made up if I missed to the right because I'd be able to show off my flop shot skills in front of the gallery. There was zero fear, zero thought of 'what if I duff it in the trap' or 'what if I thin it into my playing partners'. I had complete confidence in my ability to play a great shot and knew I was going to do it. I couldn't explain how I did it or all the technical components that went into it. I just did it.
Knowledge can be very useful in golf if it's used in the right way. But what I've learnt is that it can be equally detrimental if it isn't.
Fast forward a few years and I was on a golf scholarship in Florida. The turf over there is so different. It's like the soil explodes beneath the ball, anything hit slightly heavy would result in the ball barely getting out of your shadow. The first time I hit this sort of shot I didn't think anything of it. But each time I miss hit it I'd get more and more uncomfortable with short shots until eventually I'd putt it from 10 yards off the green in the rough! The issue started to spread to greater yardages until anything less than a full shot was a disaster (in golfing terms) waiting to happen. From 60 yards I could hit it a yard in front of me or 100 yards through the back.
For most of my golfing life my short game was always one of my strengths. For this suddenly to become a weakness had a huge impact on me both as a player and a person. I became so obsessed trying to fix it. I put all my energy into searching for the perfect technique, analysing every part of my chipping and pitching action. It didn't improve. In fact, it got worse.
It was like my mind and body were completely separate. In my head I knew and understood everything that I needed to do technically to hit a good chip or pitch, but couldn't put it into action. This became a habit and one that's taken years to break.
The first step was recognising that what I was doing wasn't working. It's easy in golf to keep on practicing and practicing and practicing, waiting for all the technical parts to come together on the next shot.
But sometimes you have to recognise in this game that practice doesn't always make perfect. And that's what I did.
I went back to basics....or to put it another way, trying to learn from my 8 year old self rather than studying every short game book that had ever been published.
Now I focus on how I want to play the shot rather than the technique that will go into it. Focus on the strike; this will change depending on the ground conditions and the type of shot I'm trying to play. Regardless of technique, you can play a good chip or pitch as long as you have the ability to strike the ball.
There's no doubt that working with a good swing coach to understand the technique that you are going for is a huge factor in performing. But when it comes to actually playing, choose how you want the club to strike the ball and trust your ability to get it there.
I'm not saying that I now love to play a flop shot in front of a packed balcony but it no longer sends me into a cold sweat and running towards the nearest grizzly bear!
As a side note, ironically, the image used in the title of this post was pre three putt to miss qualifying for the PGA Professional Championship by one. Not that you should remember all your past mistakes...but they're harder to forget when you've got a stupid bit of hair hanging down your forehead.
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