Golf Putting Drills

What do I mean by that? To put it in simple terms, you have to turn the fear and anxiety associated with putting into more positive emotions and feelings such as certainty and strength.

The reason why it's so important to get rid of the yips (the correct idea is to condition yourself out of the yips) is because the yips can really destroy any golfer's round of golf. Not only does it add extra shots on the score card, but it destroys the golfer's confidence. According to a study done in the past, the yips cost the average yipper 4.7 strokes per round

In the December 2000 issue of the journal Sports Medicine, researchers from the Mayo Clinic have published a major study of the yips. It tells us that between 32.5 percent and 47.7 percent of better golfers have the problem!

It doesn't matter whether you feel anxious, fearful or nervous when you putt, or you start to get the shakes, the jerks or even freezing episodes, all of these reactions come from one source. That source is fear.

I will repeat (as it's important), it's from fear! Fear of being judged, fear of missing the putt, fear of looking bad, fear of being embarrassed. It's fear that triggers all the symptoms of the yips and rob you of your natural abilities as a golfer. So the true cure for the putting yips, in fact any kind of yips in any sport, is to reverse the trigger of fear and replace that with certainty. Because when you're fearful, you cannot be certain, doesn't matter who you are.

This is why so many people out there are only suggesting tips and drills to "help" with the yips, but never a long term solution.

Let me put it this way, if someone is claiming that you can cure the yips without addressing the emotional association behind the yips, they're fooling themselves and you. You cannot cure the yips just by changing putters and working on putting drills.

This is why techniques such as EFT (Emotion Freedom Techniques) have had some success in curing the yips - because this technique directly deals with emotional blockages in the golfer.

Buying new putters and doing putting drills are like putting band-aids on a broken leg. You must fix the cause of the yips before you can move on and start sinking short putts with ease. The cause of the yips is simply an overwhelmingly large amount of fear.

The fear must be directly addressed. Here's how you address the fear.
1. Start always with the smallest putts
2. Don't just "practice" for the sake of practicing. Do it to cure the fear and build confidence.
3. Do the most effective putting drills. Eg. Coin drill, Clock drill and Pull back drill.

These drills are the most effective putting drills for curing the yips.