Below you’ll find an email from a putting client with my thoughts below. Here’s the email:
I’m 60 and have played golf recreationally most of my life and for the past couple of years I have struggled with my putting. I’ve developed the dreaded YIPS. I’ve taken a couple lessons from the pros at my club however that didn’t help.
This past week I practiced one day with your putting method then played yesterday and again today. Yesterday I missed 3 putts inside of 5 feet but made 4-5 from 5-10 feet. Today I practiced a bit before playing and am thrilled to say I made every putt I looked at from 3 – 8 feet, except one.
There is something very freeing about looking at the line of the putt from behind the ball, then just line up, check my line and trust that it’s correct! Then putt. I stopped trying to make sure my alignment was perfect, my shoulders were square, ball position was just right etc. I just got over the ball and trusted I was in the right position. Amazing!!!!
Thank you for sharing this system.
Here are a few of my thoughts:
1. The putting yips are just awful. There might not be anything worse than not having any confidence in yourself to get the ball into the hole from a foot.
2. I have found that regular type instructions don’t help. I’ve read and tried almost all the theories, and while they all sound great on paper, they don’t seem to work that well. If you’ve gone down the technical rabbit hole you’ll know what I am talking about.
3. The mission must be to simplify. This is the only way you can give your mental game a break. All the thinking/tweaking/worrying just makes matters worse.
4. As hard as it may seem to be, you need a carefree attitude. My client above did just this when he forgot about alignment, shoulders and ball position. He trusted his system and he was rewarded with a better outcome.
5. After doing the coaching stuff for over 25 years now I’m also a big fan of focusing on “fun”. I know many won’t like to hear about this and it can seem like a bit of a throwaway.
But FUN is important. And what I find works really well is to embrace the process and get as much enjoyment from rolling the ball towards the hole. When we are in a state of relaxation (not stressed about outcomes) and enjoy the process, good results happen automatically.
I used to suffer badly from the putting yips and when they were at their worst, I seriously contemplated walking away from the game.
It was all just too hard.
And maybe the worse thing about the putting yips was NOT missing the odd putt – that happens and is all part of it.
The worse thing, at least for me, was the mental torture of having just missed a putt and then needing to find a way to get the next one in. It’s almost like the pressure, self-doubt and fear compounds on every putt.
It really is a horrible way to putt and my heart goes out to anyone who is suffering from the yips.
In particular, I cover the mental aspect of eradicating the debilitating effects so you’re able to take the putter from your bag and putt with some sort of confidence.
There are no miracle cures but there is a way forward.
One other thing. I have also discovered that doing nothing and giving up doesn’t really work either. Most golfers that go down this path eventually quit golf and find something else to do.
But get your mindset right and find some perspective, good things can happen.