User:1duncan2

How To Stop The Putting Yips From Ruining Your Golf Score

Quite often the outcome of a game hinges on a single putt. Even if it is a short putt of only three feet, it can be the most important and challenging part of the game.

A lot of golfers spend hours and hours on the driving range, but only a minimal amount of time practicing their putting skills. So when the pressure is on, they tense up and miss what should have been an easy putt.

Think about this for a moment. If you use two putts on every green where one could have done, that is an extra 18 strokes right there. Quite obviously there is room for a big improvement in your golf score by practicing your putting. You can make this improvement without any extra equipment or outlay of money.

Let's get back to the "big putt", the one that will decide the outcome of the game. When you are putting under that sort of pressure, the mental aspect becomes very important, in fact far more important than the actual mechanics of the stroke. It has been proven by research that when you tense up under pressure, doubt, apprehension and even fear will make you tense up even more, and this perpetuates a vicious spiral. As the adrenalin flows, we tense up even more and the smooth flowing mechanics you have practiced go out the door.

Now you know the old maxim here: a putt that stops short will NEVER drop in the hole. Remembering this, a frequent outcome is that you lose your sense of 'feel' and wildly overshoot the hole. You then have just as long a putt coming back. What's worse, when we do a nervous putt, we typically look up too soon to see if we will make the putt, and this pulls the stroke off line.

Another common problem is we DECELERATE through the stroke. This is fatal, even the gentlest and shortest of putts must always be by ACCELERATION, for this gives us control.

A build up of tension reduces our ability to visualize the situation. We cannot read the green right or estimate the slope and we cannot get a sense the speed. This of course causes frustration, and the more frustrated we are the more we tense up as well. This is known as 'having the yips'.

How do we overcome this situation? There are some proven methods you can use that will help you roll that ball and make some good putts.

There are three factors that will determine the outcome of a putt:

Tension Imagination Visualization

When you are under pressure, just look away and relax, perhaps think of the nice drink you will enjoy at the club house. This will calm the yips, and enhance your sense of touch and feel.

When you feel calm, think of the basics of a successful putt:

1. The stroke must be a pendulum with your shoulders and arms while the wrists remain stiff.

2. Don't move your head during the swing. Remain staring at the spot where the ball was for a few seconds after it has gone.

3. The swing should be relaxed and smooth with gentle acceleration for a short putt but with more acceleration for a longer putt.

4. The ball should be hit on the upswing of the putter. Ensure the ball is in front of the inside of your left shoe (for a right hander) to ensure this.

The author, John Duncan, has just brought out an exciting new golfing book called "Golfing Secrets". You can meet John when you view his 60 second video clip at (please copy and paste) http://www.youtube.com/v/-mtjEMxYJys&hl=en&fs=1& and be amazed how cheap and easy it is to play better golf at his website http://www.perfect-your-golf-swing.com