Pitching Yips...HELP...can't take it anymore!!

[flyers66]

So here is the deal. Please bear with me...

I have been struggling with the pitching yips for a few years now. They have gotten so bad I feel like quitting sometimes. I am a very solid player from tee to green if I hit full shots. I drive the ball a long way and straight. I am a strong iron player(favor a draw) shoot in the mid 70's if I don't have to pitch. I am a good putter never yip on putts...The problem and frustration is when I have half shots or pitch shots. I have watched everything available on pitching(including all of Brian's stuff) worked hard on the Ernest Jones swinging drills and others. Can stick it close every time when I am practicing-all the shots from lob to low spinner to never flip stuff-BUT when I get on the course I flinch or hiccup EVERY SINGLE TIME. There seems to be an over acceleration somewhere and my knees buckle or both. I cannot stop adding power or hitting-It's like a involuntary jerk from the top...This results in a nasty skull or hitting it fat. The only way I can hit a somewhat decent shot is by letting go of the club with the right hand right before impact, and just using the left hand through impact-This has it's limitations in that I loose a lot of distance control-but at least it gets me on the green. Practice doesn't seem to help. Knowledge doesn't work either. I cannot control my body. My brain seems to give the wrong signal to my hands/arms...It is completely out of my control. Even when I try to give up control it happens! I can't take it anymore! Does anyone have any advice that might help-golf related or mental...I would give up 100yds on my driver just to have a pitching game!
Thank's
Flyers66

 

[twitch127]

Man, I do feel sorry for your predicament. The signal your brain is sending to your nervous system and muscles is definately getting jammed. I think all the mind gurus would love to get you in a dark room and perform some kind of golf vodoo on you!

I don't buy into a lot of that BS but read some of Dr Christian Marquard (forgive pronounciation) findings. He has done a lot of research into the yips and how to overcome them. He invented the S.A.M Putt lab. I attended a summit where he was a keynote and he was quite interesting. Basically he wanted you to completely forget about the ball and impact and move through this point to stroke completion (say the follow through - both arms to full extension). He had this random putting exercise where you would hit putts and randomly he will place a stopper over the ball to stop it moving. He says that this will alter the brains signal as you will not know the outcome of the shot but your process of stroke procedure will not change. You could develop a exercise to adapt this to pitching by placing a towel in front of the ball and baiscally compress the ball into the towel - not altering stroke procedure but changing the outcome. Then get a friend to remove the towel randomly during your swing - producing a normal pitch shot. This drill will also replace anxiety over impact and shot expectation with a process led approach.

 

[Robbohank]

Flyers,

Tough problem based on your description of executing on demand in practice. It does sound like it's mental, and I think Twitch makes some good points/suggestions. (I've also heard about Marquard's (sp?) studies and they make some sense).

It does sound like you have an "extreme" concern with results when chipping/pitching which has degraded your confidence to nothing. Unfortunately to get your confidence up you have to have some "real successes".

At times I've battled with a little "hit" in my putting stroke that would occur right at impact. It wasn't a full-blown yip but it was enough of a flinch to affect the result. (The more I think about it maybe it was a yip!). I worked on literally "fooling myself" into imagining there was no ball there when I putted and that eliminated the flinch. I'm pretty sure the root cause of that flinch was a concern about results, and imagining I was simply making a practice stroke took my mind off those results. After some success I could just putt "normally".

Good luck,

Robbo

 

[Mike O]

So here is the deal. Please bear with me...

I have been struggling with the pitching yips for a few years now. They have gotten so bad I feel like quitting sometimes. I am a very solid player from tee to green if I hit full shots. I drive the ball a long way and straight. I am a strong iron player(favor a draw) shoot in the mid 70's if I don't have to pitch. I am a good putter never yip on putts...The problem and frustration is when I have half shots or pitch shots. I have watched everything available on pitching(including all of Brian's stuff) worked hard on the Ernest Jones swinging drills and others. Can stick it close every time when I am practicing-all the shots from lob to low spinner to never flip stuff-BUT when I get on the course I flinch or hiccup EVERY SINGLE TIME. There seems to be an over acceleration somewhere and my knees buckle or both. I cannot stop adding power or hitting-It's like a involuntary jerk from the top...This results in a nasty skull or hitting it fat. The only way I can hit a somewhat decent shot is by letting go of the club with the right hand right before impact, and just using the left hand through impact-This has it's limitations in that I loose a lot of distance control-but at least it gets me on the green. Practice doesn't seem to help. Knowledge doesn't work either. I cannot control my body. My brain seems to give the wrong signal to my hands/arms...It is completely out of my control. Even when I try to give up control it happens! I can't take it anymore! Does anyone have any advice that might help-golf related or mental...I would give up 100yds on my driver just to have a pitching game!
Thank's
Flyers66

I'd be interested if you could perform an experiment and see if it has any affect on your results. If vision has something or anything to do with it. What happens when you keep your eye on a blade of grass say an inch further away from you than the ball and just look at that spot on the ground - at address, during the swing and after you've struck the ball and it is well on it's way. Of course, the experiment needs to be on the course- although you could practice a little to get the basics feel of it. That'll make you just worry about performing the stroke properly. Whether it's comfortable, consistent or accurate at the beginning is a whole different deal but I'd be curious if it would get rid of the really ugly stuff.

 

[Brian Manzella]

So here is the deal. Please bear with me...

I have been struggling with the pitching yips for a few years now. They have gotten so bad I feel like quitting sometimes. I am a very solid player from tee to green if I hit full shots. I drive the ball a long way and straight. I am a strong iron player(favor a draw) shoot in the mid 70's if I don't have to pitch. I am a good putter never yip on putts...The problem and frustration is when I have half shots or pitch shots. I have watched everything available on pitching(including all of Brian's stuff) worked hard on the Ernest Jones swinging drills and others. Can stick it close every time when I am practicing-all the shots from lob to low spinner to never flip stuff-BUT when I get on the course I flinch or hiccup EVERY SINGLE TIME. There seems to be an over acceleration somewhere and my knees buckle or both. I cannot stop adding power or hitting-It's like a involuntary jerk from the top...This results in a nasty skull or hitting it fat. The only way I can hit a somewhat decent shot is by letting go of the club with the right hand right before impact, and just using the left hand through impact-This has it's limitations in that I loose a lot of distance control-but at least it gets me on the green. Practice doesn't seem to help. Knowledge doesn't work either. I cannot control my body. My brain seems to give the wrong signal to my hands/arms...It is completely out of my control. Even when I try to give up control it happens! I can't take it anymore! Does anyone have any advice that might help-golf related or mental...I would give up 100yds on my driver just to have a pitching game!
Thank's
Flyers66

Do you have the Short Game Matrix preview??

 

[niblick1]

Brian-

I had that "Friends" video and have been searching everywhere for it. Could you re-send it to me?

thanks, John

 

[flyers66]

Do you have the Short Game Matrix preview??

Thanks you Brian, and everyone for their advice. Yes I have the preview. I am very good in practice...
I feel it is not a technique issue-therefore it is a very difficult thing to advise on. Again during practice everything works great. It is not till the course that it all falls apart and the yips hit with force.

 

[flyers66]

I'd be interested if you could perform an experiment and see if it has any affect on your results. If vision has something or anything to do with it. What happens when you keep your eye on a blade of grass say an inch further away from you than the ball and just look at that spot on the ground - at address, during the swing and after you've struck the ball and it is well on it's way. Of course, the experiment needs to be on the course- although you could practice a little to get the basics feel of it. That'll make you just worry about performing the stroke properly. Whether it's comfortable, consistent or accurate at the beginning is a whole different deal but I'd be curious if it would get rid of the really ugly stuff.

I will try this Monday morning when I play
thnks

 

[Chris Sturgess]

Thanks you Brian, and everyone for their advice. Yes I have the preview. I am very good in practice...
I feel it is not a technique issue-therefore it is a very difficult thing to advise on. Again during practice everything works great. It is not till the course that it all falls apart and the yips hit with force.

Good in practice bad on the course? Hmm. The "mental game" does not exist according to Tom Bartlett. Brian, do you agree with this?

 

[twitch127]

Good in practice bad on the course? Hmm. The "mental game" does not exist according to Tom Bartlett. Brian, do you agree with this?

Why don't you try and add something constructive and actually try and help the guys problem, instead of re-hashing old ground looking for a fight. I don't think I have ever read something you have posted that makes one once of sense or is remotely interetsting.

 

[Chris Sturgess]

What I just said is completely on subject about his problem.

Search my posts if you want to learn something or read something interesting. Or don't, with your apparent kool aid drinking mentality I would actually prefer it that way.

Also, tell me one thing I ever said that doesn't make sense. I'm a scratch golfer, you might want to reconsider your ability to make sense.

 

[holeout]

What I just said is completely on subject about his problem.

Search my posts if you want to learn something or read something interesting. Or don't, with your apparent kool aid drinking mentality I would actually prefer it that way.

Also, tell me one thing I ever said that doesn't make sense. I'm a scratch golfer, you might want to reconsider your ability to make sense.

No, you're not on subject. You're taking a pot-shot at the Manzella Academy... again.

Always with the Kool-Aid, huh? Outside of yourself, do you think anyone is capable of original thought? Or are you just that narcissistic that you can't recognize the abilities of others?

Congratulations on being a scratch golfer. Are you really trying to get into a pissing match on golf ability? Because you will lose, badly.

 

[twitch127]

What I just said is completely on subject about his problem

.

No, you're not on subject. You're taking a pot-shot at the Manzella Academy... again.

Exactly!

Search my posts if you want to learn something or read something interesting. Or don't, with your apparent kool aid drinking mentality I would actually prefer it that way.

Chris, There is nothing I could learn off you. I have read your posts and they are just full of opinion (which your entitled to) but based on nothing but hot air -

Also, tell me one thing I ever said that doesn't make sense. I'm a scratch golfer, you might want to reconsider your ability to make sense.

Scratch golfer - so what !! There are probably 100 guys on this forum better than you FACT!!! But they have a bit more humility to gloat because they are here to learn and pass on their knowledge to others - and have a good time - that's what this golf forum/community is all about - you seem to try and force people to agree with you and your bullying tone and name calling hasn't gone un-noticed by many of the guys around here.

 

[Axel_WIngert]

Hey flyers (what's your real name by the way),

I did have similar problems Especially with chips. What helped me incredibly is the following ...

Stance: feet touchingly close together, 30 degrees open and KNEES together, weight towards target- leave it there.

Then take the club back with the body (no arm/hand movement) without shifting the weight. Make sure not to take the club /hands too outside since you are standing openly.

The acceleration towards the ball comes by straigthening the legs. Here it's important that the knees are close together. The closeness of the knees/feet results in forward thrust that is constant and reliable. With a normal stance this is a very volatile movement (you have to manage the wheigtht shift). Once that thrust isn't there the body tries to make up for it by contracting the stomach muscles and overaccelerates with the arms- chilli dip.

Let me know how it worked.

Axel

 

[rogerdodger]

What has helped me is Brian's anti shank video, namely, turning the clubface towards the ball early. On short pitches, it is easy to get underplane, resulting in skulls, fat shots and shanks. I try to keep weight left, freely pivot and make sure the clubface points towards the ball earlier in downswing. It has really helped my pitching game. In a partial shot, it is easy to fail to rotate the sweetspot.

 

[cmartingolf]

good bits here.

What has helped me is Brian's anti shank video, namely, turning the clubface towards the ball early. On short pitches, it is easy to get underplane, resulting in skulls, fat shots and shanks. I try to keep weight left, freely pivot and make sure the clubface points towards the ball earlier in downswing. It has really helped my pitching game. In a partial shot, it is easy to fail to rotate the sweetspot.

Good stuff here. A lot of folks (damn good players too) don't even realize how under plane they can get on tiny shots. They get too into the target line and that illusion gets them way to inside out with a low point behind the ball. Instead of "ball/ground" they get "ground/ball" and have to flinch so they don't chili dip it....

 

[flyers66]

Thanks guys-
I will try all of these suggestions...Keep em' coming

p.s. Thank you to those who have tried to help; whether it's mental or not, who cares. I just want to change the outcome. I am here to learn and hopefully in the future help someone with an issue I can address.
Doug

 

[Chris Sturgess]

No, you're not on subject. You're taking a pot-shot at the Manzella Academy... again.

Always with the Kool-Aid, huh? Outside of yourself, do you think anyone is capable of original thought? Or are you just that narcissistic that you can't recognize the abilities of others?

Congratulations on being a scratch golfer. Are you really trying to get into a pissing match on golf ability? Because you will lose, badly.

Are you insane? The subject is that he hits it well in practice and not on the course. That is exactly what the other thread was about.

When people never disagree with a particular 'crowd' and are really offended if anyone else does, that is blind following like the kool aid drinking cult. It has nothing to do with narcissism or not recognizing abilities.

I'm sure you're really super at golf tough guy. But anyone who says that I haven't said anything that is accurate or of value I guarantee is worse than a scratch player.

 

[Chris Sturgess]

Good stuff here. A lot of folks (damn good players too) don't even realize how under plane they can get on tiny shots. They get too into the target line and that illusion gets them way to inside out with a low point behind the ball. Instead of "ball/ground" they get "ground/ball" and have to flinch so they don't chili dip it....

Very true, especially if Flyers hits draws with his long game.

 

[flyers66]

As RodgerDodger suggested, I tries to find Brian's Anti- SHANK video but it doesn't seem to be on the server anymore. Anyone have a link to view it?
Flyers66