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Curing my chipping yips.....

Bullitt5339

Bullitt5339

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I used to be very good at chipping and then something happened. I couldn't chip the ball to save my life and it used to save my game. When I say chipping, I'm talking about a low shot that runs out when it hits the green. I know there's been some discussion about pitching vs. chipping here, so I want to make sure that everyone knows what I'm talking about.

I have spent a lot of time on the practice green, figuring I could work it out but it just never came back and actually continued to get worse to the point where I was uncomfortable with those short shots that are perfect for chipping.

Went to practice today and my instructor was out there giving another lesson and was shaking his head at me when I'd shank 2 out of 8 balls that I took out there. I was doing a lot of digging on the ones that actually went in the right direction also. He walked over and gave me a quick tip that completely changed my chipping game, so I figured I would share it with my fellow THPers who may be going through the same issues.

The one thing that he said was "The chip is the only shot in golf where you do not try to accelerate through the ball". Relax your hands and arms, bring the club back and just let it swing through in a relaxed, rhythmical motion. Don't try to accelerate through at the bottom. What I was rewarded with was consistent (for my 1st session) distances with consistent roll-out and similar low-ish ball flights. Relax and let the club simply travel through the ball, no acceleration needed.

I don't know if this will work for everyone, but after 10 minutes of practice, I was using my Smart Sole, 54*, PW and 9 iron with the exact same relaxed swing and getting very good results. I have at least another week until I can take a full swing again, so I will be practicing this and putting all weekend just to get my distances figured out more closely and deciding which club to use from difference lies and distances.
 
I found an article by Dave Stockton that got me back to comfortable & even confident on chip shots. I don't remember the name of it, but it was basically about learning 2 simple shots. 1 for right around the green & the other from 100 yards & in.

He said he teaches the same 2 shots to pros & amateurs.
 
Get 'unconscious scoring' by Dave Stockton
 
Tadashi70 said:
Sounds like his pro ironed him out, no book needed
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I do not have a good history of trying to learn golf shots from a book anyways.
 
Bullitt5339 said:
I do not have a good history of trying to learn golf shots from a book anyways.
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The book is more focused on the mental side of things. Very similar to what your pro spoke to you about
 
Thanks for the write up. I agree that this can work for a lot of people. I started using this "feeling" this year, I always feel like I'm just dropping the club on the ball for chips. I accelerate through pitches though =)
 
Funny how the yips develope on the short game - actually not funny, if you have them like I do. I was a pretty decent player with what I thought was a good short game, then one day I totally whiffed at a short chip shot. Thought it was weird. A season to two later, same thing happend. I started to have full blown yips on short game shots (other than putting) - I think my technique of using so much right hand and flipping under the ball started it all.I got away with the flippy shots, but I guess w/ age or with the evoluation of my full swing, the techinique has backfired. I'm still suffering from them - I have studied techique, and have been able to chip/pitch pretty well on the practice green, but can't seem to take it to the course - so I know it's psychological. It has really taken away from the enjoyment of the game - to say the least. Wouldn't wish them on my worst golfing enemy.
 
I too suffered from chipping yips and finally figured out how to cure it. For me, yips was due to muscle overuse over many years of playing (focal dystonia). FIrst thing you need to figure out is what muscle is causing the flinching; for me was my right forearm Flexor Carpi Radialis, which I think is the same for most. This muscle works in flexion (slapping rt hand to lt) and pronation (rotating rt wrist counterclockwise). Hitting thousands of balls and releasing the rt wrist will overuse this muscle. You need to incorporate the saw grip using a chipping style that will eliminate the use of this muscle throughout the stroke. Try it out and good luck.
 
my chipping is a hot mess right now. it comes and goes. when it comes it's pretty good, when it goes it's so freaking bad.

i think my issue right now is the jimmy legs. my center of gravity is moving all over the place. after a solid 2 or 3 weeks of embarrassment, i had a good session this morning imagining i was standing on a small platform and would fall off if i moved too much. good contact and some nice results. still the occasional duff or blade, but maybe i found something.

i also have a tendency to aim way right of target, so trying to get more neutral in my setup.
 
First of all, thanks for sharing. This is certainly one of the benefits of this site. Being able to share things we've learned that might help others.

In my experience, most of the time yips result from inconsistent contact. If we're not confident that our swing will yield a good result our minds and bodies want to do something to change that result. It may not work, but it's our body and mind's way to try to attempt to achieve a different outcome.

One of the benefits from the technique this instructor taught you is getting the club to glide under the ball, essentially getting the club to contact the ground with the sole, rather than the leading edge. This gives you a much greater margin for error. One possible result when trying to accelerate through the shot is exposing the leading edge when the hands get in front of the clubhead at the bottom of the swing.
 
To be honest I'm going through a bit of the chipping yips, fine around the green from 10 yards or so, anything more than that with a half a swing and I'm all over the place.

One video that has or is helping is this one, its even got my wife building confidence in her chipping & pitching.



Chris Ryan also had a good video too.

 
Check Phil Mickelson's Youtube videos on chipping. He is one of the best.
 
seastrunk said:
Check Phil Mickelson's Youtube videos on chipping. He is one of the best.
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Only thing about Phil is he has off the charts elite, eye-hand coordination (even compared to other pros). I don't doubt he can explain the fundamentals as well as any pro but he's not exactly relateable for a hacker like me...
 
I was having a lot of chipping and pitching issues last year. I was working on some technical changes with a teacher and I was just having problems making it work and letting the weight of the club head come through properly. Turns out that Callaway sent me my 54* wedge 3.5 swing points lighter than it should have been. This was caught at a club champion fitting back in January. The fitter put a bunch of lead tape on my hosel to bring the weight back up and that club along has made a world of difference with the technique lately now that I can feel the club head again in my stroke.
 
I used to be a inconsistent chipper. Part of the problem was lack of time to practice and play time. Last year I bought the Butch Harmon short game package on the golf digest site. Wasn’t expecting much. Just was more curious than anything else.

Anyways, his chipping technique was a game changer. After the proper setup, I simply use my right knee as a downswing trigger and I’ve stopped thinning, chunking and getting too handsy. I realize that everyone is different but this technique worked wonders for me. It’s easy to practice at home.

https://video.golfdigest.com/watch/butch-harmon-consistent-chips-oct-2013
 
Blame Me said:
To be honest I'm going through a bit of the chipping yips, fine around the green from 10 yards or so, anything more than that with a half a swing and I'm all over the place.

One video that has or is helping is this one, its even got my wife building confidence in her chipping & pitching.



Thats really great. Hits so many fundamentals but tells you what not to do as well... gonna bookmark that one.
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DaBuckBoys said:
Blame Me said:
To be honest I'm going through a bit of the chipping yips, fine around the green from 10 yards or so, anything more than that with a half a swing and I'm all over the place.

One video that has or is helping is this one, its even got my wife building confidence in her chipping & pitching.



Thats really great. Hits so many fundamentals but tells you what not to do as well... gonna bookmark that one.
Click to expand...


Technique seems simple. How do you get your left shoulder lower in the chipping setup? If your left hand is higher on the grip, it's going to be slightly higher than the right with a neutral shaft angle.
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I find it hard to chip with my wedges. I nearly always use my set PW or 9 iron then hit it like a putt. I pitch a lot with my PW and GW. I only use the SW and LW when I need no runout or the green is elevated well above the ball. Chipping with less loft makes it more dummy proof for me.
 
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