Lefties Only Golf Tip: So the yips is terminology that we often used to describe someone who’s not a very good putter, particularly on short range puts, they get very nervous, they get very flinch and we describe them as having the yips. It’s often caused by a deceleration in the stroke where they slow the club down too much towards the golf ball, the club slows down, and it starts to twist. Anyone that has a big back swing could be very prone to the yips. Also someone that has a bit of a hit when they hit the golf ball, swing back and then just hit and stop on the golf ball. We describe that as quite a yippy or quite a flinch kind of stroke.