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.

So here’s a little tip to try and help you cure the yips. First you’re going to get you out on the putting green, about three feet from the hole, so not a very particularly difficult put but if you got the yips, this is sort of the length that gives you nightmares. So just three footer, then take a golf ball and place it around about eight inches behind the back of the ball that you’re going to hit. Now the key to this is to try and avoid hitting that. So that should keep your putting stroke quite short on the back swing. But we want to encourage you to have a nice push through the put, going at least eight inches on the way through. So a shorter back and a longer through, almost accelerating the put as you hit the ball.

In your head you could go out in the golf course and think, one third back, two thirds through, one third back, two thirds through, just to keep that club accelerating. So the ball you’re going to hit, another ball eight inches behind, try and put the first ball into the hole that’s only three feet away and make sure it’s a nice firm accelerating kind of stroke. So a good set up over the ball, short back swing and accelerate on the way through and just hopefully that will help you pop the ball nicely into the middle of the hole and cure your yips.