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Golf: Mystery No. 4, The Yips

I have done other articles on the yips, but this is going to be a more in depth look at this dreaded affliction. I will look at the yips from a more historical standpoint, by reviewing some of the big-name golfers that have been affected. What is amazing to me is that the yips have been around since the early 1900’s and there does not seem to be any remedy for them. It is not for lack of effort. None other than the Mayo Clinic has done a major study on the yips in the early 2000’s. They came to the conclusion that the yips may be more of a physical problem than a mental one. I disagree with this conclusion completely, but more on that later. There are many well-known players that have battled the yips, some with more success than others. Let us go back to the first known case, or at least to the first golfer who admitted that he had this problem.

The first well known player to describe the yips was Harry Vardon. They were not called the yips in the early 1900’s. Vardon described watching for this jump of his right hand. His gaze would be riveted on his right hand waiting to see what it would do. He wrote that if it did not happen on the first hole that he would be fine. One of his treatments for the affliction was to practice putt right around dusk or dawn. The lighting would be good enough to see the hole but not good enough to see the character of the green. Vardon had the affliction on putts of 4 feet or less. He blamed all of this on a lack of confidence or lost confidence when it came to making short putts. Vardon had many observations on putting but his best one was the finest way to putt is the way that gets the ball into the hole. Vardon would not be surprised about all the putting methods that are used today some 130 years later. Another wave of yippers, so to speak, came along in the 1920’s and Tommy Armour was given credit for naming the ailment the yips. In his instruction book ABC’s of Golf, the Y chapter is Yips. He does a great job in describing the yips and I feel there are many key words in his description. The yips are a BRAIN SPASM that impairs the short game. There comes that ghastly time when with the first movement of the putter, the golfer blacks out, loses sight of the ball, and hasn’t the remotest idea of what to do with the putter. Armour also states that everybody gets them. Even Bob Jones got the yips. He got rid of them by not lining putts up with the blade of the putter anymore. They would still come back occasionally in the heat of tournament action. The other key aspect of the chapter is that Armour talks about yipping putts in the hole. He writes about yipping a 2-foot putt on the 71st hole missing it in the British Open but then on the last hole needed a three-footer to win and wound up taking a different grip, different stance and somehow making the putt. Despite the changes he yipped but it went in for victory.

The next two golfing greats to be plagued by the yips were Sam Snead and Ben Hogan. Snead got rid of his yips with the croquet style of putting which the USGA quickly banned. There was another pro who had been putting with this croquet method for about a year and no one complained. When Snead did it and had great success, all of a sudden, the USGA had to step in. Snead got around the ban by going side saddle and but that did not give him as good a view of the putt but still accomplished the original goal of getting rid of the yips. Hogan, more of a golf traditionalist, really never got rid of the yips and this cost him many a championship over the years. Bernhard Langer has battled the yips throughout his career and has managed to solve them with various methods, to enable him to have one of the greatest professional careers ever, especially on the senior tour. Two of the best examples of what the yips can do, happened over the last 30 years. In a Shells Wonderful World of Golf match in the late 90’s between Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus, Miller had the yips very bad that day and missed short putt after short putt to be defeated by Nicklaus by a resounding 11 shots 70-81. Without a doubt the most graphic example of the yips was Ernie Els’s disastrous 7 putt on the 1st green on the first day of the Masters in 2016 for a 9. If you have the stomach for it, you can watch this on You Tube. What I think is lost in all of this is that he went on to play the next 8 holes in even par. He did run into trouble on the back and shot an 80 for the day. The next day he shot 73 but of course did not make the cut. You have to wonder how he was able to gather himself enough to shoot as well as he did the rest of the day. There have been other players of the recent past that have had the yips, but the above examples are the most graphic.

What can we surmise about the yips over the years from this historical perspective. Let’s get one thing off the table right now, and with all due respect to the Mayo Clinic, the yips are strictly a mental problem. The idea that yips can be brought on by overuse of muscles like in writers cramp or playing the violin too much, just is not true. The yips affect all types of golfers not just the pros and anybody that has a job cannot practice enough to cause the above problems. I wish that was the case, but it simply is not true. This is not an example of focal hand dystonia. As we look back, there are some key observations about the yips made by the professionals that have had to deal with them and instructors that are trying to help the afflicted. Tommy Armour statement that everybody gets the yips is very telling. I see people yip putts and chips every day I play. When a pro misses a huge putt down the stretch believe me, he has yipped it. People will not admit to the yips because I think they fear that if they use the word that the yips will get worse. I don’t blame them, but it does not change the facts. One reason there is the belief that the yips have some kind of physical cause is that many of the remedies involve making a physical change in the way you putt or chip. From the different grips to the long and belly putter, they have all been used to combat yippy strokes. Different techniques in chipping have been used to help with chipping yips ranging from left hand low to chipping one handed. Somehow changing the way you putt or chip, rewires the brain enough to make that part of your game functional again. Some method changes seem to last longer than others, and you will see pros go back and forth between methods. I have written about this before but the reason I think all these method changes work is because the yips are a symptom of a problem, not a disease in itself. The best analogy I have of this is a lack of red blood cells or anemia. If someone is anemic, it can be caused by many different things at many different levels. A person could be losing blood, not producing red cells, producing flawed red cells, or have red blood cells destroyed internally. The idea is to find the disease that is making a person anemic. The exact same thing can be said of the yips. The idea is to find the issue that is causing the yips. What could be causing the putting yips may not be causing the chipping yips. There is driving yips, and in my view shanking is nothing more than the iron yips. These can also have different causes than the putting or chipping yips.

At least for the moment, the best we can do is muddle through some of these temporary but effective solutions to keep the yips under control. From a personal note, it always amazes me how I am always surprised when I make the first yip of the day. I do not know why I have this reaction. I have it more so on putts, rather than on chips. I know I battle the chip yips more than the putting yips, but I still should not be surprised when I do either one. Stress over a particular putt or shot many times will precipitate a yip. I do not disagree with this statement. However, the yips seem to happen on the easier shots and putts, not on the more difficult ones. I know when a shot or putt is perceived as easy, this automatically puts our expectations higher on the result of the shot. I am not sure that this is enough in the thought process to cause a yip, but it is one of the frustrating things about the yips. One thing is for sure, there are no cures for the yips as of yet, despite what you see on internetville. Please do not give anybody any money that says they can cure your yips. It ain’t happening man. If I ever find a permanent solution to those darn things believe me, it will be free of charge.  

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Never?

Daily writing prompt
Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done.
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Ah, yes, the good old to-do list. I have done them at various time in my life. I did them when I had a busy day planned. I would list up to about 8 things I wanted to do on that particular day. There would be a lot of basic things I needed to do but none of them were like life changing things to do. I don’t know if there was anything on those lists that never got done. I may not have gotten it done that day, but then I would do it the next day. I don’t read many of the responses to these prompts, but I can’t even begin to fathom what might be on a list that never gets done. I suppose if on your to do list is to mug an old lady and rob her of the money she is carrying, then hopefully that never gets done. I guess the other question would be how many times do you put this particular thing on your to do list before you realize that you are never going to do it. Would you write this thing on 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, or 100 to do lists before you would say ” What the hell am I doing? I am never going to do that. Here is example of what I would consider a pretty typical to do list. 1. Clean golf clubs (Now you know that one is getting done). 2. Clean golf shoes. 3. Go Grocery shopping. 4. Cut the grass. 5. Go to Apple Store to have them look at phone. 6. Clean spare bedroom closet. 7. Take car to carwash. 8. Make Dinner Reservation for next Saturday. Now if any of that does not get done on that day then the next day it will. This is not goal planning. It is a to do list. What would a list look like that would never get done. 1. Play the lottery until you are homeless. 2. Water the lawn until it becomes a swamp, or they take you away. 3. Put a new addition on the house, all by yourself. 4. Take as many showers as it takes to make drying off a painful experience where your prune like skin is just peeling off. 5. Try to do 10,000 tweets in one day. 6. Contribute your life savings to the Donald Trump defense fund. 7. Try to jog back and forth across the country as many times as Forrest Gump did. 8. Last but not least go to an all you can eat buffet and continue eating until they have to call the police. Now there is a to-do list that is never going to get done. At least, I hope so. The only one I have a doubt about is the 1st one.

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Things I Like To Eat

Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite thing to cook?
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I feel compelled to answer this question since I am the house cook. Since I love food, I like to cook just about everything. There are only two things that I do not like to eat. One thing I refuse to eat under any circumstances even if this was served at someone’s home is liver. I would have to be rude and just refuse to eat it. I cannot even stand the smell of it. Liver and Onions, what a horrible thing to do to an onion. I probably would not eat other organ food, but it is much less common. The other food I do not like but will eat it is coconut. If someone serves coconut cream pie for dessert, I will eat it and not put up a fuss. I know this is a strange one, but I just do not care for coconut. Other than that, I like EVERYTHING. One of my favorite things to do is to make sauces and dressings. I go crazy and put almost everything I can think of when I make sauces for meat or chicken or seafood. Any time I make a sauce or dressing, I always put either lemon juice or ketchup in it. Any kind of red sauce, spaghetti, steak, barbecue or a salsa both are going in. Lemon juice just seems to perk up any sauce and ketchup with its sweetness seem to cancel out the tartness of the lemon juice and vinegar that goes into most of these concoctions. Once in a while I will get a compliment on one of these sauces or dressing and they will want to know the recipe. Isn’t that a joke. By the time I am done, sometimes I don’t know half the stuff that is in them, let alone the amount. Doing a pork shoulder is one of my favorite things to cook. Anything that you can do low and slow, and I do mean low and slow. I will put some kind of dry rub on the pork and then do it at 220 for about 12 to 14 hours. Pulled pork with slaw and barbecue sauce, yummy. Anytime I grill chicken, boneless pork chops, and steak I pre-salt and apply Montreal Steak seasoning to whatever cuts I am grilling that morning. This so-called dry brine makes all the cuts very tender and delicious. Grilled portobello mushrooms is another one of my favorites. Lots of olive oil and again Montreal Steak seasoning and they are outstanding. Sliced on top of a Ceasar Salad and you have got yourself a meal. Finally, I love doing skinless chicken tenders, green peppers and onions tossed in olive oil and you guessed it, Montreal Steak seasoning, then grilling them and serving them in soft flour tortillas. This could go on and on, but I love to cook just about everything. The most important thing is to cook to taste. You gotta love it or why bother.

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Pirates Morning Report: Heading To Spring Training

The month of January did see the Pirates make one significant free agency signing. That is saying something considering how slow the free agent market is moving. We are about 7 to 10 days from the opening of spring training and there are many top and middle free agents still out there and unsigned. The Pirates can still make a big move especially in the outfield but will they? Everyone wants to talk about their starting rotation and signing one more guy, but I am comfortable with what they have. I was surprised they released Max Kranick. I thought he might be given a chance at being in the rotation after his Tommy John surgery. As thin as the Pirates appear to be in starting pitching, they obviously felt that Kranick was not the answer, releasing him to be picked up by the Mets. Nothing against Kranick but hopefully the Pirates are right.

Right now, the Pirates have 9 starting pitchers on the 40 man roster. From most likely to least likely to make the rotation they are, Mitch Keller, Martin Perez, Marco Gonzalas, Quinn Priester, Luis Ortiz, Bailey Falter, Roansy Contreras, Jackson Wolf, and Braxton Ashcroft. The top 4 non roster pitchers are Paul Skenes, Anthony Solometo Jarred Jones and Bubba Chandler. It would be shocking if the last 3 made the rotation this year but Skenes is expected to make his debut this year but unlikely at the start of the season. This count does not include J T Brubaker and Mike Burrows both expected to return from what else, Tommy John surgery, during 2024 but who knows? The Pirates do have 15 bodies for the 5 spots. I am not too sure a free agent starter is necessary. The two most interesting pitchers in this group are Roansy Contreras and Jackson Wolf. There has not been much of a word about Contreras, so you have to wonder if his career is shot. Jackson Wolf was acquired from San Diego when the Pirates sent Rich Hill and Ji Man Choi to the Padres. If nothing else this competition will make for some good discussion. You cannot really say that about the outfield. Suwinski and Reynolds are solid but that is about it. I have discussed the pathetic options in right field before and am not going to waste any more time on this. If the Pirates go into the season with this group, you can kiss this season goodbye. There are many competent outfielders on the market right now that are very reasonable. The only other move I would like to see the Pirates make would be to bring back Carlos Santana. I do not think it is critical, but it would be nice to see that glove back at first base especially in the late innings.

The Pirates did sign Aroldis Chapman to a 1 year deal. This signing does give me some optimism for the season. Hopefully he has one more year in the tank and can stay healthy. It gives great depth to a bullpen that looked pretty solid before they signed him. He has great experience in meaningful games down the stretch. The one knock on him is he has lost some of his command. That can work to his advantage with batters being antsy in the box with him still wielding that 100 MPH fastball. He was one of the premier closers but seems to have settle in well as a setup man. Again, if everybody can stay healthy this bullpen looks scary good. This may be an oversimplification but just get a goddamn outfielder please to make this team complete. I do not care if it is a centerfielder, moving Suwinski to right, or a solid fielding right fielder with a good bat. There should be some great infield competition and will there be a big-time bat immerge from that battle. The Pirates are getting ready to head to spring training.

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Try Not To, But It Is Human Nature

Bloganuary writing prompt
What do you complain about the most?
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I try not to complain about anything, because let’s face it, what good does it do? When we criticize something is that a form of complaining? Complain is defined as expressing dissatisfaction or annoyance about something. Criticize is defined as indicating the faults of (someone or something) in a disapproving way. Looks like it is just a matter of semantics to me. Saying you criticize something makes you look more intelligent than saying you complained about something. I have never heard the phrase constructive complaining. People seem like they really do not want to complain or be critical. How many times have you heard someone say, I don’t mean to complain but, or I don’t mean to be critical but. If we don’t want to do it, why do we do it? Is it because we do so many other things in life, that we do not want to do, that complaining is the one thing that in a way, we secretly enjoy. Sometimes complaining or being critical does seem to cause change. Whether that change is good or bad can be left up to debate. Some things that you complain about do go away. I mentioned using DVR to watch all sporting events and my complaining about all the commercials went away, because now I just fast forward through them. Some complaints you keep to yourself. Bad service at a restaurant is one that I keep to myself, because I do not want anything happening to my food and I get great joy in leaving a ridiculously small tip. I feel this is always better than leaving no tip at all, because the waiter knows, you know enough to leave a tip, it is just 3% of the bill. The things I complain the most about are the weather, traffic, slow play in golf, ruling bodies in sports, prices, crowds, holidays, and myself. If we lived in a perfect world, then the last one, myself, would be the only thing left to complain about. Complaining about other things is a way to give oneself a break from all the self-deprecation. I am definitely going to start complaining more and be a real pain in the ass for the rest of my life. Thank you oh great writing prompt, bloguary or whatever the hell your called. You have just turned me into a complaining asshole.

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Sports I Watch And Play

Bloganuary writing prompt
What are your favorite sports to watch and play?
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Finally, a prompt that I can sink my teeth into. The sports I watch are baseball, the Pirates which I blog on the Pirates Morning Report, pro football just the Steelers, college football, which is my favorite, and last but not least, golf both the women’s and the men’s tour. I do not watch the old farts tour. I do watch the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, but I do not watch college basketball during the regular season. I watch the baseball and the football playoffs. I do not watch the NHL which I do not even consider a sport and I quit watching pro basketball when fast break basketball was replaced with the triangle offense or whatever it is called. The 80’s with the Celtics and the Lakers was the end of an era and the game became very boring. I used to watch boxing but not anymore. I do not even know the name of the heavyweight champ. That just shows you how times have changed. Back through the 70’s the heavyweight boxing champion was the most revered sports figure in the world. I love college football because of the atmosphere and the enthusiasm of the crowds and the students. I do not even mind all the bowl games, although even I think they should get to a more workable number say around 25 or 30. College football is just much more entertaining than the pro game. There is more running and the defenses in the college game are not quite as good as in the pros so you see more scoring and great offensive plays. It is a much more up tempo game. Seeing a game played before 100,000+ fans is something else. I love baseball because of the skill set that the players have to have. There are very few specialty positions in baseball. You have to run field and hit in order to play that game. The game has the most strategy of any sport. The game has speeded up with the new rule changes that has made baseball a much more entertaining product. I watch all events on the DVR. Speed up those annoying commercials and you don’t have to listen to the even more annoying announcers. Thank God for DVR, it may be man’s greatest invention.

I love to play golf. I played 148 rounds this year which came close to breaking my one-year record of 150. I find it to be the most fascinating game of all. With the exception of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, it seems like every player has succumbed to the power of golf. What I mean by that, is they get to a certain point in the progression of their game or round and then become totally dysfunctional. They cannot perform a shot or putt that they have done literally thousands of times due to the set of circumstances at the present time. I do not care what you call it, choking, nerves, or the yips, it seems to get a hold of every golfer that has played the game. Some players make a recovery from this total incompetence and go on to win the tournament. Other players do not recover during the round and their careers are shortly over. At this time in my life, it is the one thing I would most like to figure out. I have been searching for that answer for over 30 years. I will never give up, but I wouldn’t bet money that I will find that answer. It is the one reason that I do not mind winter. It gives me a little time away from the problem. If I never do figure it out, I still know that I just love playing this mystifying game.

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Would Not Do

Bloganuary writing prompt
What would you do if you won the lottery?
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There was another prompt I believe that said what would you do if you found or were given a million dollars. Lottery pay outs are much more than a million dollars, usually. It is a lot harder to say what you would not do, without saying what the alternative might be. I find it more interesting to think about what you would not too with that much money. Most Jackpots, the winner wins around 30 to 60 million or more but let’s keep it in that ballpark. I would not invest it. I would not give it to charity. I would not buy a very expensive car over 100,000 dollars. I would not buy a million-dollar home. I would not give to any political candidate or party. I would not join a country club. I would not join any type of exclusive club. I would not give it to any college or university. I would not donate to a hospital. I would not start up a business or buy a company. I would not buy any commercial property. I would not buy an airplane. I would not buy a boat. I would not defer any money. I would not make any sports bets. I would not have more than one house. I would not put in a pool. There are probably other things I would not do but for right now I cannot think of any. That still leaves plenty of things that you can do with the money, that I am not going to divulge. All of this is a moot point because I never play the lottery. Come to think of it, I worked for 44 years and never played the lottery. Let me tell you what I did do with all the money I saved. Just kidding.

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The Dwarf Dachshund

Bloganuary writing prompt
If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?
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Right now, I have an 18-year-old senile cat that I wish I could make him understand anything. The good news is that he still knows what a litter pan is for. There is no question that the one pet that I wish I could have made him understand one thing, was the dwarf Dachshund I had during the late eighties and most of the nineties. We had 3 dogs at the time. A Doberman female, a male Yorkie named Casey, who was about 10 lbs. and this 4 lb. male Dachshund by the name of Wendell. They were all neutered of course, and everybody got along just fine. There was just one problem. Every time you gave the male Yorkie and a bath, this goofy Dachshund acted like the Yorkie was a female in heat and tried to hump him constantly for about 2 to 3 days. Now this was no problem for the Yorkie, because all he would do is jump on the couch, since Wendell was too small to be able to get on the couch. Wendell would just whine and cry at the base of the couch nonstop, hopping up and down. The worst part would be at night when Wendell would be in his room whining and howling all night, pining away for the dog. Needless to say, I tried everything to not have Wendell act that way after Casey got a bath. I would try different shampoos, ranging from some that really stunk to ones that had no smell. In fact, anytime a drug salesman had a new shampoo I would always tell them sure I will try that, leading them to believe that I would possibly sell this shampoo at my clinic. No, I was just trying to find one that would not make Wendell behave that way after Casey got a bath. I tried other things, too. I would bath them together. I would take Casey to the clinic, bath him about 7:30 am, not bring him home until 9 pm, but as soon as I got him home Wendell would be all over him, humping away. I took them both to a groomer to get bathed and that made no difference. It would be all over in about 2-3 days, but it was a miserable 3 days. Wendell never did this at any other time. After about a year of trying all these things, the solution was to hardly ever give poor Casey a bath. There is no question that if I could have made Wendell understand one thing, it would be that giving a dog a bath does not turn him into a female in heat.

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Changing The Time

Bloganuary writing prompt
If you could un-invent something, what would it be?
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If I could un-invent something it would be changing the time twice a year. Who thought this was a good idea? I really do not care which way we go. At first it will seem a little weird, but it won’t have near the effect that moving the clock around does, when time has not moved. If we remain on standard time, on the first day of summer, it will be light around 4 am. If we stay on daylight savings time, then on the first day of winter it will still be dark around 9 am. I think we would all adjust fine to either situation and no more fall back or spring forward bullshit. I guess 2 states Hawaii and Arizona do stay on standard time year around. Yes, Trump supporters Hawaii is a state just like Alaska. Supposedly Congress passed some law that said we would remain on the same time year around, but it got lost somewhere never to be brought up since. There is lots of evidence out there that says changing the clock the way we do does have negative effects on the physiological state of our body. Nobody seems to care, which is not a surprise. Some experts say that Daylight Savings Time does save energy. Fine, then let us just keep daylight saving time. I have heard that another solution would be to move the clocks ahead only 30 minutes this March and then keep that time from now on. That seems like a reasonable compromise. I feel fairly certain that none of this is going to happen. Newscasts will still be able to wrap things up by saying don’t forget to move your clocks tonight before you go to bed, probably for next 20 years. That will be about the length time until somebody in Congress finds that bill again.

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Clutter

Bloganuary writing prompt
Where can you reduce clutter in your life?
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Clutter is defined as a crowded or confused mass or collection. First of all, I find that an interesting definition. Most of the time I think of clutter as things or inanimate objects. How do things become confused? Is the definition stating that we are confused about what is making up the clutter. Are we confused because we don’t know how it all got there? Most clutter takes a while to really get our attention. Not a lot of us will go out to a Goodwill or similar store and buy a bunch of cheap things we do not need, dumping them in the garage and/or basement to take up a lot of space. There is no question the number one place for clutter is the garage. How many houses have you seen that have two or more car garages and the cars have to sit in the driveway because the garages are filled with clutter. The number 2 place is the basement. Then you have people that have clutter EVERYWHERE. Clutter does have a positive quality about it because it gives the people in the mental health field something to think about. Why do some people have so much clutter and they cannot get rid of it. There can be another type of clutter. Maybe this is what the question means and is even why the definition has the word confused in it. That is the clutter of the brain. I am going to give this my own cute little name by calling it clutter thoughts. Clutter thoughts seem to happen at night when you are trying to go to sleep and when you are doing something, like driving a car unfortunately, that does not require a lot of concentration. What is my answer to the question after all of that? The clutter thoughts are something that I can reduce but I do a pretty good job of that most of the time. As far as clutter objects are concerned I have practically zero, so you cannot get any lower than that. I have a few family pictures and I do have a lot of books, but they are all in bookshelves and in a nice particular order by author and type. There is one room in the basement that we will need to work on over the next two weeks. Once we get that taken care of and by continuing to meditate my clutter quotient should be just about 0.