How Can I Beat the Yips? Pros and Cons of different techniques

If you’ve ever stood over a three-footer and felt your hands tighten, your wrists twitch, or that sinking feeling that you just can’t release the putter, you’ll know exactly what golfers mean when they talk about the yips in golf.

It often starts with a bit of nervous tension walking onto the green. Suddenly, the short putts you used to enjoy become something you dread. Instead of looking forward to holing out, you’re just hoping you don’t miss. Confidence drains away and you feel the fear.

In this article, we’ll look at what you can do to beat the yips and the pros and cons of each approach.

As you may or may not know, I’m a Mental Performance Coach, EFT Practitioner and Hypnotherapist so my expertise lies in the mental and emotional aspects of the yips.  It’s my aim to give you a balanced view as it's not usually a one size fits all approach that works.. it’s often a combination.

1. Technical / Mechanical Adjustments

Most golfers’ first instinct is to make a change to their stroke:

• Change your grip 
• Switch hands or stance (to force a fresh motor pattern)
• Adjust the routine (shorter waggle, new trigger)
• Try new equipment (different putter, heavier/lighter head)
• Strip it back and rebuild from short practice putts

✅ Pro: Can stop the twitch or jerk straight away, at least for a while

✅ Pro: Gives you something new to think about, which can take your mind off the nerves.

✅ Pro: Feels like a fresh start, the novelty alone can help.

❌ Con: Often only works short term before the old yip creeps back in.

❌ Con: Doesn’t get to the root cause of the problem.

❌ Con: Too much tinkering can make you overthink the stroke even more.

2. Psychological / Mental Skills

Sports psychology adds tried and tested tools to calm nerves and sharpen your focus:

• Breathing to release tension in the hands and shoulders.
• Mindfulness to stop the spiral of “what if I miss again?”
• Pre-putt routines that anchor rhythm and consistency.
• Visualisation of a smooth stroke and seeing the ball drop.
• External focus—aiming at the back of the hole instead of micromanaging wrist angle.

3. Cognitive & Behavioural Approaches

Some golfers try to “talk themselves through it”:

• Reframing thoughts: swap “don’t yip this” for “smooth roll"
• Cue words: “trust it,” “commit,” “roll it in”
• Gradual pressure exposure: practising short putts with friends watching, or keeping score, to normalise the nerves

✅ Pro: Shifts your focus from “don’t miss” to something more positive like “smooth and easy”

✅ Pro: A short cue word can give you a quick reset when you’re standing over the ball

✅ Pro: Training under pressure helps you get used to the nerves

❌ Con: If the deeper fear isn’t dealt with, it just feels like papering over the cracks

❌ Con: Old habits of negative self-talk are tough to break with words alone

❌ Con: Jumping straight into pressure without support can actually make the yips worse

4. Mind–Body Tools (Where the Big Shifts Happen)

The approaches above are useful, but many golfers find the real breakthroughs come from tools that reset the subconscious and the nervous system:

• Hypnosis: re-programmes the associations that trigger the jerk or freeze
• EFT tapping: calms the fight-or-flight response, reducing the emotional charge linked to short putts

✅ Pro: Works directly with the part of you that feels the fear and freezes ie the subconscious and nervous system

✅ Pro: Lowers your fear, frustration, and embarrassment tied to short putts

✅ Pro: Often leads to the biggest and most lasting improvements

❌ Con: Usually needs guidance at first as it’s not as simple as swapping putters

❌ Con: Can feel a bit unusual if you’ve only ever worked on technique

❌ Con: Takes commitment, you can’t just try it once and expect the problem to vanish

These don’t just patch over the problem. They can get to the root of why your body locks up in the first place which in turn enables you to lower your nerves, stop the fear taking over and support the technical and mechanical changes that you also make.  

5. What I See

Golfers I’ve worked with using a mix of hypnosis, EFT, and performance psychology consistently report:

• Personal best rounds after months of frustration
• Playing “surprisingly well” in competition when they expected to struggle
• Lower handicap
• Enjoy their game more 

Conclusion

So, what’s the best tool for overcoming the yips?

• Technical tweaks can give short-term relief
• Mental skills and routines build resilience.. if you rehearse them
• But lasting change usually comes from addressing the subconscious patterns that trigger the freeze

If you’re struggling with the yips, feel like you've tried everything.. drop me a message to see if there's anything else you can try.  There's really non need to let them ruin your game.

[email protected]