Joe,
Whenever I have a short downhill sidehill putt, I get so nervous that if I miss it, it will roll way past the hole unless I baby it, so my stroke gets affected because I am afraid I might baby it too much. Any tips on how to deal with these Yips?
Dutch
Hi Dutch,
Instead of worrying about missing it, tell yourself that you are going to execute the putt to the best of your ability, and even if it does not go in, at least you can say you gave it your best shot with a decent stroke instead of missing it due to a tentative stroke. That’s what The Yips are all about, causing you to make a tentative stroke. The only way to defeat The Yips is to get determined enough to tell yourself that you are not going to make a tentative stroke, you are going to execute the proper stroke no matter what. In the meantime I would suggest you go to a couple of different practice greens and place your ball in similar downhill sidehill positions and keep practicing them until you get a better feel on how to handle them, then you can build a feeling of confidence with those types of putts, or any other tricky types of putts, especially those that you have the most trouble with.
Joe
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Joe, why don’t recreational golfers follow the all the Rules of Golf so we can all have a level playing field?
Answer: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD. Pros have the best equipment, the best custom fitting, personal swing coaches, the best caddies to give them exact yardage to the pin, and to recommend club selections, and to carry and clean their clubs, and forecaddies to find their ball. They get to practice and play every day on the world’s finest courses. Recreational golfers, for the most part, are at a disadvantage because they cannot afford these luxuries. They are not even allowed to get yardage from an inaccurate optical device, so they must make their own decisions without a caddie’s advice (it could be a penalty to ask anyone else). When pros play, it is just a day at the office, when recreational golfers play, it is a special event. Greens fees can be expensive, so recreational golfers should get their money’s worth by enjoying the game using simplified rules, and not have their round spoiled by USGA-holes. Leave the nit-picky rules for the tournaments. People who play recreational golf do not get to play as often as they would like and they look forward to the enjoyment shot making, and you can’t make good shots out of divots, or sand shots out of footprints, or having to putt thru someone else’s spike marks, or having to hit a ball with mud on it, even the pros have lift-clean-place rules sometimes, even though their courses are much nicer than yours. Do you really think your lies on public courses are likely to be as good as lies on the highly manicured Tour courses? Come on, wake up and smell the coffee. For recreational golf, you can reduce the 162 page rule book a few sentences. For example: If a technical infraction happens to occur, ask this question: Did this infraction have anything to do with gaining an unfair advantage, or did this have anything to do with the skill of shot making? If the answer to both is NO, then for recreational golf there is no need for a penalty, play on. Or, if you enjoy being punched in the nose, you can endear yourself to others (especially those who beat you) by hiding their scorecards so they can’t sign them, and then disqualifying them because they forgot to sign their scorecards.
Answer: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD. Pros have the best equipment, the best custom fitting, personal swing coaches, the best caddies to give them exact yardage to the pin, and to recommend club selections, and to carry and clean their clubs, and forecaddies to find their ball. They get to practice and play every day on the world’s finest courses. Recreational golfers, for the most part, are at a disadvantage because they cannot afford these luxuries. They are not even allowed to get yardage from an inaccurate optical device, so they must make their own decisions without a caddie’s advice (it could be a penalty to ask anyone else). When pros play, it is just a day at the office, when recreational golfers play, it is a special event. Greens fees can be expensive, so recreational golfers should get their money’s worth by enjoying the game using simplified rules, and not have their round spoiled by USGA-holes. Leave the nit-picky rules for the tournaments. People who play recreational golf do not get to play as often as they would like and they look forward to the enjoyment shot making, and you can’t make good shots out of divots, or sand shots out of footprints, or having to putt thru someone else’s spike marks, or having to hit a ball with mud on it, even the pros have lift-clean-place rules sometimes, even though their courses are much nicer than yours. Do you really think your lies on public courses are likely to be as good as lies on the highly manicured Tour courses? Come on, wake up and smell the coffee. For recreational golf, you can reduce the 162 page rule book a few sentences. For example: If a technical infraction happens to occur, ask this question: Did this infraction have anything to do with gaining an unfair advantage, or did this have anything to do with the skill of shot making? If the answer to both is NO, then for recreational golf there is no need for a penalty, play on. Or, if you enjoy being punched in the nose, you can endear yourself to others (especially those who beat you) by hiding their scorecards so they can’t sign them, and then disqualifying them because they forgot to sign their scorecards.
