Joe,
Why is it that whenever I feel confident that I will have a good round, I am usually disappointed, and the opposite is true, when I am not so confident, sometimes I have a great round? I thought it was a good thing to have confidence, how should we handle this?
Fordham
Hello Fordham,
When we are overly confident, our human tendency is to lose a bit of focus because we just assume we are going to hit good shots without properly concentrating. The next time you feel this confidence, tell yourself that you are determined to execute your main swing thoughts. Take nothing for granted. You can only play the game one shot at a time, and any one of those shots can mess up your round if you lose concentration to execute each shot fully and properly. Once you understand this, you will have fewer disappointments.
Joe
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Joe,
I used to be a pretty good putter, and I never really believed what I read about how the yips affect senior golfers until I got them myself, and my putting got worse and worse. I have tried everything, fancy putters, belly putters, chest putters, claw grips, cross handed grips, you name it and I have tried it. I got books from Pelz, Utley, Crenshaw, Watson, and other putting gurus, but I still have the yips. I am right handed and I even tried putting left handed, nothing seems to work. I am out of ideas. I need a new and different idea, is there anything else I can try?
Bernie
Hi Bernie,
You came to the right place because I have been there too. When ordinary methods do not work, you might as well try something else. Here is what I did, and it is still working. Of course there is no guarantee that this will work for you, but at least it is another thing you can try. You won’t hear this anywhere else because this is my own discovery. Take a regular length putter and grip it with your left hand really low on the shaft below the grip. Use your wrist to press the handle against your forearm and keep it there. Now add your right hand below the left with an ordinary ten finger grip. Keep your head completely still, make sure the handle is still pressing against your forearm, and use your shoulders to make the stroke. I use an open stance and center ball position for this, but you can experiment with whatever stance and ball position that works best for you. Of course you will have to bend over quite a bit, so find a comfortable stance, but if this hurts your back, get a longer putter and you will not have to bend over so far. If this works for you, consider getting your putter regripped with a much longer grip so your hands do not have to grip the skinny shaft. Let me know how this turns out.
Joe
I used to be a pretty good putter, and I never really believed what I read about how the yips affect senior golfers until I got them myself, and my putting got worse and worse. I have tried everything, fancy putters, belly putters, chest putters, claw grips, cross handed grips, you name it and I have tried it. I got books from Pelz, Utley, Crenshaw, Watson, and other putting gurus, but I still have the yips. I am right handed and I even tried putting left handed, nothing seems to work. I am out of ideas. I need a new and different idea, is there anything else I can try?
Bernie
Hi Bernie,
You came to the right place because I have been there too. When ordinary methods do not work, you might as well try something else. Here is what I did, and it is still working. Of course there is no guarantee that this will work for you, but at least it is another thing you can try. You won’t hear this anywhere else because this is my own discovery. Take a regular length putter and grip it with your left hand really low on the shaft below the grip. Use your wrist to press the handle against your forearm and keep it there. Now add your right hand below the left with an ordinary ten finger grip. Keep your head completely still, make sure the handle is still pressing against your forearm, and use your shoulders to make the stroke. I use an open stance and center ball position for this, but you can experiment with whatever stance and ball position that works best for you. Of course you will have to bend over quite a bit, so find a comfortable stance, but if this hurts your back, get a longer putter and you will not have to bend over so far. If this works for you, consider getting your putter regripped with a much longer grip so your hands do not have to grip the skinny shaft. Let me know how this turns out.
Joe
