After the round in the media center, he said the problem with his full swing started when he changed his swing and set up in 2011. Today, he still feels uncomfortable over the ball with his balance and can’t hit the shot until it feels right.

“I’m having this trouble pulling the trigger. I changed my setup starting at the Masters last year. I was trying to get more forward, trying to get the back swing more up. And because my balance at the setup is totally different, I don’t feel comfortable,” Na said.

His coach said that his body is having a hard time adjusting to a new feeling over the ball. He can’t pull the trigger because he does not feel fully comfortable with the new set up, which is common when you make a big change in your mechanics. This is one form of the yips—when you can’t take the club back. I’ve worked with players on this very issue—they are “stuck” over the ball. They can’t progress into the shot, because their mind is too caught up into feeling perfect over the ball.

“I’m trying to get comfortable with my waggles. It’s usually a little waggle, half waggle, little waggle, half waggle, and boom, supposed to pull the trigger. But if it doesn’t work, I’ve got to go in pairs. So it’ll go four; and if it doesn’t work, it’ll go six; and after that, just? There’s a lot going on in my head,” Na said.

And to make matters worse, Na seems to be overly ritualistic with his routine. He has to take his waggles in pairs. This is not uncommon for players to have a specific routine with a certain number of waggles. But I think this only makes it harder to get over the yips with pulling the trigger.

And then you add the fact that he’s in the last group of the Player’s Championship and everyone is watching what’s he’s going through. The stress of trying to win added to the fact that millions are watching him fight himself over the ball makes it even harder. It’s forcing him to back off when it does not feel right.

“I’m not being nice to myself, trust me. I’m ripping myself. But you know, there’s so much on the line that I just have to sometimes back off. Or I’ll force myself to take it back, and on the way down I’ll come up and pull up and go over the top. As ugly as it is and as painful as it is, believe me, it’s really tough for me, and I’m trying.”

But he still managed to shoot 68 and 12 under par for three rounds at the Players. Here’s the good news: He knows once he pulls the trigger, the shot is going where he’s looking. So his yips are confined to his set up, waggles, and take away. So technically he does not have the full-swing yips. He has the set up or take away yips.

“It’s tough, especially when you’re on the clock and you have to hit within a certain 40 seconds first it’s a minute. So there’s more added pressure. And only the whole world is watching, so there’s a lot more pressure there, too. It’s hard, but you know, I’m swinging it well, so if I trust it and pull the trigger, my ball is kind of going where I’m looking, which is great, and also I’m rolling the ball great,” Na said.

It’s going to be interesting what happens in the final round. Will Na overcome the yips with his routine? Can he fight himself one more round and win?

Here’s the odd part about her miss: Kim made birdies on both the 16th and 17th holes and had a one-shot lead going to the 18th hole but couldn’t make a routine tap-in. She said that she was experiencing a lot of nerves on the back nine, particularly the 18, “Well, on 18, I was nervous the whole way, obviously on the Back 9, but I think I executed good shots, and I hit many good putts. And on 18, you know, I wanted to make the putt with the right speed, and I think I’ve done very well. But coming up to it I tried to take my time, and you know, same routine,” said Kim. But doing the same routine does not guarantee you’ll make the putt, especially if you tighten up just slightly at impact.

So Kim had the momentum going into the 18th hole. You’d think she was riding a confidence high. But thoughts of winning her first major champion after she makes a short putt can cause even the top athletes to feel anxious or tense. In-Kyung Kim went on to the playoffs, but couldn’t shake off the 18-hole easy miss. She was unable to focus in the moment and was hard on herself for the past mistake, “and on the playoff hole, you know, it’s just hard to kind of focus on what’s going on right now because I was still a little bit bummed what happened on 18, honestly.”

Did another top athletes choke under pressure? Did Kim tighten up at the wrong time? It’s certainly not easy trying to win your first major. Just ask Rory McIlroy. Performing under pressure can even detail best athletes in the world. In-Kyung Kim did respond with confidence knowing she will have more chances to close out the win, “It was a great experience, and sometimes you have to close to win the tournament. I don’t know, sometimes things happen, and it’s kind of tough because it’s Nabisco, and hopefully I’ll have better or more chances.”

Just so happens that Tiger gets his groove back this week and wins the Bay Hill Invitational. Ernie finishes tied for 5th place. Hope Els gets a special invitation to the Masters in a couple weeks as he deserves it.

I know Tiger has been working on his speed control on the greens and actually focusing on good speed, especially after the first round when he had two three putts. And it showed with his results…

“I had really good control of my speed today. As I said yesterday when I was done is that I didn’t really concentrate on my speed as much as I should have; hence, I had two 3 putts yesterday, and that wasn’t going to be the case today. I went out there and really focused on my speed, made sure that I had perfect speed every putt, and consequently, I made some putts,” said Woods. And I don’t think he made any three putts the second day.

If you want to eliminate 3-putts, the fastest way is to work on your speed and touch on the greens. Last Friday, I was working with a student who has the yips with his putter. We talked about how to make the speed more automatic—one less thing to worry about when you are putting. When you are comfortable with your speed control, it’s easier to free up your putting stroke.

Back to Tiger… I noticed he was doing a lot more lag putting and less charge putting the final three days. The greens were super fast. Obviously lagging is easier to do when you have the 36-hole lead. But I think making too three-putts has held Tiger Back the last few months.

Again on Saturday Woods focused on the right speed with his putting and trying to gauge the speed of each green. When he’s putting well, he’s deadly inside 10 feet.

“I just relied on my lag putting. Just get up there and just lag putt it, because the greens were crusty, and they are all different speeds. That’s the difficult thing about it is that you have to adjust on the greens; every green?? the first six greens were all different speeds. So it was quite a test trying to get the feel right, even when you’re playing conservatively and you put yourself away from the flag,” Woods said after the third round.

With better speed control and touch on the greens you can eliminate 3-putts and also pick better lines. I suggest that you should spend half of your putting practice focusing on speed control and touch. When you have good touch, it’s easier to swing the putter freely. But unlike Tiger Woods, I want your speed control to come naturally from diligent practice with your touch—you should not have to “force it” or think too much about it when you play.

Els jacked a 5-foot birdie putt on hole No. 16. And then he finished the round with two bogeys including a 4-foot par putt on number 18 that would have gotten him in the playoff. Instead he finished tied for 5th and out of the playoff.

Many golf experts think that Els’ putting woes have hurt his game for the last two years. Some people have written that Els is another victim of the yips. But every golfer struggles with pressure putts on the last hole of regulation.

Luke Donald, the eventual winner of the tournament said putting is more mental than physical. “Ernie’s obviously struggled on the greens more than anything,” said Donald. “Putting is very mental. Hopefully he can figure it out.”

Els said he was confident on the last hole—that he felt he would make the par putt to get into the playoff. “I just pulled it a bit,” said Els. Was the pulled putt cause by the yips or was it due the pressure of the moment? Only Els knows what really happened to him on the last two holes of the tournament. But we know a lot was at stake for Els besides winning a golf tournament. He also needed the win to qualify for the 2012 Masters.

Els said on his website after the tough finish, “But that putt on 18…well, it kind of leaves a nasty taste. It’s a difficult green, but I should have made it. I was trying to jam it in there and I just pulled it, simple as that.”

He’s a professional and he approached the meltdown with class on his website. He said he was proud of himself for getting into contention. His aim is to try to win every time he tees it up. “I’ve said throughout my career that whenever I tee it up I always play to win, so any time I get the opportunity to do that and don’t get the job done, obviously I’m disappointed and angry with myself. That pretty much summed up my emotions on Sunday evening,” Els said.

Trying to focus on the positive, Els said reminds us that it was the best performance on Tour he’s had since 2010. “It’s a tough deal, but I have to take stock and try to see the positives. This was one of my best performances on the PGA Tour since 2010. I drove the ball well, topped the greens in regulation for the week and I was right up there in the number of birdies made. I made some nice putts, too. All you can do, as I said before, is keep playing well, keep putting in the work and keep putting yourself in a position to win.”

Yips or no yips with the putter, it’s good to see Ernie back in contention to win a tournament. Maybe he will transform his disappointment into a renewed career and a Masters’ Win.

Does Tiger Woods have the yips?

One example: During the final round of the AT&T National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, Tiger was only four shots behind the leader in third place and paired with Phil Mickelson. Traditionally he has played very well when paired with Mickelson, but not this Sunday.

Instead, the putter let Tiger down at Pebble Beach. Let me correct myself. Tiger’s mental toughness was leaking oil in the form of badly missed putts. Does Tiger need a sports psychologist? He couldn’t sniff the hole from long distance and he jacked five putts from inside five feet to shoot an uncharacteristic 75 in the final round, all the while Mickelson was lighting it up on the green. Phil shot a 64 and charged past the fourth round leader Wi. Tiger must have felt he got lapped.

Maybe Tiger needs a reality check? Earlier in the week Tiger said he was hitting good putts, but not making his share. “I’m hitting good putts. I’m not displeased with my putting at all. I just didn’t hit the ball in the right spots to give myself the right looks. If we were putting smooth greens, it would be a totally different deal. I know I can put those in all day. But when you’re putting on these, you have to put the ball below the hole to try to be aggressive and take out some of the movement,” said Woods.

Is Woods making excuses by blaming the smoothness of the greens? Great putter think they can putt on any surface. I’m wondering if he is hiding from the truth of the matter… Hitting good putts is a good start, but you have to read the greens and hit them with the right speed for the putts to drop too.

Another clue Tiger feeds us about his putting form…

He’s admitted to tinkering with the short club. Is he too confused between his ears? When asked if he dad knew his putting stroke better than everyone and could fix it with one sentence, he agreed to adopting too many putting styles. “I go back to a lot of my dad’s teachings. I’ve written a lot of it down over the years, just from memory of what he used to teach me. I tried to do different putting styles under Butch and Hank, but when push comes to shove, I revert back. And when I have to make them, it’s a must make putt, I revert back to a lot of my dad’s teachings. It’s something I know; it’s natural, and it’s worked in the past,” said Woods.

You be the judge. Does Tiger have the yips? I don’t think so. But the putting errors multiply when he’s under pressure. I think that’s he’s had too many cooks in the kitchen. Translation: he’s adopted too many putting styles over the years because of the changes in instructors. When he’s under pressure, he reverts back to an older style of putting his dad taught him. This can’t be good for his trust in his stroke. And being stuck between two or three styles of putting can’t be good for his consistency. And that’s the problem in my opinion. Tiger, please call me so we can get you over the hump.

The idea is that wrist movement is less with the long putter and you use the larger muscles when putting. Translation: anxiety will not affect the bigger muscles as much as the smaller ones. “When you’ve had the yips, you want to keep the small muscles out of your stroke,” said David Leadbetter, who coached Langer.

Bernard Langer was able to reinvent his putting by changing his method and changing the putter he uses. Sometimes changing something in your game can make you feel like a new person. You don’t have any bad experiences with a new putter. It’s harder to label yourself as having the yips with a new technique.

So is the belly putter a magic wand that brings success to all golfers who hold it? Are golfers using the belly putter as a crutch?

Keegan Bradley, who was the first to win a major on the PGA tour with the belly putter, says it is not an instant cure. “I hate when people think that the belly putter is a crutch for us to putt with.  For me it’s just a better way to putt.  I always considered myself a good putter before I had a belly putter… I’ve seen guys grab it and it looks like they’ve never played golf before.  It’s not like it’s something you grab it and you automatically are one of the best putters on Tour, which is a huge myth,” Bradley says.

So for those who are looking for a quick fix, the belly putter may be the answer. However, Bradley says that adjusting to a new putter takes a lot of practice and dedication to perfect. “I hate the negative press the belly putter gets because it’s not some magic thing that you grab and you can just the first week out you win.  It takes hours and hours of practice, and I hope people realize that.”

If you’re experiencing the putting yips, you may want to consider improving your mental game. Switching putters, changing your grip, or changing your putting style might help you temporarily, but it’s only a band-aid to the real problem. What goes on inside your head when you stand over a putt will have a major impact on your game.

Great putters instill confidence by developing a preshot routine for putting that simplifies their approach to the game. Lastly, great putters develop confidence by committing to the decisions they make on the green. Great putters develop a solid foundation for putting confidence by generating competence in several areas.

What is it about your putting method that gives you confidence? Can you repeat your stroke? Do you hit putts solidly time after time? Can you gauge distance accurately? Do you read greens and see the line well? Mastering the physical and mental requirements of putting provides players with a sense of competence, which can develop self-confidence in the putting game.

Confidence flows from mastering the skills that lead to competence. This means you should practice your putting with the intent to master the skills that support your putting confidence. The following are some areas that provide a base of support for developing putting confidence.

1. Confidence From Your Practice. Most golfers are not excited about practicing their putting. Professionals spend at least one to two hours per day on the putting greens. This may not reflect what truly great putters do because they only practice enough to retain feel and reinforce their confidence. The key is that practice is vital to maintaining and reinforcing your competence.

2. Confidence From Your Pre-Putt Routine. Another foundation for confidence is to develop a consistent pre-putt routine. The purpose of a routine is to lock your mind into the cues that allow you to focus on execution and nothing else. Your routine should help you focus on the task, believe in your method, and trust your decisions, which lead to a smooth and rhythmic stroke.

3. Confidence From Experience and Competition. Confidence can come from playing “under the gun” in a competitive golf tournament. You can get a big boost of confidence when you sink that important putt during a club championship or going after your best round ever. Many amateur players exaggerate their poor putting in past rounds and let one bad putting round affect their confidence. This is an error in attitude.

4. Confidence From Your Commitment. Confidence comes from trusting your decisions and skills when playing. Confidence flows from being clear in your mind about what you want to do and committing to that plan. Indecision is a putter’s worst enemy. Great putters prepare themselves mentally and physically for every putt. They know the importance of staying committed to their plan and believing that everything they have done to prepare ensures putting success. Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Bob Charles, and Gary Player all talk of the importance of being totally committed to their intended purpose or goal. That purpose is to get the ball into the hole as efficiently as possible.

5. Confidence From Your Warm up. A practice routine before play can help you instill confidence. Do you step out of the car and walk to the first tee without even testing the speed of the greens? A warm up is an excellent time to develop a feel for the green. You want to make a few short putts in a row. This helps you gain confidence by seeing, hearing, and feeling putts fall before going to the first tee. Take advantage of a warm up by developing your touch and feel before walking to the first tee.

Okay, so John downloaded my Anti-Yips Putting Drills and has some mild success at home in practice working on the drills to free up his putting. However, when he goes to the course, he still can’t putt with total freedom. John says,

“I downloaded your suggestions for Anti-Yips Practice Putting Drills, and I’m trying to absorb and practice your drills, so far it works for a short period at home, but when I go to the course and try to putt I am still unable to put smoothly.”

He thinks it will take longer to change his attitude with putting as his yips have been going on for a long time. And he’s right. If you have the putting yips, it takes a while to rewire your brain so you can putt freely again.

But John, like so many other golfers who are not having fun with a balky putter, feels like quitting the game because it’s so frustrating for him:

“I have played for a long time and was a pretty good player, but now I have no confidence because of my putting and it has really affected my whole game. I was a club professional for a few years and could play pretty good, putting was not my strongest attribute, but I still managed to maintain a low handicap. I am retired now and play on a regular basis, but am getting so frustrated that I feel like quitting the game that I love so deeply, I just hoped to enjoy the game again.”

How can John take his free putting to the golf course? First, anyone can putt freely on the practice green and putt relaxed and smooth when it does not count. In most cases, golfers put pressure on themselves when they go to the golf course and for many different reasons. This causes them to stay stuck in the yips cycle.

But in my opinion, the pressure golfers feel is often hidden from their conscious mind. They are not aware of the real issue that prevents them from putting freely. For example, I worked with a club pro from California who had the yips. His main pressure was the need to be respected as a teaching pro. He felt others expected him to be a good player as well as a fine teacher. So the real issue was the fear of embarrassment and avoiding a bad reputation as a teaching pro. Most of the time, these fears are irrational.

So to take you game to the golf course, you have to understand the “core” issues that cause you to feel pressure and expectation. Working one-on-one with a trained mental coach or golf psychology expert can help you uncover the fears and take your practice game to the course as you will not find a book to solve this problem.

He attributes his great play to his putting and attitude for the week. “Obviously to win any tournament, let alone a major, you have to putt well overall. I don’t know the exact stats of my putting, but I’m sure they are pretty good…. And in my round where I shot 64, I made three or four really good par putts that are burned in my memory right now. And I just played steady all week, all the way around, and most importantly in my attitude, my demeanor was where it needed to be, which is what you have to be like to win a tournament,” said Bradley.

He recently went to the long putter. Winning the PGA Championship with a belly putter, Keegan Bradley became the first player to win a major with a long putter. Many PGA Tour players have switched to the long putter because they battled the yips, most notably are Johnny Miller and Bernhard Langer.

Bradley switched to the long putter about two and a half years ago. But he had a dream of using it to win a major jokingly. “I’m also very, very proud to be the first belly putter to win a major. I remember people telling me when I first switched, they would go, ‘But nobody has ever won a major with it.’?And I remember looking at them and going, ‘I’m going to be the first one to win a major,’ just joking pretty much. It’s a surreal thing that it’s true.”

Many veteran players who have used the short putter for years have trouble switching to a long putter or belly putter. Some players have switched to overcome the putting yips including Johnny Miller. But Bradley thinks younger players can use it early in their career with no problem. “For a guy that’s 40 years old and has been playing with a short putter for 35 years, they grab that thing and it’s a bizarre feeling. For me, it was really easy. It just clicked right away. For the younger players, I think it’s easier for them to switch. I’ve been putting with the belly putter for 2 1/2 years now,” Bradley said.

Hot streaks on the PGA tour are using when a guy gets hot with his putter for a few weeks at a time. “It just seems like things are easier when you’re more relaxed. Golf is easier. Travel is easier. And the key is, whenever I’m on these streaks, my putting is above and beyond what I normally putt like,” Bradley said.

Remember, great putting involves believing “I’m confident that I can make putts!” You were once a natural putter, who simply said, “Watch me hole this!” You ultimately make the decision about where the ball will break and how much the slope affects the ball’s roll. You aim the putter head, align your body on your putting line, and launch the ball with the proper speed and effort control. Be confident that you can make putts and that the ball has a good chance of falling into the hole, but don’t expect to make every putt!

Here are some ideas to help enhance your confidence. Try these suggestions for two weeks and note any improvement in your putting.

1. Make a list of all the times that you felt “confident” during recent playing rounds. List the feelings and thoughts that promote confidence and what it felt like on the greens. Notice the feelings and emotions that occur most often and focus on those particular thoughts and feelings while you prepare for an upcoming round or competition.
2. Develop a preputt routine that is simple, consistent, and helpful when focusing positively on making putts. Overlearn your preputt routine so that it becomes automatic and provides you with stability when you feel anxious or pressured.
3. Incorporate mental discipline into your putting routine and practice sessions. Tell yourself on every putt that you will give 100 percent effort, both physically and mentally.
4. Commit yourself to excellence in reading greens and making good decisions about where you want to aim and stroke the ball, and then go ahead and do it.
5. Know that putting confidence is a long-term project that starts from the inside. The more you input positive success pictures, the more putts you make, and the larger your confidence memory bank.
6. Be confident but don’t expect to make all your putts. Be mentally tough by shrugging-off missed putts and learning to use selective memory. Do not dwell on missed putts. Always focus on the putts that you have made or are making (or the solid attempts that feel good to you), instead of the putts that miss or lip-out.

“You know I can’t really put my finger on it. I lost a lot of confidence in my putting around the turn. I didn’t really get anything going and was sort of second-guessing lines and second-guessing my speed, and on these greens you can’t do that,” explained McIlroy.

But he turned around his putting mindset and his game at the 2011 US Open where he putted great all week, making the short ones and having good touch on the greens, which I think is key to great putting.

McIlroy stated that he worked with Dave Stockton on his approach to putting and that helped him improve. They didn’t work on changing his stroke, but instead his green reading and putting routine, which means the mental game of putting. “The work that I’ve done with Dave Stockton has been more about how to approach a putt, not focusing on technique so much, more like green reading, your routine, and everything like that,” said McIlroy.

Stockton wanted to speed up his routine on the greens, not slow it down. “And people often said to me ‘we think you’re too quick on the greens’. But he thought the opposite. You’re taking too much time, why are you taking three practice strokes? Don’t take any practice strokes anymore. See the target, where I want to hit it, and just go with it.”

“If I have any sort of technical thing in my thought, in my stroke, it would just be to keep the back of my left hand going towards the target, and that’s all we really worked on. It seemed to work.”

The big take-away for me… You can’t second-guess yourself on the greens if you want to have confidence. And great putting is more about touch and your routine than mechanics.

Greg Norman

Most great players in the world–people like Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer–have a well-defined philosophy about how to approach putting. Whether you are a professional or an amateur, you too should have a philosophy of putting to guide your behavior on the course. It’s like having a game plan. Your philosophy about putting might influence your freedom when putting and thus help you avoid the yips.

Most players have one of two basic philosophies of putting. One style of putting is aggressive, with the player “charging” the cup and hitting the ball into the back of the hole, keeping the ball on its intended line. Another style is the “die” or lag method of putting. A player using this style hits the ball with just enough speed to “die” the ball into the front or side of the cup. Now, let’s examine these two styles of putting and see which one best fits your game…

An aggressive style putter thinks, “never up, never in” and strokes putts boldly enough to hold them on line. This type of putter does not worry about making a two- or three-foot putt coming back if the ball misses the hole. Conversely, a lag putter uses gravity to increase the chances of the ball falling into the hole.

Simple physics dictates that a ball is more likely to drop into the hole when it rolls over the lip of the cup if it is moving slower. Putts that are moving faster when they hit the side of the cup are not as likely to fall into the hole. The advantages of lag putting are: (1) if a putt hits a part of the hole, it has a better chance of going in, and (2) if you miss, it will be closer to the cup. Usually, a lag putter will have an easier second putt because the ball stops closer to the cup. The disadvantage of lag putting is that it is harder for a ball to stay on its intended line when traveling slower. Thus, on bumpy or spiked greens the ball will lose its line easier and stray off course.

Do You Lag or Charge?

Some great putters like Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite were advocates of lag putting, whereas other great players like Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Greg Norman prefered the “charge” style of putting.

The approach a player adopts usually depends on his or her personality, general style of play, and mental approach to the game. Players who are generally aggressive with other aspects of their game usually carry that style of play into their short game.

If you play aggressively like Greg Norman or John Daly, and shoot at pins tucked behind bunkers, cut the corners of doglegs on your tee shot, and go for par five’s in two, you most likely putt with the same boldness. You take more risks that might lead to good scoring, but you also run the risk of shooting some high numbers when the gamble doesn’t pay off. If you putt aggressively, you must have confidence in your ability to make the putt coming back. The “charge” method is a live-and-die-by-the-sword attitude.

More conservative players, who hit three woods and irons off the tee, play for the middle of the green on approach shots, and lay-up on par five holes, most likely will have the same approach on the green. A deliberate and calculating player like Nicklaus avoids the risk of hitting the ball too far past the hole. Again, there is a tradeoff. A conservative player does not take as many chances, but he may not get into trouble as much as an aggressive player. Lag putters most likely leave some putts short of the cup, but they probably three-putt less than aggressive putters.

In some situations, a die putter must charge the hole and a charge putter must lag the ball to the hole. On shorter putts, a die putter may need to hit a putt firm enough to take out any break and “hold” the ball on its line. Similarly, on very fast greens or when playing long, downhill putts, a charge putter may need to lag putt.

An aggressive player like Tiger Woods doesn’t worry about having to make a three-footer coming back. He accepts the risk of rolling the ball past the hole to give himself a better chance of making the putt. He is confident that he will make the next putt no matter where the ball stops. This attitude says “go for it” and accept what happens.

Here is one of the best players ever, who putted great under pressure, saying that your mindset determines whether you will make a putt.Attitude is everything in putting!

I want you to consider the following questions about your attitude.

1. Do you cringe when you pull the putter out of your bag on the putting green?
2. Do you think putting is the weakest part of your game and wish you were a better putter?
3. Do you miss putts in your mind before you even hit them?

In golf, two types of players exist when it comes to your putting attitude: (1) players that fear putting and (2) players who love putting. You can see these two opposing attitudes on the faces of players when the get on the green.

Players who putt with fear don’t like this part of the game. Putting is the stumbling block that is holding them back from playing good golf or rising to the next level. Fear-ridden putters dwell on negative outcomes. For the scared putter, standing over a long putt, the goal is to avoid three-putting. This result-driven negative mindset causes them to putt tentatively and defensively. Standing over the ball, the pressure of missing yet another short putt is too much, which can lead to the yips.

Players with great attitudes love the challenge of putting. They enjoy this part of the game. They approach each putt with excitement, enthusiasm, and positive emotion. When on the putting green, this is their chance to shine. Their enthusiasm for putting allows them to focus on execution and the process of making putts, which is a key to great putting.

To illustrate the importance of creating your putting attitude, I’d like to tell a story about Hollis Stacy, an LPGA player. I was doing research on career low rounds for a book I was writing. I talked to Hollis about her career low 10 under par 62 at the Safeco classic, which is a record for 18 holes on the LPGA at the time.

The first day of the tournament she shot 78 and was ready to pack her bags after the first round. She threw the putter away because she putted so poorly. She got a new putter from a friend for the second round. Hollis struggled with putting early in her career. Hollis was constantly searching for the magic cure to turn around her putting. She changed technique, putters, and her routine.

But then she realized that it wasn’t the putter or the method that was holding her back–it was the player herself. She didn’t believe in her putting and was too tentative. She knew she had to change her attitude. It was time for her to believe she was a good putter if she wanted to putt well. She made a commitment to herself that day that she was going to believe in her method. The very next round with a new putter and attitude she shot 62 and leapfrogged the field. She told me that believing in her putting allowed her to shoot a career low round 62.

I’ve talked to a lot of great putters over the years and when I was researching for the book, The Mental Art of Putting. They all agree that a powerful attitude is your best asset on the greens.

To put your very best, you want to be aware of the mental traps you might fall into or already engage in. These mental traps can lead to the putting yips with some golfers. Here are the “6 Habits of Highly Ineffective Putters” based on my work with golfers that might lead to the putting yips:

(1) “Hit and Hope” Putting

Hit and hope putters lack the confidence they need to make putts. They are like the batter in baseball that hopes he won’t strike out and embarrass himself at the plate. Players who hit and hope pray their putt stops somewhere near the hole. Hit and hope putters have trouble trusting their stroke because they are so unsure of the outcome. And worst of all, hit and hope putters know they will miss–it’s just a matter of 1how much they will miss by. They just try to “get it close” so they don’t three-putt. This is a very defensive approach to putting. Great putters never hit and hope.

(2) “Do or Die” Putting

A do or die putter focuses too much on making or missing a putt. This player is consumed with outcome. This player always knows what he is putting for and what it means. If you are a do or die putter, you say to yourself “I need to make this for my par” or “If I miss this, I’ll make another bogie”. You focus on the end result–par, birdie, bogie or whatever, this causes you to forget about execution. You forget that focusing on the process is what brings good results. Do or die putting is a tense way to putt. Working the process is what helps you make putts.

(3) “Wishy-Washy” Putting

Wishy-washy putters have trouble making decisions. They change their mind often about how to hit a putt. They can’t commit to a plan! If you are a wishy-washy putter you change your mind as you try to look for breaks in the green that are not there. Now your mind is filled with doubt. The indecision kills your ability to stroke the ball with determination. It’s impossible to make an aggressive stroke because you have not committed to a plan. Indecision and doubt are a putter’s worst enemy.

(4) “Panic” Putting

Panic putters are scared to pull the putter back. Everything about putting scares them. They are so afraid to putt that they can’t see straight. Even if this player gathers himself enough to start the putter back, his muscles are too tense to make a smooth stroke. This putter is the most prone to putting yips. If you engage in this habit, you panic because putting is the weakest part of your game and you know it. You know that if you are going to score well, you need to make putts. You’ve missed too many putts in your mind and on the green to forget–too many battle scars to putt without fear.

(5) “Pessimistic” Putting

Pessimistic putters are streaky putters. They rely on momentum and results. The momentum from early putts helps a pessimistic putter continue to make them. Pessimistic putters have the ability to run the table when they get hot early. If you are a pessimistic putter and you miss early, it’s all over for you, your putting game is shot. You say thing to yourself like: “I’m going to putt poor today.” The problem is you generalize, based on the first holes, that you are not going to put well today. It’s hard for you to stay positive. Pessimistic putters are on an emotional roller coaster.

(6) “Synthetic” Putting

Synthetic putters think too much about mechanics while putting. The left-brain, the analytical side, has this putter under its spell. For the synthetic putter, putting is not natural they think too much about how to stroke the putt. They watch the putter head during the stroke and try to adjust mid stroke. If you are a synthetic putter, you are so consumed with perfect stroke path that you lose your feel and forget about the target. Synthetic putting is the opposite of “natural” putting. If you are a synthetic putter, you are also prone to getting the putting yips.

Want to learn my entire system for a strong mental game? Check out “The Golfer’s Mental Edge” CD program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s50K65PNeBU

If that is not the full swing yips, I do not know what is… It’s hard to watch if you are a golfer.

After working with golf instructor Hank Haney, Barkley was able to make great improvements, I must confess. Click the link below see the improvements in Charles’s swing:

Charles Barkley’s golf swing before and after working with Hank Haney