Yips to go - hold the Mayo

May 6, 2003; Source: AnyoneForTee.com
Sports Clinic to host putting tournament for Yippers

USA. A golf tournament open only to those suffering from the dreaded putting "yips" is being hosted in Rochester, Minnesota this month, AnyoneForTee can reveal.

Sam Snead croquet-putting

The event has been organised by the Mayo Sports Clinic of Scottsdale, Arizona, in an attempt to determine the cause, treatment and cure for the yips, which have affected many of the greatest names in golf, from Sam Snead (at left - who adopted the famous "croquet-style" of putting as a result), Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Tommy Armour (who invented the name), to the most famous modern day sufferers - Tom Watson and Bernhard Langer. The current popularity of broom-handle and belly-putters is largely due to their supposed ability to cure the yips.

In a statement, the Mayo Clinic said that approximately 150 men and women (all, miraculously, with handicaps under 12) who have the "yips" had registered for a Mayo putting tournament. "To date, we have received sufficient funding to test 15 "yips-affected" golfers in a mini-tournament scheduled for May 2003," it said. Aynsley Smith, Ph.D., Director of Sport Psychology and Sports Medicine Research at the Mayo Clinic, added that preliminary research indicates more than 25 percent of avid golfers develop the yips, which adds an estimated 4.7 strokes to the average 18-hole score of an affected player. While non-affected golfers were able to make an average of nine out of ten consecutive five-foot putts, the yips-affected golfers made only half of theirs.

Given the extent of the players' yip problems, it is anticipated that the event will end in early 2007.

The yips is defined as a "psychoneuromuscular problem" that often occurs in golf (especially during putting) when the golfer experiences freezing, jerking, or a tremor prior to attempting a putt. Fast, downhill and left-to-right breaking putts of two to five feet were most likely to produce symptoms, although long putts caused problems for some golfers. Playing in or leading a tournament, tricky putts and playing against specific competitors were also associated with yips episodes.

A similar condition affects other athletes such as darts players and javelin throwers. One former British world champion darts player experienced such difficulty projecting the dart that he ended up propelling himself through the air, narrowly missing a perfect bull's-eye only because he bounced out of the board.

Additionally, certain professions tend to be afflicted, such as musicians (Eric Clapton's "Unplugged" is rumoured to have come about because the rock star couldn't force himself to strum his guitar), dentists (AnyoneforTee has a list of alternative dentists in most areas, should you be worried - and you should be. Common giveaway signs are the same tooth being filled over and over again, or the hypodermic syringe being pulled back up to ten times before being plunged in with a jerky movement above the patient's mouth and through the nose-bone), and ty..typ...ty.typis.typists.

The Mayo Clinic added: "At this point, it seems that the "yips" is on a continuum between a focal dystonia, a neurological problem, and choking, an extreme response to high performance anxiety. The study will test psychological variables, brain waves, stress hormones, heart rate, muscle activity, grip force and putting performance in both “yips” affected and non-affected golfers under baseline, placebo and beta blocker conditions." The study will also test whether beta blockers are beneficial not only in treating the problem but also in improving putting performance.

Investigators of this project will be able to better identify the nature of the problem once the data from the tournament is analyzed. They will then test the effectiveness of treatments. In the words of Dr Smith, "Regular physical activity is important to long-term health. Golf is an international sport that is now enjoyed by over 26 million Americans. It would be unfortunate if frustration caused by the yips leads competent golfers to abandon the game and thereby lose their preferred activity outlet."

The Clinic is looking for further participants. AnyoneForTee readers interested in the one competition they could have a real chance of winning should send an urgent e-mail to sorenson.matthew@mayo.edu. For, as the great golfing journalist Henry Longhurst, who gave up golf after an illustrious amateur career because of the yips, once wrote, "Once you've had 'em, you've got 'em".