THE ARCHIVES
Johnny Miller’s Advice on Overcoming the Yips He had them BY RON KASPRISKE
right hand. That’s why so many play- ers switched to the extra-long putter or have opted to putt cross-handed – they take the right hand out of the stroke. “As one who has battled the yips for years, I have a different opinion. The source of the yips is the left hand. On the forward stroke, when your nerves go haywire, your left hand stops mov- ing forward just before the putterhead contacts the ball. When that happens, the only way the putterhead can con- tact the ball is for you to buckle the left wrist. Meanwhile, the right hand – the innocent party – is suddenly forced to apply extra speed because the left hand wasn’t doing its job. “The key, then, is to stop the left wrist from breaking down. This is easier said than done, but just thinking about it will help. Maintain the same left-wrist angle from start to finish, and keep the left hand moving through im- pact. Your short putting will improve immediately.”
FIFTY YEARS AGO, Johnny Miller won the Open Champi- onship at Royal Birkdale. It was
tures and even resorted to long putters – one of which helped him win the 1987 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Miller was a longtime contributor to Golf Digest and addressed the topic of the yips in the December 2001 issue. Here’s what he said: “You’ve no doubt heard of the ‘yips,’ the uncontrollable spasm that causes the putter to all
his second and last major win, and soon after, it became apparent that his time as golf’s No 1 was coming to an end – and the putting yips played a big role. Miller went three-plus seasons after Birkdale before he won again, though he did regain some form in 1981, win- ning twice and finishing runner-up at the Masters. During the latter part of his career, Miller tried all sorts of things to overcome the tremors in his hand that would manifest as he attempted to strike a putt. He changed grips, pos-
but jump out of your hands, sending even short putts careening far past the hole. The cause of the yips has been attributed to a loss of control of the
FIRM STROKE Focus on the left wrist to help avoid that nasty yip at impact.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 43
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2026
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