GOT THE YIPS? DO THIS “Get your stroke on
PUTTING BASICS: FOCUS ON STABILITY AND FLUIDITY The yips first showed up about four years after Glover won the 2009 US Open. “I would equate it to a panic attack,” he says. “Your heart is racing; you’re not feeling like your
upper body can be freer, and I think that’s what helped Lucas,” Baile says. “It’s called disassociation. When you create something stable, the next piece – in this case Lucas’ shoulders – can be more mobile. That’s a good tip for amateurs, regardless of what putter you use – putt with a stable lower body, a mobile upper body and very still eyes.” Glover found a way to distract him- self from the initial putter movement by focusing entirely on the connection he feels when the putter meets the ball. It’s like closing his eyes, and it promotes more freedom in the stroke. It also helps Glover to stay in constant motion, as evi- denced by his unusual pre-shot routine. Glover will stretch his trail hand away from the bottom grip, but as soon as the hand rejoins the shaft, he starts the backstroke ( photos, above ). “It feels really smooth,” he says.
video and see if you can identify the mechanical interruption point where the yip is occur- ring. It should be fairly obvious,” says Jason Kuhn, a specialist on curing the yips. “Once you identify it, put all your conscious effort into that moment in the stroke and attack it. In Lucas’ case, the yip was at the start of his backswing. Because he’s a very rhythmic player, we worked on practical ways to get more fluidity in the way he took the club back.”
motor functions are working. Something you’ve been doing your whole life, now you feel like you can’t move the putter.” The shorter the putt, the more his hands and wrists would tense up, leading to a very quick backstroke and poor speed control. To counter that, the 45-inch broomstick-style putter forced Glover to radically change his setup and stroke. By separating his hands on the grip, he now stands much wider and further away from the ball, which helps stabilise his lower body. He’s also more bent over the ball, which makes it easier to set the lead arm parallel to his target line and get his eyes more over the ball. “If you stabilise the lower body, the
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