Your Left Arm Is Giving You The Yips

Got the yips? It’s time to crawl out of the darkness and get back out on the course. Butch Harmon believes he can help. He says when he sees people yipping chips, it’s usually because their left arm stops right before impact. This causes your right hand to flip over, and thus, a yip. “The trick,” says Harmon, “is to learn to keep your left arm moving through the shot.”

Harmon's drill will help. Set up like you’re going to hit a normal chip. Take your usual chipping stroke, but when you come to impact, take your right hand off the club. So, your left hand is going to be the only thing holding onto the club. This forces your left arm to power through the shot. Now, deceleration is no longer an option.

After you practice this, go back to your normal shot -- but don’t lose that feeling of the left arm accelerating through the ball. If it’s going through the shot with some momentum, you won’t be able to let your right hand do that ugly right hand flip, and you'll no longer have the yips.