Overactive Wrists on Putts? Here’s Our Fix

As many of you know, I’ve struggled with the yips for quite some time.  It usually rears it’s head on short putts for birdie, or longer uphill putts – neither of which are conducive to shooting low.  Over the year’s I’ve tried just about every fix known to man, from belly putter to cross-handed grips …

As many of you know, I’ve struggled with the yips for quite some time.  It usually rears it’s head on short putts for birdie, or longer uphill putts – neither of which are conducive to shooting low.  Over the year’s I’ve tried just about every fix known to man, from belly putter to cross-handed grips to the claw… you name it, I’ve tried it. These past two years I’ve started to stroke the flat stick a lot better, and I wanted to share with you the technical change I’ve made to my stroke to see if it may help you.  You’ll likely laugh, but the non-technical change I’ve made involves numbing my brain slightly with a few beers (oddly this works like a charm) – haha.

Anyway, in my experience, my yips were caused by my right wrist being overactive in the stroke.  Over time in my attempts to try and steer the ball online, my grip got tighter and also stronger in its placement on the shaft. My stroke became more of a stab, and consistency was a real struggle.

Interestingly, the stronger you place your right on the shaft (ie. the more its turned to the left from a neutral position), the more your wrists can influence the movement of the shaft. The opposite is also true, and herein lies my fix to my overactive wrists.  Simply rotating my dominate hand to a weaker position on the putting shaft took the majority of its ‘controlling nature’ out of my stroke.  All of a sudden I could begin to stroke the putter smoothly again.

This approach, combined with a fatter grip, and a couple of brews did the trick for me this season.  If anything, this year gave me enough confidence to re-join a league, and get back into the game… looking forward to next season to boot!

Hit em straight!

Image source: http://www.golftoday.co.uk/