Drive for show. Putt for dough.
But when lining up that winning shot, it can be a golfer’s greatest fear: a sudden case of the yips.
Almost every golfer has experienced it.
You’re lined up on the green for that perfect putt, when an easy tap-in shot is foiled by a mysterious twitch.
Golfers refer to it as “the yips”.
And researchers at Mayo Clinic in the United States believe they’ve found a neurological cause to explain some instances.
“The yips is a description given by people who golf, of a twitch, or a jerk or involuntary movement, usually when putting,” says neurologist Dr Charles Adler.
In many cases, the yips is thought to be psychological.
A golfer under pressure experiencing performance anxiety is usually par for the course.
But there are others that likely have a neurologic problem.
“We call it ‘dystonia’ or ‘tremor’.
“It’s an involuntary movement disorder,” says Dr Adler.
“So only when performing a golf movement, such as moving the putter, does the involuntary movement come out.”
He is teeing up the topic as lead author of a study on the yips, which could offer athletes improved treatment options.
“It’s our belief that treatment is going to be different for people who have a neurologic cause and a non-neurologic cause.”
He says more research is needed with the hope of finding specific treatment options to overcome the yips.
And that would be a hole in one for every golfer on the green. – Mayo Clinic News Network/Tribune News Service
