Dan Grieve 4-Handicap Lesson: Fixing The Chipping Yips

The chipping yips, or the anxiety that sets in when faced with a chip shot or short putt, can be incredibly frustrating, debilitating and put extreme pressure on the rest of your game. This was certainly the case for 4-handicap index golfer Ben Tadman, who came to see adidas brand ambassador and short game expert Dan Grieve for a lesson at Woburn Golf Club. 

WATCH: Dan Grieve gives a lesson addressing the chipping yips

“Around the greens has always been the worst part of my game,” Ben explains. “I’d say throughout the time I've had the yips or feel like I've had the yips, particularly in competition play, I get very frozen over the ball and can hit everything from a duff to a knife straight over the green. I had to pick up in a medal recently because it had gotten that bad.”

Dan is a coach that has seen it all and understands how and why the chipping yips can creep into someone’s game as well as how it isn’t limited to a certain ability of player - it can affect high handicappers, tour players and everyone in between.

“Ben’s a good player, he’s got good hands but they're having to work very hard for him,” Dan explains having watched Ben hit some basic chip shots from the side of the green, which included a chunked chip that travelled no more than a couple of feet. “This topic of the yips, the anxiety side of things, it's an issue for a lot of golfers. Ben’s got a bit of a fear of the ground and when you have a fear of the ground, that manifests as you're coming down into the ball, the anxiety kicks in and there's often an involuntary movement.”

“So with Ben I wanted to try and make things a little bit friendlier because that's what it's all about. Can we get his club working friendlier through the turf so he can start to trust the ground, and then there's a rewiring process that will go on, and he’ll start to then get a lot more comfortable and relaxed over the ball because he’ll know he doesn't need to be perfect. Some of the best players in the world when they chip hit the ground 3 inches behind the ball, I’ve demonstrated it in my videos. I can do it because I've got my angle of attack nice and shallow and I've got the loft and bounce on the club.”

Some other things that Dan implemented in Ben’s technique was to relax the arms and soften the grip pressure to more like a 4 out of 10. Another change was to set the club a little later in the backswing, so Dan got Ben to feel like he was swinging the club back under a low coffee table to ensure the wrists were working less and the bigger muscles were controlling more of the action.

“Obviously Ben’s got to work on his technique on the practice ground. But one thing that really helps with the yips on the course is to try and get as externally focused as possible,” explains Dan. “So get as much into where you want to land the ball, what the first bounce is going to look like, and so where is it breaking to go in the hole. Golfers with the yips have got a lot of internal focus on the ball and their technique, but when you play you've got to really see the shot. The more you can vividly paint the picture of what you're trying to do, the less you should be wrapped up in the technique.”

A big thank you to Dan Grieve for giving us his time and to adidas for the opportunity. Both Dan and Ben were wearing the Ultimate365 8.5 inch shorts from adidas to improve their shorts game.