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One Under Par
Volume 7, number 6.

A Newsletter from KeyGolf...... December, 2006

Another Look At the "Ips-Yay."

Assuming you recall your "pig latin," we are making a point - - The “yips” word needs either to go away, or be appreciated for what it is – just a serendipitous encoded expression.

Tommy Armour, according to reports, created the word to fit a strange, but somewhat frightening, twitch in one or another golf strokes that he either witnessed in some player or in himself, and since he didn’t understand what was happening, he gave it a picturesque, behavioral nickname. He just didn’t know at the time what else to call it, so he made it colorful and expressive of what he observed. It stuck and became bigger than life and larger than any player.

It is time to take a walk back along historic golf paths and start by facing off the name itself. Think about it. When someone wants to dismiss something without either understanding it, giving it further attention, or in order to contain and diminish any negative connotations, the most common maneuver is to label it. So it’s easier to deal with the word  “yips,” than is to accommodate a strange spastic set of involuntary motions that are hard to stop or understand. Call them the “yips” and you can walk away without further adieu until the next time it happens. Then all you have to do is say “I have the yips,” and while that will not solve the problem, it will tend to capture the fear of the unknown and postpone having to do anything about it. It may even slough off any anxious hangover, at least for a brief moment.

We all share a common trait seen in being able to dismiss an idea, a person, an event, or a problem by naming it. For instance, it is not uncommon to find a child exhibiting some kind of social or disciplinary problem being labeled ADD or ADHD, and hence relegated to the medication route for control. That way there need be no further search to understand and appropriately treat the real problem.  A lot of the names we conjure up to deal with people turn out to be a bit on the unseemly side and not really fit for publication, but you’ll guess those without mention here. Such are frequently used to dismiss or demean people we don’t like. If we tag a person who steals as a “thief,” we’ve catalogued him and no further action is necessary except getting him to jail. If we refer to an invalid as a “cripple,” it is no longer necessary to provide any assistance other than a wheel chair. If we label a person who drinks too much as a "drunk," we don’t have to do anything but send him to the meetings. And if someone has the “yips,” he or she only has to know how to speak of the importunity while in the 19^th hole, and memorize the mantra that says “Once you have the yips, you’ll have them for life.” It is now no longer a problem in search of a solution, but one that is figuratively handled with "medication," or some equally derivative form of avoidance. None of the above are particularly helpful on the register of solutions and will not get anyone closer to an understanding of what is involved as long as the "yips" word is allowed to thrive.

Now add the layer of incomplete information that has been ever present, a casual-to-full dose of fear the word evokes, a few opinions offered as “cures” that have been grounded in notions, (which invariably turn out to be either mythological, symptom oriented palliatives, or true approaches that are simply incomplete), and we have a recipe for a main course that no one will be able to digest.

The most prominent features that stand out like a sore thumb when and where discussions of the “yips” take place are found in the belief that the problem can be solved by "making changes" in one’s stroke or equipment, or that it can be solved by being a more positive thinker, or if all that fails, one can find a hypnotist who will either “cool” the symptoms or explain self-hypnosis, or see an MD and maybe get a prescription for some kind of medication that will depress the anxious feeling until the dose wears off. But be sure that will not remove the effects of the anxiety, though it may soften the signal and encourage the thought that the anxiety is less. And be sure to note that there is a world of difference between teasing a symptom and solving the problem that generated that symptom.

It is quite clear that many a player and not a few gurus have supported a wide variety of remedies under a loose heading of "changed circumstances." Changed circumstances indeed may temporarily retard or appear to stop the generative signal that triggers the system. So for a moment, the tremors (yips) may diminish or even disappear - with emphasis on "for a moment." It requires no particular genius to see that such changes only work briefly. (Johnny Miller referred to this as the WOOD method of dealing with problems - "Works Only One Day.") Knowledgeable observation shows that the flinching seems to return with rather noticeable frequency and within very short order. Such changes (typically, new equipment, altered stroke action, occasionally a new swing key or outside help) will often work in the short term, since the human non-discriminatory system can be distracted by the “new” long enough to bring a little relief. So if anyone is prepared to purchase a new (or different) putter or driver every few days, or if outstanding health insurance is available, that may provide a temporary stop-gap till the new pattern is seen and recognized by the non-discriminatory system, and then the normal anxiety will muscle in on that one, too.

The short of it is: we will never solve this, or any other problem, without going to its root cause. We have argued this on more than one forum and in other venues only to find that there are always those who prefer to respond with one more symptom, offered as a substitute for their revulsion over the word “anxiety,” which is as close as we can come to a root cause for the dreaded “yips.”  Invariably, so the nay sayers argue, “It’s not anxiety, it’s pressure, or fear, or nervousness, or uncertainty or indecision," or some other descriptor, which when each is examined, is only one more symptomatic term ascribed to any and everything that thrives under the anxiety umbrella. They would like to refer to anxiety as a symptom, even though it is the lone common denominator and visits in every situation of the "yips." All the others are subsumed under one heading - anxiety - so why not learn to deal with one concern through a singular management skill rather than trying to truncate the issue by attempting to cope with each symptom through some separate remedy that does not address the central, universal issue (cause).

It is important to emphasize that in this instance, we are not talking about pathological anxiety – the kind that is listed under clinical definitions of psychiatric disorders. We are referring to the everyday, normal range, perhaps experienced as an uneasy feeling of uncertain origin, that causes us to want or need to “do something” to get rid of the sensation. We suspect that a lot of the resistance to understanding this phenomenon lies in another anxious concern – that acknowledging anxiety means we may be “sick in the head," thus arousing even more anxiety. The remedy, of course, is contained in self-management that is laced with enough knowledge and acceptance to prevent running away from, or striking out at, what we perceive as a “demon.” Truth is, we would be in a world of hurt if we did not have normal anxiety as a resource to warn us of any and every potential danger. So we need to learn how to manage that essential element effectively in our lives.

Because anxiety is part of the non-discriminatory system, we need the management skill to distinguish between what helps us "beat" any real and present danger while being able to move forward with positive actions when the anxiety signal is actually blocking our progress. "Non-discriminatory" means just exactly that - anxiety does not distinguish between what we may value as "good," "bad," "ugly" or "indifferent." It simply calls the system to attention, leaving us to learn how to make the management judgments that create a clean, "clear" environment for shot-making in golf, without anything resembling a glitch or a flinch getting in the way. Forget the word "yips," since that has been getting in the way of a solution, as well.

Actually, we have purposely outlined and supported a shortened, systematic version of the whole that cuts to the core of the problem. While it compresses the knowledge required for dealing with the phenomenon, the short story does not truncate any necessary process step or information. The short version has, nevertheless, proved to be disarming in its own way for many. Even so, going the long route likely would have chased everyone away (except for the most hardy, inquisitve Analyzers), since it would have required entertaining a dissertation concerning the communication among the immune system, the autonomic nervous system, the central nervous system and several internal organs that play into what happens when anxiety sends the triggering signal that moves all those “parts” into action, not to mention the physiological changes wrought by the entire process and the sheer volume of information that would have produced. So we put it to the bottom line: anxiety signals the system and that is experienced as stress, which instantly brings one’s natural defenses into action, following natural, normal non-discriminatory patterns. A long, involved discussion of anything produces far too much "water," and has a way of discouraging those who don't like to "wade or swim."

It has been our objective to help golfers with such problem issues by putting the essential forces to work without going into the intricacies of how the internal arrangement of all those parts works. To do that we have pointed to the most common triggering device that is not either a virus, a germ, a bug, or a form of physical ingestion or invasion of some sort, along with a means to detain the signal long enough to do what we want and need to do when we have a club in our hands. With that simple management system we can be free of the glitches that invade our games when we least expect them and are most vulnerable to them - at least long enough to execute a shot without interference from within or without.

As many now know, we refer to that deterrent means as the automatic process, which utilizes a “clear key” as the tool that brings anxiety management to the ground level for golf.

As if all that were not enough, what seems to disarm many is like a twin headed serpent. Either they see some terrible affliction in the word “anxiety,” or they can’t accept the possibility we are not able to “control” anxiety. The popular word in response to our anxiety management process is that anyone could “control” anxiety, if “they just put their minds to it,” so “it should not be a problem.” As a cognative, cerebral statement, that may even sound good, but it doesn’t compute under close observation when and where the rubber meets the road. And such limited atttudes, stemming from obvious omissions in our common educational history (generally so in this culture), is understandable, since very few students were exposed to that amazingly relevant information anywhere within their educational program, short of medical school. Even schools of psychology apparently have done very little to make that clear, that is, if we believe the psychological articles and books out there that seem not to know much about the basic nature of anxiety and, in fact, rarely mention it beyond a passing comment, or a rationalization against it.

With a moment's pause, long enough to consider, it will be noticeable that “yips” (the word) is really descriptive of some of the changes that normally occur when one is under stress. It happens in virtually all areas of life and work, and there are tons of examples. It has caused everything from cut fingers to automobile accidents, missed putts to driver shanks, misbehavior in school to road rage, dropping a tray of food to inability to fall asleep at night. And those are just small illustrations. So what we may have been seeing as a localized problem in golf is everywhere, virtually all the time. Anxiety never sleeps. It is doubtful that you will find anyone who has never had an anxiety dream that woke them up in the middle of the night. Fortunately, for our golf games, we can take a path that is clear, easy to implement and formidible in its ability to manage what would otherwise lend itself to glitches, flinches, lousy shots and undesireable scores.

And there is a post script. One can only wonder why the researchers, who seem to keep trying hard to find a "remedy for the yips" continue to get lost in things like dystonia, heart math, stress erasers, and other such elements, all of which are no doubt sound approaches to something, but not to the management of what we so glibly persist in calling the “yips.” We believe it is time to lose that word. We would do well to refer to the problem it signifies as one of involuntary movement that interferes with our golf strokes, and one which can be self-managed by a process that employs a tool called clear key. We certainly cannot and will not insist that players should, could or would do better this way, even though that is our studied, tested position, since we recognize that most will do whatever they want to do. As we have noted elsewhere, one cannot break a habit and many have developed the habit of encouraging the continuation of the word "yips" and all that it represents by rejecting and withdrawing from any suggestion that there is a complete and thorough remedy. Most will, after all, continue the habit of seeing what they always saw, doing what they always did, and getting what they always got as a result. We can only make a forthright recommendation. Any garden path you want to take remains accessible. So buy your ticket and take your ride. Whatever course you choose, though, have fun as you go!

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