Can Ernie Els Putting Problems Be Fixed?
Ernie Els is suffering from a common problem – the yips – and it’s fixable.
Ernie Els has a big problem. You saw it. I saw it. Everybody saw it. Ernie Els seven-putted the first hole in the first round at the Masters. He called it the heebee-jeebees.
What it looks like is that Els has the yips. A seven-putt worth of them.
Medically, the yips are called dystonia. It is a recognized medical condition that affects people who have made the same movement for years. The Mayo Clinic even researched it. They say:
“Yips are involuntary wrist spasms that occur most commonly when golfers are trying to putt. However, the yips can also affect people who play other sports — such as cricket, darts and baseball.”
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Musicians get it and can no longer play their instruments. Vocalists get it and can no longer sing. Writers can get it, and it’s called writer’s cramp. ( honest!) What happens is the muscles get bad information from the brain, and the bad signals make the muscles contract involuntarily, as golfers say, yip.
According to experts, if it affects just one part of the body, it is called focal dystonia. So if Els issues are in his hands, as he seemed to say, perhaps it is focal dystonia. But there is also a variety they call hand dystonia.
Dystonias have a different term if two or more body parts, like hands and wrists and arms, are affected. That’s called segmental dystonia.
There are also dystonias that only occur when a particular task is performed, such as putting, or playing a guitar.
Tension and anxiety can increase the tendency for the dystonia to appear.
Medically, there are drugs that may help some people. Botox has even been recommended.
But the good news is other people who play golf have had this same issue and they have found ways to cope with it.
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Bernhard Langer is perhaps the best example. He has had dystonia, aka, yips, for decades. His first solution was what everyone called the blood-pressure grip. His second solution was the long putter. His current solution, since the anchoring ban, is to not anchor the long putter.
Does Matt Kuchar have the yips? We don’t know, but he uses a longer than standard length putter and holds it against his left arm to putt. The putter has to be designed differently to compensate for the difference in loft. Odyssey actually makes an arm lock putter. And that style is USGA and R&A approved.
Sam Snead famously had the yips, or some kind of hand dystonia, and he went first to the croquet style, which was banned. Then he went to sidesaddle. So far no one on the PGA Tour or even the PGA Tour Champions circuit has had the nerve to bring out sidesaddle, but it is an option that kept Snead in the game for years. He played with the sidesaddle style in the 1970s. Sidesaddle can be done with a conventional length or a slightly longer putter with a very long grip.
There’s also a version of the sidesaddle called Face On putting. It’s like side-saddle, but instead of pushing the club, you put your hand on top of the shaft and pull it. Supposedly it’s easier to line up a putt that way because you are staring at the hole and extending your hand to pull the putter through. You do need a longer putter to do it, and at least two people are making them: David Cook, $189 at www.davidlcookphd.com and Juan Elizondo, $250 www.juanputt.com, 34-48” lengths.
In the second round of the Masters, Els went with left hand low, which takes the right hand, typically the yip-causer, out of the stroke. No doubt he will consult with Bernhard Langer and Matt Kuchar soon.
He could also talk to Mark Calcavecchia, who went to the claw when he started having putting problems, or Chris DiMarco who did the same thing, or even Mark O’Meara, who for years known as a great putter only to succumb to the same issues as Calcavecchia and DiMarco. While Calcavecchia and DiMarco have been credited with bringing the claw to the PGA Tour, according to PGA Tour Champions player Skip Kendall, a retired judge named John Pfannerstill invented it. What Pfannerstill called it was the pencil grip. He showed it to Kendall. Kendall showed DiMarco, and it grew.
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While having a seven-putt sure shines the light on Els’ putting issues, it’s not something he can’t overcome. Langer has won the Masters twice, with two different yip-preventing grips. If anybody proves that success is possible after the yips, it’s Langer. Look for Els to try a number of different putting styles until he finds the one that works, because it’s likely that something will.