Symptom
The putting yips
A sudden jerk, flinch or freeze takes over the stroke, mostly on short putts, and the ball leaves the face on a line or at a pace you never chose.
Where a shot starts is governed almost entirely by where the clubface is pointing when it meets the ball. That is the relationship this symptom sits on, so the questions work back from the start line rather than from anything about your swing.
Common ways golfers describe this
Yips when putting
I have the yips
Getting rid of the yips
Yips on short putts
Can't take the putter back?
- Target line
- Start line
- Your flight
Narrow it to one cause
Each question is here because golfers answer it differently, and that difference is what rules a cause out. Nothing is generated while you answer: every question, cause and fix was written and checked in advance.
A few questions · no account needed
What you will be asked
- At what point in the stroke does it go wrong?
- When a short putt gets yipped, what does the ball do?
- Squeeze the handle as hard as you can and call that ten. What number do you hold a short putt at when it matters?
- On a short putt, how long do you stand over the ball before the putter moves?
- Does it happen when you practise on your own, or only when the putt counts?
- Mark the putter face and roll ten short putts. Where are the strike marks?
Where this can come from
These are the causes this symptom resolves to, in the order they turn up most often. That order is not a diagnosis and it is not your answer: two of them can produce a shot that looks identical from behind. Each has a fix you can read now, whether or not you answer anything.
Putter face open or closed at impact
Start direction on a putt is set almost entirely by where the face points when it meets the ball. The shorter the putt, the less room there is for anything to hide a small face error, which is why short putts miss for reasons that feel invisible.
Read the fix
Grip pressure too tight
Holding the club hard enough to tense the hands and forearms makes the delivered face angle less repeatable and shortens the motion. It is the most common physical expression of pressure, which is why the same golfer strikes it well on the range and loses the face on the first tee.
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Deceleration into impact
The club slows down before it reaches the ball, almost always after a backswing longer than the shot required. Speed disappears at the only moment it matters, and the bottom of the arc becomes unpredictable, which is why decelerating produces both the chunk and the blade.
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No repeatable setup or routine
Aim, ball position, stance width and grip get rebuilt slightly differently on every shot, so face angle, low point and strike location all vary with them. Address is the reference the whole swing is measured from, and a reference that moves explains misses that seem to have no pattern.
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Off-centre strike on the putter face
Contact away from the centre transfers less energy, so strokes that felt identical finish different distances. It also twists the face slightly at impact, which moves the start line as well as the pace.
Read the fix
Related symptoms
These are not here because they sound similar. Each one can come from a cause on the list above, which is why fixing one sometimes quietly fixes another. The closest matches are first.
- My head moves or I look up too early on puttsYour head turns or lifts to follow the ball before the stroke is finished, and your shoulders and the putter go with it, which costs both the start line and the strike.Shares putter face open or closed at impact
- Missing short puttsPutts from three to six feet, the ones you expect to hole without a second thought, keep sliding past the edge or lipping out.Shares putter face open or closed at impact
- I putt well in practice and badly on the coursePutts that drop on the practice green start missing once you are on the course, and the misses get worse when the putt actually matters.Shares grip pressure too tight
- Putts don't start on the line I pickedThe ball leaves the putter left or right of the line you chose, so a putt you read correctly still misses.Shares putter face open or closed at impact
- My wrists break down in the putting strokeYour hands and wrists hinge or flick during the stroke rather than moving with your arms and shoulders, so the start line and the roll change from putt to putt.Shares putter face open or closed at impact
- Chipping yipsA sudden jab, flinch or freeze takes over just before impact on short shots, producing chunks and blades that never turn up in a full swing.Shares grip pressure too tight
What this rests on
- 40+ TrackMan Parameters ExplainedTrackMan, accessed 2026
- The Influence of Face Angle and Club Path on the Resultant Launch Angle of a Golf BallPaul Wood, Erik Henrikson, Chris Broadie, 2018
- Search for the Perfect Swing: The Proven Scientific Approach to Fundamentally Improving Your GameAlastair Cochran and John Stobbs, for the Golf Society of Great Britain, 2005 reissue, originally 1968
- Experimental study of the gear effect in ball collisionsRod Cross, University of Sydney, and Alan M. Nathan, University of Illinois, 2007
- The Physics of GolfTheodore P. Jorgensen, University of Nebraska, 1999, second edition; Springer reprint 2013
If something here contradicts what a launch monitor tells you, say so. Corrections change the page.
Discussion
Golfers who have had this shot, on what it turned out to be and what sorted it. Read it as experience rather than diagnosis: the questions above are what narrow it to a cause.
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