Wedge Yips Update 8: An Up and Down Holding Pattern

Well it’s been awhile since my last update, but today I bring you “Wedge Yips Update 8.” I would say that I’ve been making a lot of progress, but have hit some recent obstacles that have slowed me down a bit. The good news is, I’ve had some major breakthroughs that have easily had the most payoff of anything I’ve tried over the years to rectify this issue.

Wedge Yips Update 8 - Andy Gorman

Golfin Online Lessons

I recently started online lessons with a company called Golfin to create some content for the site. Part of that process pairs you up with a coach within their network that’s best fit for what you’re trying to improve. I got paired with a guy named Andy Gorman who may be a lifesaver. All he needed was one video to go “yep, this is where you need to start.” In short, I had my hands in a bad position with a pretty poor setup. Andy sent me a series of videos explaining what I needed to do differently and some things to practice. While it was frustrating seeing how bad I really was, it was such a relief.

Everything Andy said, however, made sense. I just needed to accept it and learn, which I was willing to do. The basic things were to get my hands in a better position so I’d be able to get the club through, and to get my weight distributed so my head would stay still and I’d rotate around my spine. There were more body parts moving around than the inside of a clock! After watching Andy’s video demonstrating what I needed to do differently, I was ready to get to work.

The Practice

My good friend, “Uncle” Mark, hit me up to talk some golf nerdom. Mark is a great guy and we are known to go down some deep (albeit super fun) rabbit holes in regards to pretty much every subject in golf. One of these conversations started with an email around some putting changes Mark was considering. Naturally this led to us meeting up at a local dome to do some testing and hit some balls. Other than some driver testing I had to do for a review, I pretty much just hit a billion wedge shots. This was my first time putting Andy’s recommendations into practice. I noticed an immediate difference.

Of course, I wasn’t fixed completely. Everything felt very new and foreign, and I had a new problem. How do I start the club moving? I literally couldn’t figure out how to take the club back in sequence. This had me more worried as I knew this was potentially another type of yip. Thankfully Andy had an easy explanation for me over a video chat essentially telling me to just feel it in my sternum to start the swing. Don’t know if that makes sense as you read it, but I knew EXACTLY what he meant. So much so that I could immediately feel myself become unlocked as I sat in the chair talking to him.

I took my new input from Andy to the dome again and felt much better. My varying wedge shots were all much better and left me with a real sense of improvement. I mean, we’re talking real spin on the ball, hitting targets, different flights, the works.

Wedge Yips Update 8 Final Thoughts

A few more indoor sessions at the dome, and even a winter round with some snow and ice hazards still on the ground, and I was feeling pretty good about my wedges. Things were definitely moving in the right direction and I was starting to see some great improvements. If I could play all my golf hitting off of a mat, I think I’d be in a great place to score now! The problem is, that’s not reality. Right now, it feels like I’m in a holding pattern of sorts with progress. I need to get playing on some real grass and see how things go on the real stuff. What I do know is that it’s time to grind and I believe I have the tools now to get better and resolve this thing once and for all.

And then Coronavirus quarantine hit…