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The Yips



Athletes of many kinds can experience the yips, which was a term originally coined by golfer Tommy Armour. Usually affecting professionals or other high-level athletes, the “yips” refer to the sudden inability to perform critical fine-motor control or certain fundamental physical skills associated with the sport, such as putting in golf or throwing a baseball accurately. (In gymnastics, the term “twisties” is used for the sudden loss of body control mid-air.) There’s no single standard physical or psychological cause or treatment, and while some athletes recover within weeks, others never fully regain their previous level of ability. These disruptions in body control can range from disorienting to downright terrifying, and often bring up intense feelings of fear and self-doubt.

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Charles Barkley: Golf Yips Cures! Doctor Explains Science of the Yips

Charles Barkley has long been known for having some of the worst yips in his golf swing ever, yet now it appears the NBA hall of famer has fixed his swing and cured his golf swing yips! In this video we’ll review the science of the yips (there’s more than you’d think) and review what was...

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The Phenomenon: Pressure, the Yips, and the Pitch that Changed My Life

The Phenomenon is the story of how St. Louis Cardinals prodigy Rick Ankiel lost his once-in-a-generation ability to pitch—not due to an injury or a bolt of lightning, but a mysterious anxiety condition widely known as “the Yips.

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Are the Yips Real?

Anxiety and neurological factors come into play for athletes who suddenly lose their ability to perform in a way they excelled at for years.

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05:12

Mayo Clinic Researchers Uncover Methods to Quantify the Yips and Golfer’s Cramp

Almost every golfer knows the feeling. Minutes after a picture-perfect drive down the fairway, a cascade of inexplicable missed putts leads to a disappointing triple bogey. Golfers’ lapses in play sometimes are blamed on a mysterious twitching condition called “the yips.

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This Is Your Brain on Sports: Beating Blocks, Slumps and Performance Anxiety for Good!

This book introduces the breakthrough concept of STSD (Sport Traumatic Stress Disorder). Grand and Goldberg have discovered that STSDs are the cause of most significant performance problems.

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Focal Dystonia: A Musician Overcomes a Movement Disorder With a Change of Mind

After graduating with his doctorate in sports medicine, Farias developed a neuroplasticity training program to help other dystonia patients recover, using his toolbox of strategies to teach them how to retrain their brains.

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07:18

Cause of the “Yips”

The Yips are a sudden twitch or jerk that strikes a golfer as he prepares to take a swing. Now, researches at the Mayo Clinic have looked into the cause of the yips and are closer to figuring out what causes that annoying jerk or twitch in some golfers. Dr.

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When Athletes Fail: The Science Behind ‘the Yips’

Given how commonly the yips are referenced in sports, it is surprisingly misunderstood.

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05:44

Are the Yips Really the Greatest Threat to a Golfer?

Feared and dismissed in equal proportion, the yips were once endowed with an almost mythical status. Previously an ailment exclusive to golfers, in recent years participants from sports as varied as snooker and basketball have been diagnosed with the condition.

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17 Golfers Reveal How They Survived the Putting Yips

The putting yips. Outside of a stone cold shank, there’s arguably no more terrifying thought in all of golf

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Athlete Well-Being