Definition: An nervous affliction in which the person putting cannot make short putts due to the inability to create a smooth putting stroke.
Usually, "the yips" take the form of jerking the putt to one side or pushing the putt to the other. It's usually felt by the golfer as a nerve-tingling experience in which he or she feels unable to be steady over the ball.
The yips is not a medical condition, of course, merely a nervous reaction to short putts that is more of a mental than physical thing.
The term "yips" is believed to have been coined by Tommy Armour, whoh said of them, "Once you've had 'em, you've got 'em."
Along with Armour, some of the many pros who've suffered the yips in their careers include Sam Snead, Johnny Miller and Tom Watson.
Examples:
The Golf Guide must have the yips - he keeps missing the short ones. Wow, he really yipped that putt.
