Trapshooting Yips????

I woke up the other morning with the TV on and it was a sports program about "The Yips". This show was about the baseball player Rick Ankiel, he was a pitcher with the StL Cardinals. He was a can't miss, next Sandy Koufax left hand pitcher. He had a great rookie year and then in the playoffs he got to where he couldn't throw a strike. He had 5 wild pitches in one inning, I think that was a record.

He could stand in the outfield with his back up against the fence and throw a strike to homeplate but he couldn't do that from the pitchers mound. He finally had to quit pitching but made it back to the major leagues as an outfielder.

The program went in about the "Yips". Chicago Cubs had a "control" pitcher who couldn't throw the ball to first base. He could put the ball within and inch or so of where he wanted to when pitching to the plate but he couldn't throw the ball to first base. Yankees had a 2nd baseman who was making big bucks who suddenly couldn't throw the ball to first either. Mets had a catcher who couldn't throw the ball back to the pitcher. An NBA basketball player who could shoot 3 pointers with the best of em but couldn't get within 2 feet of basket shooting a free throw. Pro golfers who suddenly couldn't make a 6 inch putt, etc..

Anyway I got to thinking about the "yips" in trapshooting. I got a guy (call him Bob) I played high school baseball with into shooting registered trap. He had shot some practice and games around our club but the first time out shooting registered he broke a 98 in singles and got punched for handicap. And the thing was - his gun broke half way through the singles round and he had to borrow a gun to finish the day. What a way to start your registered shooting career.

Anyway he was a pretty decent shooter but he never broke a 100 straight. That one summer I shot with him a lot and it seemed like he was breaking 99 in singles almost every time out. It was just a matter of time before he got his 100 straight, we thought. Anyway that same summer a few other guys broke 100 straights for their first time at our club. These guys to put it mildly were just C, D shooters at their best. They probably had averages that were in the 80s and they broke a 100 straight. Anyway those guys breaking their 100 straight before "Bob" got his, really affected him.

He started shooting every week, wanted to get his 100 straight. His scores would be 198, 197, shooting 200 birds, 99,98 if he only shot 100. Never seemed to shoot much below 97 out of 100 in singles, had a high average. Yet it got to him those other shooters broke a 100 straight. Finally he said he guessed he would never live long enough to shoot a straight in singles.

Well here is where the story really begins. After saying he never thought he would ever run a straight in singles - he didn't. I mean he not only didn't get 100 straight but he couldn't break 25 straight anymore. He couldn't run a trap anymore in SINGLES. Every time he went out to shoot - singles it was 24, 24, 24, 24 for a 96. It got to be so bad the guy at front desk would just say - do you want me to just write you down for a 96 now or do you want to go out and shoot it first?

The guy could break 25 straight in handicap, he just couldn't do it on singles. It seemed like every time he shot handicap he would run a trap or two but he could never do that from the 16 yard line. I shot with him at the Indiana State shoot one year - the Saturday 200 target championship. It might have been the last time he shot singles. 24,24,24,24 first hundred, come back for 2nd hundred 24,24,24, he told me before we shot the last 25 there was no way in hell he was going to break a 24 on that last trap. He didn't he broke a 23. He told me after that - when he said he wasn't going to shoot another 24 he tried like hell to break a 25 but instead got a 23.

But the guy could break 25, 50 straight in handicap with no problem. I mean he couldn't break a 25 from the 16 to save his arse but the same day move back to long yardage and break 25 on a couple of fields. WTF??

He quit shooting over not being able to break 25 straight in singles. Yips? I don't think it was pressure that got to him, because I never saw him miss the last target on a the field. He would miss somewhere in between.

Last time I shot with him, he hadn't shot in 4 or 5 years. Our club was sponsoring a couple of teams to compete in a one day shoot against other clubs to raise money for the youth shooting sports. We had one open spot, I called and basically begged him to fill out the squad. He finally gave in and said he would. The shoot was 25 singles, 25 handicap from the 25. He apologized to everybody on squad before we went out to shoot because he said he couldn't shoot singles. Well he broke 24 on the singles then went back and broke 25 from the 25.

He just got it in his head he couldn't break 25 from the 16 yard line. He quit shooting over it. I don't know if you can call it the "yips" because he could still break 24 our 25 almost all the time from 16 and about half the time he could break 25 out of 25 from handicap yardage but he could NEVER BREAK 25 from the 16.

Any other trapshooting yip stories?

 

20 years or so ago I started playing golf with a group of guys. They had an open spot in their foursome, so I took it. First hole first round with em one guy whose name was Jim didn't tee off, they said Jim don't tee off the first hole, and it's a good thing because we would have to spend all day looking for his ball. LOL He is just going take an 8 on first hole. This foursome had a rule the worst score you could take on a hole was double par, Par 4 hole worst you could get was an 8, Par 5 - 10, except for Par 3s you got what you got.

I was thinking walking down first fair way - what have I got myself into. This round is going take 5 or 6 hours, we'll be spending all day looking for Jim's ball. We get to 2nd hole, Jim gets up straight down the fairway and good distance. He had a short game too. He was easily the best golfer in our foursome. Even after taking an 8 on first hole he probably shot in low 80s, while the rest of use were just a little below or over 100. I played with those guys at least one a week for a couple of years - Every time we played he never teed off the first tee, sometimes he would just drop his ball on 1st green and putt out with us but never teed off.

They said he had the "shanks" or "Yips" or something about the first tee. They said every time when he would tee up the 1st hole he would slice it or shank it or hit it 3 holes over, then he would get so bent our of shape etc... I still don't know if it was Jim's decision to not play the 1st hole anymore or the foursome's decision, probably mutual.

The guy just couldn't get off the 1st tee. Great on the other holes. The mind is a crazy thing. Yips.

 

I could not begin to tell you how many shooters told me they could never shoot a release trigger but they grew up shooting a bow half their life with fingers, it is the exact same move. If you can shoot a bow with fingers you can shoot a release and the yips and flinching is gone.

 

I get the 'yips' or 'trigger freeze' when two requirements are fulfilled:
1. I'm shooting trap. (never skeet, Sporting, 5-stand, etc.)
2. I think about it. (If I never think about the yips, I don't yip)

 

I use to have the little guy on my shoulder, now I have a little guy on each shoulder and they hate each other. They can’t agree on anything when I am shooting.

Ron Burdick

 

I don't suffer "yips". I suffer from "yups"....yup, missed again!

 

Shoulder Angels.

 

Mine is Stilwell from "A League Of Their Own". Instead of "you're going to lose", it's saying "you're going to miss"!