Two prominent, skilled Alaskan golfers punctuated my first round of 2025 with talk of the yips. This is worth discussing, because neither of the players are bad putters in my mind, but both seem to have zero confidence in themselves.

One of them invented a completely new grip designed to keep his thumbs off the club while putting, because the right thumb in particular seemed to be the cause of all his problems. The other yipster ordered a side-saddle putter from Billy Bomar, who still lives in Post Falls, ID and is still heavily involved in the professional golf world.

It will be interesting to see how their respective experiments go. We talked at length in the Palmer clubhouse about their issues, with one of them concluding golf just isn’t fun if you are afraid of eight-foot putts. Though not specifically expressed, it sounded as though the lifelong golfer would give up the game if his new grip doesn’t work.

At one point, I mentioned I enjoy myself even while shooting 87 and the yipster said he can’t do that. I thought about that for a couple of days, wondering why I enjoy golf so much more than him. Is it just because I don’t have the yips? I concluded it was because I still hit 80 percent of shots really well during a “bad” round. All my extra strokes come from the type of shots that are easily shrugged off, because they are just a result of not being sharp or polished. The vast majority of the time, I’m giddy with excitement over how well I am hitting the ball with all my clubs, so score doesn’t matter. I know if I played more often, I would score well.

Someone with the yips, however, doesn’t know what is happening to them. Having no answers to a puzzle is frustrating and therefore a source of angst. This forces a golfer to feel like giving up, because they are at their wits end and can’t take it anymore.

As for my own personal opening round at Palmer Golf Course, I didn’t keep score, but it would have been around 85. The first tee shot was my first swing of the year, and I couldn’t even make contact with most full shots until the eighth hole. I started hitting real golf shots by the 10th tee and even birdied 11 and 12. I finished strong and felt warmed up for the 2025 season.

Palmer still had some temporary greens, but there was a ton of grass on the greens from which tarps had just been removed. George Collum, who manages the course, was excited about how things look so far and said if we can get a warm May, the course could be in the best shape it’s been for many years.

One last thought about the yips. Lucas Glover of the PGA Tour, a U.S. Open winner, battled yips for years before discovering the problem wasn’t mental. Scientists have proven that yips in all sports are actually a physical problem created by overuse of muscles. Professional athletes who have repeatedly made the same physical movements at extreme levels of practice and play actually ruin the brain-to-muscle connection. Their body parts literally won’t listen to the brain’s command anymore. The solution for Glover was to come up with a new method for putting, one that used different muscles to fire the club through the ball. It worked and his career has been thriving ever since.

Said knowledge would indicate that both Alaskan Yipsters referred to in this post are on the right track. I expect their brand new methods will work and golf will be fun again.

The new challenge matches and rankings are completely up to the players. I don’t care if nobody plays or a ton of you play. I am providing the opportunity, because many have told me they miss it. I won’t be using any social media. I will post all results here at jjpetes.com.

I will post the latest results on Sundays and Sundays only, so everyone knows when to look and what to expect. The only interference I will provide in the rankings is to either remove someone or gradually sink them in the rankings if it comes to my attention they aren’t actively accepting matches or if they have left town. Beyond that, the rankings are a simple king-of-the mountain format.

If you see someone on the list and you think you can beat them, arrange a match with them and send me the results. If you don’t already know me, you can email results to jjpetes@icloud.com. I will require an official match score, course played, a highlight or two and the parameters of the match.

I don’t care how players conduct their matches as long as both parties think it is fair and as long as only one match is played at a time. If one hits from the reds and the other from the tips, I don’t mind, as long as both think it is fair. Still, I want to know that information for results posting.

You can play any day of the year, indoor on simulators, outdoors in the snow or on an exotic locale in the South Pacific. Have fun and let me know.

If you want to grab your best friend and play a match, go ahead and do so as often as you want. I will insert you both in the rankings after first match results are reported, and will likely insert you much higher than you deserve. The reason for this being, I want everyone to see you have joined the battle. The rankings will always correct themselves in time.

I think that covers it. If not, we’ll figure it out as we go. So, it’s time to get to it, or not. You choose.

Happy New Year!

It is 2025 and what a nice round number. On a personal level it marks the 50th year I will have been living. It marks the 40th year I will have played golf. It marks a full 10 years since I started the Alaska Golf Blog.

I learned a lot from the Alaska Golf Blog, enough to know I won’t be doing it again. That isn’t as negative as it sounds. I simply mean I have changed, my life has changed and my relationship to golf has changed. The changes are dramatic enough that I have decided to start 2025 with a new blog here at jjpetes.com.

It will feature many things about Alaskan golf, including the most popular feature from the Alaska Golf Blog days, challenge matches and rankings.

The challenge matches will be open 365 days per year and can be played indoor, outdoor and in any location in the world. These are not going to be labeled as a list of Alaska’s best golfers. Instead, it will be JJ Petes golf rankings, not limited to just golfers from Alaska. It will likely come to represent more of a collection of golfers I have met in past, present and future.

Golf has provided me with an amazing journey over the last 40 years and it is that journey that inspires my new direction in writing. I look forward to seeing where the next 40 years takes me. If you want to come along for the ride and think you might want to play the occasional challenge match, enter your email below to subscribe.

Details on challenge matches are to come, very soon, before this first day of 2025 is over. Details will be simple and easy to follow. You will not need a golf handicap, just a desire to compete.

Happy New Year to you all. 2025 will be a fun one.