The Tapping Evidence Base
Athletic Performance · Trauma (other)

Preliminary evidence for the treatment of type I 'yips': The efficacy of the Emotional Freedom Techniques

Rotheram, M., Maynard, I., Thomas, O., Bawden, M., Francis, L. · The Sport Psychologist · 2012

Case series 👥 1 participants Preliminary ✓ Source-checked 📍 United Kingdom
In plain English. One elite golfer struggling with the 'yips' — involuntary movements that wreck a golfer's stroke — went through four two-hour tapping sessions focused on a significant past event linked to when the yips started, and improved across every measure researchers tracked, including actual putting success on the course. Because this is a single-case study, it's a proof-of-concept suggesting tapping can help this specific performance condition, not evidence it will work the same way for others.

What they found

1
One elite golfer struggling with the 'yips' — involuntary movements that wreck a golfer's stroke — went through four two-hour tapping sessions focused on a…

A single elite golfer with Type I 'yips' underwent four 2-hour EFT sessions targeting a significant life event linked to the condition, and showed improvements across all dependent measures — visual yips symptoms, putting success rate, and motion analysis — that transferred to competitive play.

How the study worked

Who took part elite golfer with Type I 'yips' (n=1)
What they did This is a detailed report following a small number of individual cases through tapping.
Measured with visual inspection of yips symptoms, putting success rate, motion analysis data

The full record

DesignCase series
Participants1 people
Populationelite golfer with Type I 'yips'
Outcome measuresvisual inspection of yips symptoms, putting success rate, motion analysis data
JournalThe Sport Psychologist
Year2012
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
MethodEFT / Tapping
Publication typeCase report
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source

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Cite this study

APA

Rotheram, M., Maynard, I., Thomas, O., Bawden, M., & Francis, L. (2012). Preliminary evidence for the treatment of type I 'yips': The efficacy of the Emotional Freedom Techniques. The Sport Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.26.4.551

This record is part of the Tapping Evidence Base — an openly-sourced, fully-referenced directory of the research on EFT/Tapping. Explore more studies on Athletic Performance · Trauma (other)

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THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Athletic Performance 1 participants WHAT THEY FOUND A single elite golfer with Type I 'yips'underwent four 2-hour EFT sessions targetinga significant life event linked… Case series · 1 participants Rotheram · 2012 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com