Objective: At least 10 international in Movement Disorders specialised neurologists participate in a research study that aims to better understand the origins and the phenomenology of the yips, a possible task-specific movement disorder in golfers, by evaluation of video recordings.

Background: The “yips” is an involuntary movement during the execution of the putting-stroke in golf. The golden standard for its diagnosis is a clinical expert opinion. There is a discussion on the nature and origin of the yips whether it is a Movement Disorder or psychological. The goal of our VIdeo-Panel (VIP)-study is to collect the opinion of a panel of at least 10 movement disorder expert neurologist on the yips. Do they view this to be a neurological movement disorder and, if so, how do they classify it?

Method: From March till October 2024, we video-recorded 50 golfers who performed 240 putts ach. There were 25 golfers with and 25 golfers without self-reported Yips. They did 120 putts with a ball and 120 without, equally divided over the three conditions: both hands, only right hand, and only left hand. The movement of the wirsts of all putts were video-recorded, with EMG-electrodes on four muscles on each arm and accelerometry on both wrists and the putter. The result of the putt was also video-recorded.

For this VIP-study we have selected the 10 golfers with the most clear yips and randomly selected 5 golfers without the yips. What every panel-neurologist will see is the same random series of 45 video’s. Each video is a series of 5 one-second putt with a ball and you will only see the wrist movement of the anonymous participants: 15 videos of series putts with both hands, 15 only with the right hand, and 15 only with the left hand, randomly placed within a single video.

We ask 15 neurologists to fill in a web-based questionnaire about the 45 video’s and answer the following questions:

1. Do you see a (neurological) Movement Disorder? Yes or No

2. If so do you classify it as:

a. Dystonia Jerky

b. Dystonia Tonic

c. Functional

d. Myoclonus

e. Tic

f. Other (and explain)

3. A severity rating for the symptoms

4. How sure are you on a scale of 1 (a bit)-5 (completely)

Results: See conclusions

Conclusion: We hope to show the results and the conclusions of this fifth Dutch Yips Study: the VIdeo Panel (VIP)-Study at the International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders in Honolulu, Hawaii, October 5 – October 9, 2025.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-dutch-yips-study-part-v-the-video-panel-vip-study/