How to get tempo back?

Been there... Years ago i used to have a song I would keep on repeat in my head. I did this for a while before I even noticed I was doing it. When I would feel like the wheels were coming off, I would think of the song, maybe even hum it. Then try to go into swing auto pilot have zero swing thoughts, trust the practice will take over, and focus on that song.

Funny thing is this year during league my wife was on fire, hitting really well. Out of the blue she confided in me that'd she was doing the exact same thing. I don't know where she got it, or where I got it from... But it worked.

 

  My wife has something similar that she does but it isn't a song.   She just says to herself, "slow up, slow down".   By doing that, she keeps her tempo at what is ideal for her...   She isn't a long baller but as long as she does that routine in her head, she gets consistent shots that inevitably end up in the middle of the fairway...

I try to feel like I'm swinging in slow motion ... or like the world is slowing down - heard Jack Nicklaus say something to this effect.

 

I dunno if this is true for everyone, but its very true for me. I really need to slow down when my tempo goes south. It feels like I'm making half swings, but I'm not. 

My son and I had an epiphany about tempo about a month ago. He had developed a pretty bad 'wipe' swing (an out-in slap) over the past year and I have been giving him all kinds of tips and drills. They all seemed to work for 9 holes or so, but then the wipe would come back. So, few rounds ago, he was getting frustrated as usual and was in a fariway bunker and all I could see was the top of his head. From behind the lip of the bunker I saw the club appear and then disappear in what seemed to be a nanosecond. Aha!

 

It turns out he could not maintain any of the fixes I gave him because of his tempo, or lack thereof. So I did a 1-2-3-4 counting drill with him during his practice swings, and instantly he started hitting it solidly with a slight fade. Since then the wipe has only come back a couple times in 4 - 5 rounds. I hope he hangs on to this, since tempo is a very elusive concept.

the most reliable tempo is gravity - the G force constant.

 

try to feel the gravity in the forward press - take back - downswing sequence.... 

 

instead of trying to rely on some artificial rythm aid.

How is counting, humming, whatever, any more of an artificial rythm aid than trying to feel gravity??

Supposedly, Sam Snead used to hum a waltz to keep his tempo. If one of the greatest players to ever swing a club used that type of "artificial rythm aid" I don't see the harm in a mere mortal doing the same.

When my tempo is off, I will go to a half swing using one club up, back to 9 o'clock, through to 3 o'clock like a punch shot and then work my way up slowly back to a full swing over the next couple holes.  That way I'm still getting decent yardage, making more solid contact and can continue my round without tempo problems getting into my head.