Lost my Tempo

[Smilesy]

Hi All,
I've lost my tempo and i can't work out how to get it back. I was playing the best golf of my life over the summer (Southern Hemisphere), and i think the main reason for that was that i had a consistent 90% tempo, and now i can't stop snatching at the ball. I have no constancy due to this. Does anyone know any drills to get my tempo back.
Cheers

[barrycuda]

being consistent is what golf is all about. even pros can win a tournament one weekend, and the next weekend come dead last (this happened not long ago...)

but yeah sorry cant help you, trying to find consistency myself :)

[scottlp03]

I struggle with this, as most do, myself:
The thing that I try to do if I hit a couple of bad shots in a row is to put me feet close together and swing smoothly and slowly.
With your feet close together, if you swing too hard or too fast, you'll fall over!
My other main focus is on posture and balance. I try to be very deliberate at address and when a shot goes awry, I can usually pinpoint why down to one of the items listed above.
Scott

[OHS1Golfer]

this may sound far off but TRY it! play a round without shoes on, without a glove on, and swinging 70%..thats what ill do and i get it back

[dkglf98]

When I lose my tempo I go right to my weighted heavy club and it slows me down cause I cant swing it fast. It shows me my tempo.

[Wisco-Kid]

Jack Nicklaus in one of his books that I have talks about one of the things he does to keep his tempo. He tells himself to make his downswing the same speed as his backswing. He admits that of course the downswing won't actually be the same speed as the backswing but keeping that thought in his head helps him maintain his tempo. Give it a try!

[tarheelsfan]

Swing a broom. works everytime.

[chingali]

this may sound far off but TRY it! play a round without shoes on, without a glove on, and swinging 70%..thats what ill do and i get it back

I agree with the no shoes although I usually just hit balls (off grass) not while playing. For some silly reason it does seem to help you with rhythm and tempo, never tried it without a glove though as it feels weird.

I have some vague memory of reading a tip from Sam Snead with regards to hitting balls with no shoes on when I was a kid, I'm pretty sure that's where I got the idea from.

[rstyle]

Agree with Scottl
In addition to hitting balls with my feet together at the range, I take my practice swing on the course with my feet together prior to hitting the ball.

Slows me down, allows me to see my swing path and limits body movements.

When I lose it it is because I tend to swing fast or hard. I try the feet together practice swing and concentrate on keeping both my feet on the
ground until after impact

[ugapug5150]

Whistle while you swing. If you can keep whistling smoothly your tempo is fine. It helped me to stop snatching the club on the takeaway.

[wachesawgolfer]

Many books and commentators mention the help of a consistent "pre-shot" routine to start the right tempo and flow. If their pre shot routine is disturbed they start over. They use the same pre-shot routine on the range for each ball. Try to incorporate a tempo for a consistent pre-shot routine and the actual swing is just a continuation.

[Smilesy]

Thanks very much everyone. I've got a few things to try now. The no shoes thing sounds weird, but i'll give it a go.
Cheers

[beung]

This is a Vijay tip:

Most people equate tempo to a sequence of numbers and many golfers use counting to get tempo, or rhythm.

Many will use 1-2 to count, backswing on 1 and downswing on 2 when trying to get their tempo back but 1 and 2 are single syllable words and thus the speed at which you can say them can be easily altered. You can say "one" really fast or you can say it really slow, so saying 1-2 in sequence is unreliable.

What Vijay suggests is use two 2 syllable words, something like 17-18. Because a words like "seventeen", although it basically has 2 words in it, it has it's own natural cadence and is said as one word.

So try and count "seventeen" when take your backswing and then "eighteen" when you start your downswing. You will find it hard to rush your tempo when using these numbers, you can use any 2 numbers between 13 and 20.

[Smilesy]

I like the idea of counting double syllable words. I tried the single syllable words and it didn't work for me in the way you said. I would just go two really quickly on the down swing. Cheers