"Tour Tempo" by John Novosel

[dalirahma]

I am looking to buy this book... has anyone but the download version from the Tour Tempo website? If so, do you still get the book, cause they sort of only talk about getting the audio/video files?

I think the audio video files are the most important part of the whole deal. I read the book in one sitting and haven't looked at it since. The concept is simple. The audio tones and practicing the Y and L drills and tempo is the meat of it all.

[golfaddiction]

Amazon's got the book on sale for a reduced price.

Also you can read about my experiences with Tour Tempo on my blog.

PM me if you are missing the CD.

[bunkerputt]

I tried this a while back, but got turned off by the fact that the 'initiate-the-downswing' tone was so much earlier than a 1:3 time. Supposedly, you're supposed to just "react" to the tones, but I found it way too hard to figure out. I would end up speeding up my backswing at weird places because I knew the tone was coming up. It'd have been much easier if they would have just put the actual tones of when you are supposed to start down, rather than the helper tones that account for your own delay.

I started to apply the same idea with my own little count: one-two-three-four-five.

'one' starts the backswing, 'four' starts the downswing, 'five' is impact. That gives the 3:1 ratio with something you can count to yourself. Then just work on counting to five in 1.2 seconds or whatever.

[umpiremark]

I started to apply the same idea with my own little count: one-two-three-four-five. 'one' starts the backswing, 'four' starts the downswing, 'five' is impact. That gives the 3:1 ratio with something you can count to yourself. Then just work on counting to five in 1.2 seconds or whatever.

I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be critical here ... one, start, two, three, four downswing, five impact is a 4:1 ratio.

The third tone is ahead 1/5th of a second for normal human reaction time to a stimulus. When you hear the tone, react (set your wrists) and swing. It was all explained in the book and quite clearly as well. I found the instructions easy to follow. Just mho ....

[bunkerputt]

I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be critical here ... one, start, two, three, four downswing, five impact is a 4:1 ratio.

Is that true? Assuming your timing is regular between successive numbers, say N seconds, and you start moving on one, you have the following timeline:

one to two: N seconds two to three: N seconds three to four: N seconds four to five: N seconds That seems like a 3:1 ratio to me. Where do you count 4:1? I read the instructions. Following them seemed straightforward. What was more difficult was making sure your reaction time was 1/5 a second. It's not like someone just tried to punch you and you needed to blink. I'd hear the tone, think, OK now move, and end up short-siding myself when I got to the top. That is, my backswing time was slower as a result of the 1/5 second delay. I also can't take an MP3 to play with me. But I can say 'one-two-three-four-five' pretty regularly on command.

[shankapotamus]

Is that true? Assuming your timing is regular between successive numbers, say N seconds, and you start moving on one, you have the following timeline:

That should be natural?

[golfaddiction]

Played my first round with Tour Tempo and shot a season's best 86, including 40 on the back 9. It helped that I hit 5/7 up and downs on the back.

I really gained at least 10 yards per club. I am not exaggerating, and it makes sense. If you swing faster, your ball will travel further. I cut my swing from about 26/10 to 24/8. Completing the downswing 20% faster increases the clubhead speed by a similar factor.

I'm going to have to adjust my distance calibration (4 iron from 185/190 all the way out to 200 yards!). Hitting the ball further definitely makes the game easier.

[BigBoy]

My friend has come and gone, and I played well while he was here

So today, I finally took my MP3 player to the range to do the Tour Tempo workout described in the book - went thru all the drills and was really feeling the 'music' -

then i began with full swings... and it was complete disaster. I tried with the headphones on, with them off, at 24/8, 21/7 and 27/9 - everything was terrible - we are talking shanks, tops, fatsies and everything in between, a range session that was as bad as when i first picked up the game -

i am distraught - i had very high hopes. I think the issue with me is two fold, first, my tempo was not very slow to begin with so the "quick fix" aspect of book was probably out the window -

2nd, the "3 chimes" got my swinging in a very choppy manner - even when I realized this was part of my problem i still had trouble not getting very jerky and cutting off my shoulder turn in anticipation of the beeps

I stopped about halfway thru my bucket because i did not want to engrain whatever i was doing out there into my memory -

anyone with success with this program experience any disasters to start? I'm thinking that a different type of smoother sounding tracks might work better for me

[umpiremark]

I can't remember what page it's on but it's in bold italics print ... do not anticipate the beeps, just react to them. Trying to "Swing" "set" "through" on the exact timing is futile. Just start when you hear "swing," get to the top/be near the top on "set" and hit the ball by "through." It sounds to me like you were rushing through trying to time the exact beeps - which would explain the herky-jerky motion/swing feel. Remember, the tones are just like milli-seconds apart. Smooth ... like Kentucky whiskey ... smooooooth ... think Ernie Els or Freddie Couples type swings.

[PingGKEN]

My friend has come and gone, and I played well while he was here

I feel your pain man. I posted a little bit earlier with sort of the same reaction. I have a quick tempo and, even when using the "fastest" 21/7, I was already wanting to begin my downswing well before the second chime. Being a drummer, I was so keyed in on the beat and matching it up perfectly. It was throwing everything off. I think, instead of trying to sync with the sounds, maybe we can just ingrain the sound beforehand and practice without the beats??

[hippyboy]

I'm reading this thread with interest as I don't know whether to try this or not.

I have taken a series of lessons & have improved a lot, i don't want to mess up all the good work playing around with my tempo, but on the other hand this could really improve my game if I pick it up pretty quickly.

I'm not sure how good/bad my tempo is at the moment, I have been working on the "smooth" swing in my lessons so it still feels a bit strange not trying to grip it n rip it.

[Clambake]

I'm not one to jump on quick fixes - I basically believe the route to better golf is through the help of a good teaching pro and practice, practice, practice. That said, I'd like to put in my kudos for Tour Tempo - it has really helped me transition from a "taught" swing to a natural feeling I can trust out on the course.

Working occasionally with a pro, I've been rebuilding my swing over the last year, getting into much better positions throughout the swing. With lots of practice, I've gotten my handicap down from 14 to a 7.7. But I've still felt a little mechanical in the swing, and I noticed if I didn't concentrate on certain positions a bad shot could creep in quickly, but yet focusing on the swing felt too mechanical on the course.

Based on some of the comments in this forum, I picked up Tour Tempo and applied it to my practices, usine an iPod with the 24/8 tempo. The results were immediate - after no more than 15 minutes I noticed that my swing was much more fluid. The crack of a well struck shot was also noticably more crisp, and I felt a slight increase in distance in the mid to long clubs. At the range I go to there is an Inpractis video system, so I've compared my swings before the Tour Tempo method. In the video it looks a lot smoother, and the swing speed (measured by the Inpractis system) increased from 91mph to 95mph with a 7 iron, and my driver speed went from 103mph average to 106mph. The instruction John Jacobs used to teach focused on swinging the club, not hitting the ball, and using the Tour Tempo I'm really feeling the club swing much better.

On the course is where I've seen the most impact though. I'm not feeling mechanical now on the course, and this has helped me concentrate more on the shot. Instead of thinking through all the different swing thoughts, the "Swing.....Set Through" runs through my mind. Also, I find that the "Y" drill is an excellent part of my preshot routine, helping me feel better extension in the shot (which has been one of my swing problems). My shots have been much more crisp and consistent, and the differential between my index and course rating on the last 3 rounds has been 0.5, 5.0, and 5.3 (noticably better than my handicap). During a round yesterday, a couple buddies who I hadn't played with in a couple months were both commenting positively about how smooth my tempo looks now.

So I'm sold. The iPod stays in the bag, and I'm going to make a few minutes of tempo training part of my warm up before every round and at each of my practice sessions.

[umpiremark]

I think that I have said this on here before, but after Clambake's post, it bears repeating. The Tour Tempo methodology works best with a good swing and/or a good understanding of good swing mechanics. Definately Tour Tempo is neither a quick fix nor is it the miracle in a can fix-all. Good Tempo will not fix or help a poor swing.

What Tour Tempo has done for me, Clambake so eloquently applied. Take the swing thoughts and mechanical feel out of the swing and relax with a good temo and confident swing. Am I now (in two weeks) a scratch golfer? Hell no ... but my swing is smoother, my confidence is up and I'm making better contact with the ball.

Last night for example, I shot 45 (my average). I had three putts lip out, Coulda, shoulda, woulda been a 42. But the on course swings, the confidence I have in knowing I can hit this club, make that shot or hit that fairway has been greatly improved.

Like Clambake and the others that posted to the positive on here, I plan on continuing the tempo tones, the drills, the practice and keep improving. If it was easy, everyone would do it and do it well. Golf is hard, practice is necessary and Tour Tempo makes sense for both of those to be a tad bit easier.

Enjoy and good luck. As with anything in golf, NEVER look for immediate and permanent fixes. Golf is a sport where change takes time and dedication. Tour Tempo just helps make sense of those.

[Clambake]

Good points, Umpiremark, and you also hit on a key point that I left off - confidence. After seeing how the improved tempo helped me on the range, stepping up to a shot on the course and thinking of the tempo tones or the swing-set-through chant really helps settle my mind and have more confidence in the shot.

I also think that the Tour Tempo method is great for someone who is thinking too much about the swing. If you feel that you have too many swing thoughts swirling through your head, using Tour Tempo may help a lot as you'll basically distill the swing into a feeling for timing instead of trying to feel a multitude of different club positions.

Another area I've found Tour Tempo very helpful on is making sure the swing is the same for every club. We've all heard that the swing with a short iron should be essentially the same as a driver; my coach says "different clubs, same swing". But achieving this is difficult and fairly counterintuitive - as a result, one adjusts (either consciously or unconsciously) to the club, the swing, the lie, etc. Too many variables to control. But with Tour Tempo, it is much easier to feel the same swing with each club and you can get back to controlling fewer variables.

One final comment: as a former engineer, I often try to figure out why things work instead of just accepting (or rejecting). With my own swing and watching others on the range, I observe that there is a lot of manipulation of the club to get it on plane when one has a backswing that is much too slow (which seems to be the vast majority from my observations). Increasing the backswing pace to the Tour Tempo rates, it feels to me that centrifugal force is working a bit more on the club, making it more difficult to do the little micro-corrections. As a result, the backswing feels more natural and has fewer "hitches" in it.

As Umpiremark so accurately stated, though - there are no quick fixes, and Tour Tempo won't fix a bad swing. I consider it an excellent addition for those trying to transition their game after they've worked to build proper swing fundamentals so they can stop thinking about how to swing the club and instead now focus on how to consistently hit good shots.

[bunkerputt]

Have you ever seen that video clip segment called "Eye of the Tiger", where they put a camera on Tiger Wood's cap and watch him hitting balls? That's a great way to "feel" how fast a golf swing should be from takeaway to impact. That way you could train your eyes as well as your ears.

[patmoran2006]

I've read enough on here to decide I'm going to pick this up and give it a try. Naturally, I'll report the results.

I don't think I have a bad tempo, but it could definitely be improved. and in my case, I think my single-biggest problem with golf is that I do instill far too many swing thoughts in my head, and at times that makes me play terrible.

[BigBoy]

I'm contemplating trying to engineer my own sounds that follow the Tour Tempo philosophy (3:1), but are smoother in nature. If any of you watched the Haney project, that tool that Hank had Charles use where he could "hear" his swing kind of inspired me.

http://www.sonicgolf.com/



Rather than three tones, I'm thinking of a consistent sound that progressively "peaks" at the top of the downswing, and then at the moment of impact. Basically mimicing the sound sample they have on the Sonic golf website, but ensuring its in the 3:1 tempo

Anyone else think this might be a good idea? Perhaps I will give the current system another try first to see if I just need to get the hang of it -

I really believe the importance of tempo is not over estimated by the author

[golfaddiction]

I'm contemplating trying to engineer my own sounds that follow the Tour Tempo philosophy (3:1), but are smoother in nature. If any of you watched the Haney project, that tool that Hank had Charles use where he could "hear" his swing kind of inspired me.

I was just thinking how Charles Barkley would probably be able to qualify for the Champion's tour if he practiced tour tempo. He wouldn't need a show. Just 3 times a week of tour tempo practice and he'd dominate.

I'd be interested in hearing the Sonic golf/Tour Tempo mashup. It sounds promising.