Tempo, Tempo, Tempo

[n8ron]

Golf epiphany:

I worked on Tempo, and Tempo alone today at the range and during league. It suddenly made clean ball striking an almost casual affair. Hitting from the inside, hitting down on the ball, and squaring the club face become automatic and completely natural.

Keeping tempo during a round when you have to accomplish certain shots is the trick. Ultimately I prevailed.

Of course I didn't score well tonight because when ball striking improves, the putting goes down the crapper. This happens in order to maintain the fundamental equilibrium of the universe. I can't count how many times I turned birdie and par opportunities into bogies and double bogies. Thank you golf!

My point is that sometimes all that needs to be worked on is the feel of golf, and to not obsess over the minutia of the swing.

[HSip]

Golf epiphany:

Substitute "putting" & "stroke" respectively - tempo is extremely important for putting as well. It does seem easy when the stars align however infrequently

[$2 Nassau]

So how exactly did you work on tempo? Any particular swing thought you had, some kind of timing mechanism you used, etc?

[n8ron]

Believe it or not, I was actually thinking about making love. You have to commit to what you are doing, but still be tender and gentle. That and watching my divots on practice swings. When the divot was in the right place, the tempo was right. The more I did that, the easier it was to remember what felt right.

General swing thoughts were as follows:
-Turn back
-Start with legs/hips
-Follow through

Like I said before, my key visual clue was my divot. Before I looked up I could tell what the ball was going to do by the divot. If I got too fast, I would hit it thin or hook it or both. If I went too slow I would hit fat or push/slice.

[TN94z]

Tempo is important. I recently made a swing change and initially it had my swing speed uncontrollably high. I went to the range and for 100 balls I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I wasn't hitting the ball like usual. On the ride home, it hit me....I was swinging way too fast. The next session I slowed my tempo down and it got much better.

[$2 Nassau]

Believe it or not, I was actually thinking about making love. You have to commit to what you are doing, but still be tender and gentle.

One of the funniest things I've read on here, but it makes complete sense.

[PingGKEN]

Thats funny you made this thread. I was just about to post one just like it after my range session last night. I started out ok and then decided to turn it up a notch and go full swing. Shots were getting closer and closer to el hosel. I was just going way too fast. I wasnt allowing time for my left hip (righty) to turn back. My arms were on their way down already before my hips were cleared. I changed it up to where I felt a rhythmic "Laaaa .... Deeeee... DAH". "Laa" is the back swing, "Deee" is my left hip turning back. "DAH" was the downswing. The more I spaced out the lah dee dahs, the more power I had in the swing it seemed. Dead center hits, even some near the toe too. (And I never toe shots!)

This confirms for me, that, tempo is definitely the key.

[umpiremark]

"Believe it or not, I was actually thinking about making love."

The question is ... with who? Or is it, "With whom?" HAHAHAHA
That's funny ... but hey, what ever works, works!

[Chief Broom]

Believe it or not, I was actually thinking about making love.

You started thinking about baseball?

[golfbarefoot]

Of course I didn't score well tonight because when ball striking improves, the putting goes down the crapper. This happens in order to maintain the fundamental equilibrium of the universe.

I love it. Oh how true. Kudos on your epiphany, good tempo helps me with a smooth transition to my downswing and I agree is ultimately a huge factor is solid ballstriking. keep at it and good luck man.

[wedge player]

Believe it or not, I was actually thinking about making love.

sounds like my tempo to gets kinda fast sometimes though lol

[wedge player]

sounds like my tempo to gets kinda fast sometimes though lol

to the person who sent me some rep funny,maybe if you got it every now and then youd be a little happier insted od hatin on people cause your jealous

[golfbarefoot]

Don't let some troll rattle you with a note. Unfortunately there are always people who like to hate, especially if don't play their equipment or agree with their opinion. Just let it go and be glad your one that enjoys the game and doesn't troll around. I've seen more blade iron haters that are angry anyone plays blades it actually funny. It's the same anywhere, even in the corporate world I live in, or just about anything you can name Just laugh and keep pluggin away with your game, there are some good posters here too. Good luck

[keb]

Any recommendation for good book on tempo?

[shankapotamus]

Tour Tempo by John Novesel.

[CG031]

Tempo and feel are huge for me. Especially as more a feel player then mechincial, textbook type of player. But, sometimes, your tempo will get thrown off, and you can not get it back on track for that round/or few holes. It's happened to me in matches where I just can't get any rhythem and tempo down that round and I just don't hit the ball well at all.

That's where the need to be able to get the ball up and down comes into play.

[KwSipp]

Tempo is great to work on, Nancy Lopez is a great example, if anyone knows who Im talking about she basically is more laid off than all of america right now haha but Tempo was her biggest secret to success!! My biggest swingthought besides tempo though is the concept that everything is supposed to happen at the bottom of the swing, just think about it when your at the range hitting balls. Basically what I mean is transition from back to downswing let it happen and when you "go after it" do it at the bottom of the swing NOT the top.

[n8ron]

That's exactly what I'm talking about; let it happen. I realized I needed to work on tempo when I was watching swing videos of the old time guys like Hogan and Sneed. The old time guys seem so much looser in general. There was also that thread on the book 'Tour Tempo'. I kept working on positions and other standard golf swing instruction, but nothing was coming together. Tempo was the missing link that made it all happen. Unfortunately it is like learning to ride a bike which must be felt to learn, and so it is hard to describe.

In summary, Tempo puts all of that swing theory together.