Tempo??

[dagolfer]

While on the range the other day the pro came out and watched me swing. He preceeded to roll my right hand over more on my grip, tell me to widen my stance, and have my weight a little more foreward. On top of this he said I have little to no tempo in my swing.... I either jerk quickly away from the ball or jerk my hands down quickly at transition. I worked on it a little and i noticed two things. I am starting to slice the ball a little again and when i do have a good tempoed swing i lose distance. Once good tempo is established will the distance come back? And do you have any tips to help my tempo stay consistant

[Bo the Golfer]

A friend of mine grooved his swing with better tempo. He swung the club slowly for a while and his distance wasn't there but as soon as he had the swing going for him he was able to ramp his swing speed up a bit and now he's as long as he's ever been. The slice may come from the hand being turned left so I would reverse that move.

[TN94z]

I slice can come from a slight "scooping" motion at impact as well. Make sure this isn't happening.

[Leftygolfer]

I agree with above about the tempo. I recently did the same thing in regards to weakening my grip. I didn't really slice it but more pushed it. I would not change back. From a neutral grip you can release the club and not hit hooks. It will take time to get used to but I doubt the pro was wrong in weaking your grip. Changes take time. Be patient and expect to be a little worse for a while. Really try to release the club and you should be able to square the face and not slice it.

[BallStriker]

From the "Amatuer's Biggest Mistake" file....this one from Jason Gore (paraphrasing)...


The big think I notice is that amatuers tend to think that you have to swing hardger to hit it a long ways, when in fact the key is to hit the ball with the center of the clubface. I swing with a nice, controlled fluid tempo to make sure I hit it in the center.....



I would say the average pro swings at about 80% capacity for a normal shot....yes, there are times they really go after it, but that is the exception not the norm.

I like the idea of swinging easy to groove the swing and then slowly and steadily build up swing speed as the swing feels more comfortable.

[CarlSpackler]

I like a swing thought from Harvey Penick where you imagine that you are swinging a bucket of water. If you jerk at all on the takeaway or downswing, water will splash out of the bucket.

[shankapotamus]

Tour Tempo by John Novosel

Get that book.

[mirv]

tempo is vital. think of fred couples or ernie els. they look like they're about to practically fall asleep while they're swinging. it looks so slow and easy and fluid that you wonder how the ball could possibly go anywhere, but it does. the key is tempo and to let your body do the swinging, not your arms and hands. and don't let the swing LOOKING slow fool you - those guys get some tremendous clubhead speed.

what you might try doing to help develop a steady tempo would be to practice your swing, slowly at first and working your way up, with a metronome. think of your swing as having points - the start of the swing when you first begin to take the club back being 1, the top of your backswing being 2, impact being 3, and your finished pose being 4. set the metronome to a purposely slow tempo - maybe 40 bpm - and learn to get your club into those "point" positions for each click. once you develop a feel for that, you can start notching up the speed into what feels like a natural, good rhythm for you.

note that you'll "lead" the first beat just a little bit, which means your body will move fractionally ahead of the beat to start the motion of the club moving back on the beat itself.

i worked like this for awhile and it's really helped me groove a consistent swing speed. no matter what club i have in my hands, i swing the same speed, and i let my body do the swinging, not my arms and hands. for point of refence, i was an arms and hands swinger with erratic tempo a year or less ago, and i hit a 3 wood about 230 yards at best and a 7 iron 150 yards at best. now that i've got a grooved tempo and let my body do the work, my 3 wood goes about 250 on average and my 7 iron about 160.

so to answer your question, yes, your distance will be there once you get that tempo grooved in.

[$2 Nassau]

Not a teaching pro here, but don't confuse tempo with swinging slow. There is absolutely nothing slow about any pro's swing.

They have excellent tempo and rhythm which gives the illusion of a slow swing, but it ain't slow!

[pjsnyc]

Tempo is the key to consistently accelerating through the zone. Without it, you're basically a duffer that gets one good shot per round.

What others have said above is right - get a good tempo first to establish a good feel for how to accelerate through the zone in a controlled manner. Then build up more speed once you're comfortable with it. Thats basically where I'm at right now - that coupled with a better weight shift has given me some more yards with accuracy diminished at a minimum.

Heck, I've even noticed it as an 18 hole round progresses. I feel more and more comfortable increasing club head acceleration (and speed obviously).

[mirv]

Not a teaching pro here, but don't confuse tempo with swinging slow. There is absolutely nothing slow about any pro's swing.

that's right, i misspoke in my post - i should've said it LOOKS so slow and fluid and easy. not that it IS slow.

[Leftygolfer]

I think one big indicator if you are swinging with good tempo is the finish. You should be able to finish in balance. If you can't, something with your swing or tempo could be improved. My personal belief is that for the mid-handicapper player as myself, swing easy isn't the best advice but this is great advice for the beginner. I think being aggressive and going after the ball is a good swing thought for me and maybe others. I like the top of the swing and the finish to be smooth but I am really trying to release the club through and down on the ball (irons). I feel like my best results are swinging about 90%. I can finish like a pro but still have the speed that I need through the ball. I am not longest player but I can play a course that is 6900 yards and still have reasonable clubs in. If you look at most pros with the driver, they do have good tempo, but they are usually always going after it hard. They rarely can't hold a finish but swing as hard as possible and still be able to post up.

[dagolfer]

Weeks prior to the pro looking at me i was slicing the ball but corrected that with a range session in which i placed a headcover to the outside of the ball and avoided hitting it along with focusing on coming to the "inside" part of the ball. After this i was hitting the ball great. Now that he "weakend" my grip which i am not going to reverse as he is going to give me lessons so he will fix me with my new grip. Anyway, tommorow i am going to go to the range and work on everything he told me too along with the headcover drill again to hopefully get rid of the slice. I believe the slice is back due to the different positioning of weight and timing a little of due to the jerks out of my swing. I was mainly jerking off the ball and from backswing to downswing. I hope this range session is a good practice and i figure things out because i shot a 46 yesterday that is the highest i have been in 2 months.

[denver_nuggs_15]

And do you have any tips to help my tempo stay consistant

It's really a feel thing for me. I can feel when my backswing is completed and that's when I start my downswing. If you are having trouble with being too "jerky" with the swing, try to feel when your backswing ends and downswing begins.

Also, you need to find out what tempo works best for you. I used to have a very slow tempo with my swing (like super slow). Now, it's more like and Ernie Els-like tempo. I have found that this works and feels the best for me. So, find out what tempo (fast, slow, medium, etc.) works best for you. I'm guessing it will also feel the best too.

[inthecup]

Weeks prior to the pro looking at me i was slicing the ball but corrected that with a range session in which i placed a headcover to the outside of the ball and avoided hitting it along with focusing on coming to the "inside" part of the ball. After this i was hitting the ball great. Now that he "weakend" my grip which i am not going to reverse as he is going to give me lessons so he will fix me with my new grip. Anyway, tommorow i am going to go to the range and work on everything he told me too along with the headcover drill again to hopefully get rid of the slice. I believe the slice is back due to the different positioning of weight and timing a little of due to the jerks out of my swing. I was mainly jerking off the ball and from backswing to downswing. I hope this range session is a good practice and i figure things out because i shot a 46 yesterday that is the highest i have been in 2 months.

A good tempo and "slow" swing speed meaning arm speed can be made up for with a great release which creates club head speed. As for the slice along with what you have said don't forget to turn your right hand over in the swing/follow though.

Good Luck Bill

[SubPar]

Tour Tempo by John Novosel

I use the Tour Tempo audio in my MP3 player now and then to reset my temo. His theory is a sound one based on looking at the ratio between the take away time to the top and the time to impact (3:1) in dozens of pro's swings. I used to work with the 27:9 but recently went to the 30:10.

It helps a lot to have an objective measure. Nothing is set in stone or right for everyone but Tour Tempo is a good place to start. If your tempo is a little different every time you swing, what are the odds everything (hips, hands, head...) will be timed consistently? SubPar

[riquet]

Hello, In all these threads I have not read any reference to Torque. In some of Andrisani's books of Tiger Woods swing (no need to purchase the
books, though - he first book mentions the greatness of every single move
Tiger does, and the second book kills the first book saying that many
things were really wrong, both books each praise Tiger's current coach - Harmon and Haney), it is clear that what provides much power to Tiger Woods' swing is the torque he builds between his waist and his shoulders. That's what he means by using his long muscles to gain distance.

Now, back to the backswing. If you have a very slow backswing, when you reach the top of your back swing you have lost some torque created by the inertia of the golf club head. If you speed up just a little bit your back swing, the weight of the club head and its inertia will cause your shoulders to twist a little bit farther with respect to your waist, and thus store some torque that will be helpful on the downswing to gain club speed.

Try this: Flex your right knee a little bit on your backswing so your waist gets restricted from turning further, and the degree of torsion between your shoulders and waist increases. If you do NOT flex your RIGHT knee, then your waist rotates with your arms around your right leg, and no torsion is built. So, on your way down, this torque will pick up and you will gain at least 10 or more yards in your drive (guaranteed).

So, as mentioned here, TEMPO is the key, since if you swing too fast on your backswing, and then your downswing will leave your torque behind and will not generate club head speed.

Try swinging too slow, as if it were slow motion, you will notice barely any torque (or MUSCLE stress between your waist and shoulders), try swinging too fast, most likely on your way down your hips will come down much faster than your arms and your arms will never catch up correctly/square.

But if you concentrate on Tempo and an intermediate backswing speed, you will feel the torque stored at your waist / arms will kick back on your downswing and boom! there's your added distance.

Please let me know if this works for you.

[BigBoy]

Tempo is so vital, and I think one of the main, if not THE MAIN, differences between a 10 and a 20 capper -

Tempo is that thing that makes a full 18 hole round up to my "potential" so elusive - I wonder how I can play 5 holes in a row at par or even under, then go through 4 double or triple bogeys in a row. I feel like I've forgotten how to even swing a club - then one good tee shot, and I'm back off to the races for a couple more holes -

I don't forget how to swing, i just get off tempo. Often you hear announcers talk about players with great tempos, and how it even matches the way they walk around the course.

When I get on tempo and hit good shot after good shot, it still is a mystery to me as to how or why I got there. And just as mysteriously, it vansishes and I'm back to hacker status.

I'm still in search of my tempo, and think that it is too often over looked with all of the swing analysis tools out there. The tough part about it is that its different for everyone.