Tempo in a swing

[tazrestling27]

For the past 3 months I have struggled with my consistency. I use to be dead accurate with my irons however they been going left and right ect. Just not myself. Last night I bought 300 balls and told myself it is time to figure it out. Playing with group stance posture ect. Nothing was working. Then I decided to slow my swing down. Once I did that I got my baby draw back that I had 3 months ago. So I decided to look at old film when I hit the ball well and new film. I started paying attention to the speed of the swing. When it felt like I was swinging at perfect tempo 21/7 about a 1 second swing. I was not always consistent. Last night I slowed everything down and allowed the lower body and upper body be in sync I was swinging about 1.2 seconds. Like 27/9 tempo. It made drastic improvements. Swing looks exactly the same just a little slower tempo. I hope this solves a lot of my problems, but I was wondering what people thoughts or have come across same thing. I was always worried about swinging hard because I was accurate in the past and hit my 7 iron about 180yds. Last night with the slowed down swing I was afraid I wouldn't hit it as far. However, I think I got more distance out of it. Plus I played the ball not so far forward in my stance. Which felt like it helped a lot as well. I use to have a ton of push shots, but last night only a few. It helped me hopefully it can help others. I will try again tonight and let you know.

[JasonInRaleigh]

It's always "fun" changing your swing, stance or ball position. Good luck with your endeavour.

I recently changed my drive and gained (no lie) about 25 yards and it goes straight instead of a fade right.

[tstrike34]

A lot of the guys in this forum have been helping me with my swing. I got Tour Tempo and it has changed the way I look at golf (from a personal perspective forever.

Tomorrow I plan to really slow my swing down from 3:1 because just tonight (a few minutes ago) I started hooking/drawing the ball from rushing my swing (I was trying out some more advice from the guys here and got too happy). In shutting things down for today, tomorrow I eagerly await the opportunity to dedicate a session to just swing tempo again.

[Roblar]

What is 21/7 or 29/7?

What is it supposed to mean?  x / y ?

And how are do you know if you are e.g. 21/7 or 29/7?

[JetFan1983]

I too will be slowing down my swing going forward. If you've seen my swing thread, I really go after the ball hard. I'll admit, it's fun hitting a flushed 7-iron 185 yards, or pummeling a driver 315 yards past everyone in my group by sometimes a good 100 yards. But it's no fun at all duck hooking shots OB or blocking them way right. Just the other day, on the tenth hole, I get to the tee. It's 415 yards. The previous time I played the hole, I had about 95 yards left for my second shot. So I'm feeling good. It's a tough hole and you have to drive it well to have any chance at hitting a GIR.

I end up making one of my bad swings and I blocked the ball way right into the driving range. I spent all of my five minutes looking for my ball in that ocean of practice balls, growing more frustrated and bitter by the second. I ultimately had to head back to the tee where I proceeded to hit a 250 yard hook that landed on the tee box of the 11th hole. I end up making a 9.

This has been building up in me for a while, but I finally then and there came to the conclusion that I had to start swinging slower. I usually only play from 6500 yards, so there's no point in trying to get so much distance whenever I play. Maybe once in ten rounds I'll play from 7000+ yards, but even then, 250 yards down the middle is all you need.

At the range last night I just worked on feeling like I was swinging 10%. That's what it felt like, anyway. I asked the guy next to me to watch my swing for a second, and after I hit the ball, I asked him if it looked weird in any way. He said it looked perfectly fine. I asked, did it look like I was swinging slowly? And he said no.

We'll see how this goes.

[cooke119]

Originally Posted by Roblar

What is 21/7 or 29/7?

What is it supposed to mean?  x / y ?

And how are do you know if you are e.g. 21/7 or 29/7?

I too would like to understand this.

[tstrike34]

Tempo is really important I am starting to really understand.

I am not an expert, but I am starting to understand that it is not how fast or strong you swing the club. Rather, its about using storing up energy and releasing it at the precise moment.

With that said, I really have a long way to go. The good news is that I am learning a lot of good habit and unlearning a lot of bad habits. It feels really good to flush the ball after a good and well tempo'ed takeway and wrist cock.

My ankles dont feel bad, and my intercoastals dont feel the strain.

[JetFan1983]

Originally Posted by tstrike34

Tempo is really important I am starting to really understand.

I first started playing in 2008 and I'm just realizing this myself. Less stress and strain on the body, more control over what I'm doing. Less power potential, but more sweet spot strikes, more club face control, more low point control. Sounds like a good realization to me.

[tstrike34]

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

I first started playing in 2008 and I'm just realizing this myself. Less stress and strain on the body, more control over what I'm doing. Less power potential, but more sweet spot strikes, more club face control, more low point control. Sounds like a good realization to me.

Agreed. Now I need to discipline myself and stick to the tempo I am developing. That will take awhile and some practice.

[Valleygolfer]

Actually getting my tempo right and slowing my swing gives me considerable more power now. If I speed my swing I lose power gained from correct transitions and well timed weight transfer.

[JetFan1983]

Originally Posted by Valleygolfer

Actually getting my tempo right and slowing my swing gives me considerable more power now. If I speed my swing I lose power gained from correct transitions and well timed weight transfer.

I hear what you're saying. Makes sense.

But when I say "power potential goes down," I meant that more as a mighty lash caught on the sweet spot will go farther than a smoothed out swing caught on the sweet spot -- at least for me. But overall, a smooth, controlled tempo (that feels slow to me) might yield better distance averages because I'd be weeding out more toe, heel, fat and thin strikes... theoretically speaking of course.

One thing I do feel confident about is that this would yield better proximity to the hole numbers for me, which is something I desperately want to improve. If that means taking a bit more club to do that, then so be it.

[JetFan1983]

Day one of my slower tempo change went well. As predicted, I had better contact, better start lines, less curve, less stress and strain on the body, and unfortunately less potential power. That said, as I also predicted, my average distance I think improved because I hit the sweet spot more often. I'm sticking with this change, and seeing where it leads me. It's a new feeling, so there are some new things to be learned, but I really felt like I was onto something today, without messing with anything mechanical.

[Valleygolfer]

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

Day one of my slower tempo change went well. As predicted, I had better contact, better start lines, less curve, less stress and strain on the body, and unfortunately less potential power. That said, as I also predicted, my average distance I think improved because I hit the sweet spot more often. I'm sticking with this change, and seeing where it leads me. It's a new feeling, so there are some new things to be learned, but I really felt like I was onto something today, without messing with anything mechanical.

I get a ton of power with my slower tempo. I pull off 94 mph 7 iron mid winter in the simulator with a slow tempoed swing. A lot of my power is generated in the lateral shift of my hips and shoulder movement.

[JetFan1983]

Originally Posted by Valleygolfer

Quote:

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

Day one of my slower tempo change went well. As predicted, I had better contact, better start lines, less curve, less stress and strain on the body, and unfortunately less potential power. That said, as I also predicted, my average distance I think improved because I hit the sweet spot more often. I'm sticking with this change, and seeing where it leads me. It's a new feeling, so there are some new things to be learned, but I really felt like I was onto something today, without messing with anything mechanical.

I get a ton of power with my slower tempo. I pull off 94 mph 7 iron mid winter in the simulator with a slow tempoed swing. A lot of my power is generated in the lateral shift of my hips and shoulder movement.

... and I'm sure your power comes from various other good pieces as well. 94 with a 7-iron is really, really fast.

Yea, I'm sticking with the slower tempo. It's funny. Two years ago, if I swung with a slow tempo, I'd hit my driver 150 yards. This was before lessons with good instructors. Now, I have a lot of good pieces in play in my swing, but I forgot about the whole swing easy thing. Now when I swing easy, I can still hit it far. A truly awesome discovery for me.

[Valleygolfer]

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valleygolfer

Quote:

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

Day one of my slower tempo change went well. As predicted, I had better contact, better start lines, less curve, less stress and strain on the body, and unfortunately less potential power. That said, as I also predicted, my average distance I think improved because I hit the sweet spot more often. I'm sticking with this change, and seeing where it leads me. It's a new feeling, so there are some new things to be learned, but I really felt like I was onto something today, without messing with anything mechanical.

I get a ton of power with my slower tempo. I pull off 94 mph 7 iron mid winter in the simulator with a slow tempoed swing. A lot of my power is generated in the lateral shift of my hips and shoulder movement.

... and I'm sure your power comes from various other good pieces as well. 94 with a 7-iron is really, really fast.

Yea, I'm sticking with the slower tempo. It's funny. Two years ago, if I swung with a slow tempo, I'd hit my driver 150 yards. This was before lessons with good instructors. Now, I have a lot of good pieces in play in my swing, but I forgot about the whole swing easy thing. Now when I swing easy, I can still hit it far. A truly awesome discovery for me.

I went in just to try out the Ping Ansers and the store clerk stuck me in the simulator with the Mizuno measuring device and I got my trajectory finally figured out too. Anyone want to buy some SG300 shafts...lol Unfortunately I will probably have to start over with yardages this year. I really do have one of the slowest tempos out there.

[Craptastic]

Quote:

What is 21/7 or 29/7?

What is it supposed to mean?  x / y ?

And how are do you know if you are e.g. 21/7 or 29/7?

Probably referring to the "Tour Tempo" app that you can purchase for iphone. It refers of the time ratio of backswing to forward swing. The app plays tones and musical sounds to the selected tempo e.g., 21/7 etc.

[Clambake]

Originally Posted by Roblar

What is 21/7 or 29/7?

What is it supposed to mean?  x / y ?

And how are do you know if you are e.g. 21/7 or 29/7?

Originally Posted by Craptastic

Probably referring to the "Tour Tempo" app that you can purchase for iphone. It refers of the time ratio of backswing to forward swing. The app plays tones and musical sounds to the selected tempo e.g., 21/7 etc.

The numbers represent the number of video frames it takes for each of the backswing and downswing when looking at a player's swing on video.     In his book "Tour Tempo", John Novocell describes how he would study hours of video of the game's elite players, going through them frame by frame.    He found that although different players may have a faster or slower total time for their swing, they pretty much all had a consistent tempo where time of their backswing compared to the time of the downswing was a 3:1 ratio.     Novocell's method of characterizing these different swings was to count frame by frame throughout the swing; each frame is 1/30th of a second.       Thus, a player who has 27/9 tempo took 27 frames for the backswing (just a tick under 1 second) and 9 frames from start of the downswing until impact with the ball (just under 1/3 of a second).