What's Your Preferred Putting Tempo?

[iacas]

I prefer to see my players exhibit two pendulum-like things in their putting strokes:

1. A backswing length and follow-through length that are about the same.
2. A fairly standard rhythm or tempo, defined as either when you take the putter away to when you strike the ball, or the end points of your backswing and follow-through.

Both of those traits are characteristics of a pendulum. The period is the same, and the swing lengths are the same (in a vacuum 😄).

---

Find Your Tempo

Everyone has a slightly different natural tempo. Some players prefer to have a slower putting stroke (think Ben Crenshaw), while others might putt with a faster tempo (like Brandt Snedeker). Most golfers will fall between about 66 and 80 BPM, but… Here's how to conduct this test to find your natural putting tempo.

1. Download an app like this one for iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/metronome-tempo-lite/id599833596?mt=8 and set it to 2/4 time if you can.
2. Start with about 72 BPM.
3. Take your putter and set up in your address position, and just start swinging your putter back and forth, trying to time either the bottom of the arc as it passes to the left and to the right, or the end points of your stroke (backswing and follow through).
4. If the metronome feels like it's too slow, and you feel you naturally want to go faster, speed up the tempo. If the metronome feels too fast, slow it down.
5. Verify this by altering the length of your stroke - try to find a tempo that feels good for short, medium, and long strokes (and thus short, medium, and long putts).
6. Vote in the poll above and post a response in this topic with your tempo.

@mvmac and I are curious to see what everyone's tempo is.

Me? I'm typically a 78.

[Pretzel]

I'm a bit slower, but I also like a heavier putter which could contribute to that. My preferred tempo is about 68.

[Club Rat]

I tried several BPM and the timing which suited my tempo was around 78.

Faster and slower settings caused less control, seemed like a push or pull stroke.

Question? Would tempo vary with distance of the putt? (4 ft versus 20 ft)

[iacas]

8 minutes ago, Club Rat said:

Question? Would tempo vary with distance of the putt? (4 ft versus 20 ft)

Uhmmmm… no.

See step 5 and the whole idea of the pendulum stuff. The period remains constant.

[Club Rat]

👍 see what you mean, thanks.

[Patch]

I did this several years ago when getting fitted for a putter. The metronome was part of the fitting process. I know the process took a while. 

I think I was some where in the 73-76 range, but I really don't remember, as it was quite a while ago. I am also on my third putter since that fitting.

I have no idea what it would be now, since I have switched to a much heavier putter.  

[iacas]

Bumping for some new people to add their votes. This is a good thing for you to find out and know… and practice.

[JetFan1983]

Damn, I'm on the higher end at 84. For those on the site who know me, I've been able to putt relatively pain free for about 2-3 months now. I feel like I'm putting fairly decent (for me), but then again, these putts never have anything on the line.

But yea, Snedeker is definitely a model for me. For some reason, I feel like I hit my start line/have better face control with a more aggressive stroke, but who really knows.

I definitely have a shorter follow-through than backswing as well. It seems to help me with distance control but again, I could be wrong.  

[boogielicious]

Thanks for the bump. Forgot to do this. I got around 60. I use a fairly long putter, 35.5, and tend to do longer easier swings letting gravity take over. I putted a few shots just to verify, both short and long strokes.

[Missouri Swede]

62

First adjustment was turning off Dave Brubeck Quartet. After that I settled pretty quickly into 60s. Felt smoothest and most natural at 62.

[No Mulligans]

52

Seems I'm really slow

[iacas]

2 hours ago, No Mulligans said:

52

Seems I'm really slow

That's really, really low. Are you doing it right? It takes you over a second to go from one end to the other end, or middle to middle?

Can you film yourself doing that and post it?

[No Mulligans]

20 hours ago, iacas said:

That's really, really low. Are you doing it right? It takes you over a second to go from one end to the other end, or middle to middle?

Can you film yourself doing that and post it?

Today it was 56 bpm

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2018 by No Mulligans

[iacas]

1 hour ago, No Mulligans said:

Today it was 56 bpm

Yes it was. Man that's slow… you've gotta take the putter back pretty far for your uphill 40 footers on stimp 9 greens!

[No Mulligans]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Yes it was. Man that's slow… you've gotta take the putter back pretty far for your uphill 40 footers on stimp 9 greens!

Yep, I'm going to try to change. I wonder what the average pga speed is...  maybe I'll go for that. 

[saevel25]

Mine is round 76.  I started at the 72 bpm, bumped it up by 2. I got to 78 and found it to be too fast. Dropped it back down to 76 and that felt right. I varied the length of the putting stroke. Yea, I kinda wonder what the PGA tour average is. 

[iacas]

Averages don't matter nearly as much as some of you might think. 64-80 is a pretty good estimate for the range on the PGA Tour.

[billchao]

I'm about an 82. Could even be slightly higher.