So many fundamentals, and I\u2018ve written about them all, many times. The ones I hear touring pros paying the most attention to are aim and tempo. I wrote about aim a few weeks ago. Today, let\u2019s talk about tempo. <\/p>\n
Several years ago, I watched a rebroadcast of a PGA Championship Champions Clinic on TV. At these clinics, past tournament champions teach shotmaking and playing strategies to an assembled audience. Every pro who talked about the full swing on this show said that what he was working on at the time was tempo. <\/p>\n
Good tempo allows your swing to work like it should, like a tuned machine. Everything works at the right order and at the right moment.<\/p>\n
The proper tempo allows you to play golf with a calm mind<\/a>. In a world filled with technical instruction, it needs to be mentioned that a calm mind is what permits technical excellence to emerge.<\/p>\n A lot of what you read in instruction books about finding your tempo is pretty vague, saying your tempo should fit your personality. Easy-going, slow tempo. Fast-paced, quicker tempo. I have no idea where that connection ever came from, or what its basis is, or why champion golfers keep repeating it. It\u2019s not how they did it. Let\u2019s take another tack.<\/p>\n I will guess there are moments in your swing when your mind blanks out. Am I right? Somewhere between the start of the downswing and the follow-through there is a piece that happened too fast for your mind to experience. You were following your swing in your mind, and at some point it just disappeared. That represents your tempo getting out of whack. <\/p>\n To find the tempo that is right for you, slow down your swing until this blank spot disappears. Swing at a speed such that your mind can follow everything you\u2019re doing, from start to finish. This is not so your mind can give orders, or critique your swing as it goes along. It\u2019s so your mind can observe the whole thing. Nothing more. Once you find that swing speed, that\u2019s the tempo that is right for you.<\/p>\n This speed might feel a lot slower than you\u2019re swinging now. Don\u2019t be concerned. The club will still be moving fast enough, and you\u2019ll gain control of the clubhead. That leads to centered hits on a square clubface, which leads to straight shots and good distance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So many fundamentals, and I\u2018ve written about them all, many times. The ones I hear touring pros paying the most attention to are aim and tempo. I wrote about aim a few weeks ago. Today, let\u2019s talk about tempo. Several years ago, I watched a rebroadcast of a PGA Championship Champions Clinic on TV. At … Continue reading The Right Way to Find Your Golf Swing Tempo<\/span>