Tour Tempo

In an earlier post I talked about the importance of tempo in your golf swing. Most instruction books mention tempo, but go no further saying they’re in favor of it and end up wasting two or three pages with contentless blather that teaches you nothing useful about making good tempo part of your game.

There are only two books I know of that tell you what you need to--mine, and one called Tour Tempo. The author of the second book, John Novosel, discovered through video analysis of elite golfers’s swings that the ratio of the backswing up to the top and from there to impact is 3 units of time to one.

He also noted that while different golfers have different swing speeds, they all swing with this same rhythm--3:1.

Novosel then developed a program of instruction so golfers can learn to swing with this 3:1 rhythm. This program is contained in a disc that comes with a book that and video and audio tracks.

Let me recommend this book to you with several caveats. First, the ratio is 2:1, not 3:1. The sound tracks on the disc are precise 2:1 intervals.

Second, the sound tracks coach you through only three discreet tempos. If the tempo that feels right for you and lets you hit the ball the best is between two of these tempos, you won’t be served by using the disc as a training guide.

Third, Novosel uses the word tempo to refer both swing speed (tempo) and the breakdown of parts (rhythm). These are wildly different concepts. While swing speed varies from player to player, the correct swing rhythm is the same for everyone.

Keeping those things in mind, this book has had and continues to have an enormous impact on my game. I worked hard to find the tempo that is right for me and to maintain it. I hit the ball really well when I swing at my tempo with the right rhythm. When I start hitting poor shots this is the first thing I check, and getting back to my preferences is usually all it takes to start hitting the ball well again.

You might get the book and read it through to get the idea, then get a metronome to find your personal tempo. If you are just taking up the game, please learn this fundamental before you do anything else. It’s that important.

Once you get it, regular practice at it will be the best thing you ever did for your game.

See more at www.bettergolfbook.com.