Coaches Corner: Swing Consistency and Tempo
The majority of all the students that I have worked with have had one goal, consistency. Consistency can be found in many places and can be used to describe many parts of golf, such as; contact, direction, distance, and score, just to name a few.
The consistency that I would like to discuss in this Coaches Corner is on TEMPO! Think about your favorite song, play that song in your head. Now try and speed that song up and slow it down repeatedly. It’s hard to do, and it will have your favorite song sound differently to you and you may not like what you are hearing. The same can be said for a golf swing.
If the tempo of the swing is fast and slow and inconsistent, then the contact, direction, distance, and score will be inconsistent as well. If you try and “kill” the ball by starting the downswing too fast, your impact will suffer, if you try and swing too slowly, the distance will suffer. The best players in the world are close to a 3:1 ratio on back swing to downswing.
A great way to work on a consistent tempo is to simply think….one, one thousand, two, one thousand. By this I mean that when you start your back swing, say to yourself, one, one thousand. When you finish saying this, you should be at the top of your back swing. The you say to yourself, two, one thousand. When you finish saying that, you should be at your finish position and the ball is on its way to the target.
Hopefully this will help you with your tempo, contact and balance as well. Like I stated earlier, there are a lot of different “consistencies” in the game of golf. Step number one…get a consistent tempo to help you on your way to lower scores.
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The Coaches Corner is brought to you by our Oaks Course Golf Pro, Brad Patton. Brad is the Lead Staff Instructor and PGA Assistant Golf Professional. He has real a passion for golf and instruction, and has been part of the Oaks Course team for several years.
