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As a tennis play of 30+ years I have always had a very fast racquet swing speed and a very strong right side, yet as a golfer I feel it's throwing off the timing in my body movement. Are there any tricks to slowing down the swing speed on transition? When I get to the top I just can't seem to slow it down.
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Re: Fast swing speed, any surefire cures to slowing it down?
Al, try and insert a Wayne Grady type pause at the top of your swing in practice. Don't worry too much about the quality of the strike although you may find no real difference. Then hit some balls without the pause, hopefully your muscles should now be 'tuned' to swing a bit slower, easing the jerkiness you may be finding in your transition. Keep practicing until you notice improvement.
Another tip is to start the swing from the top. Take your backswing and hold it at the top make a note of the position and then take a few practice swing just lifting the club in front of you (no backswing as such) and slotting it into place. This will give you the correct feel for the exact point of transition and you will be able to tell exactly at what point in the backswing you need to start down.
Tempo is always a problem. I often find the best way to get my tempo right is to watch players with beautiful timing. Els, Couples and Snead copme to mind. luckily Sneads swing is readily available on the golf channel in the late evening when they screen the celebrity golf tv show from the sixties. If you can picture their swing in your minds eye you can try and duplicate it yourself.
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Re: Fast swing speed, any surefire cures to slowing it down?
Al,
Please don't take this the wrong way or think I'm being an ass, but in the years I've been teaching I've faced squash, racquet ball and tennis players all saying the same thing as you.
The secret to consistent ball striking is to co-ordinate the movement of the club, arms and body ... if you can't slow the arms and hands down - speed the rest of your body up.
Take Nick Price for example - he has an excepitonally quick swing. On average his swing temp is 1/3rd faster than anyone else on tour. He tried to slow down in the mid 90's with out success. He just has a quick tempo and that is that. Have a good look at his swing - he was NO pause at the top. Quite literally it's "up,top,down,finish" - read it quickly and you'll get the idea of his tempo.
Don't mess with your natural tempo - if it is fast, well - then it is fast. I have a very slow tempo - that is what came naturally and I don't mess with it. You have to do the same - don't mess with what comes naturally.
'Natural' movements are almost impossible to work out of the 'golf process' and tempo is one of those 'natural' factors. Any experienced golf instructor will tell you the same thing...
I strongly suggest you learn to speed the rest of your body (hips, knees and shoulders) to keep pace with your natural tempo. If your arms and hands are quick, speed the rest up. If you mess around with the timing of your swing (like an engine of a car) - you're asking for the whole thing to fall apart. Then, Al, you're in serious sh1t to try to rebuild a natural movement you've gone and tinkered with.
Okay? Please, take it from me - don't mess with your natural tempo!Comment
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Re: Fast swing speed, any surefire cures to slowing it down?
Graham, I actually recall reading something like that some time ago so I really appreciate your mentioning this. I do everything fast in life; I walk fast, I rollerblade fast and play tennis fast so when people would say 'you swing too fast' I'd do everything possible to slow it down but it just never worked. I'm happy to hear that there are other things that can be done to even out my tempo besides slowing down what feels like a natural rhythm to me.Originally posted by TeachingProComment
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Re: Fast swing speed, any surefire cures to slowing it down?
I disagree Graham, I struggle with quickness of swing myself. I am not naturally given to fast swinging, my tempo is very measured, i am a bit of a coiler, but when I am playing poorly I always compare a tape of myself to one I took when I knew I was playing really well. Almost every time I have increased my swing speed, with no time to store the power and release it.
I am not advocating a chamge of tempo, I'm just trying to suggest ways to fix a particular problem with a small but incredibly important part of the whole swing.
Your natural body tempo has nothing to do with the speed of certain parts of your swing. Its very easy to get quick at the top -starting down before you have finished going up, I think this is what Al is talking about. All over tempo is the key and if any one part of your swing goes (for example beacuse of another sport or an injury) usually only that part is affected and throws the rest out.
That said opinions are like a$$ho!es, everyone has one.......
D.Comment
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Re: Fast swing speed, any surefire cures to slowing it down?
My two cents....
I don' think there is anything wrong with a quick downswing, but there is a disadvantage of having a quick backswing. Can anyone explain what the benefit of having a fast backswing is? NO - because there is no benefit. The purpose of the backswing is to get you into the proper position at the top. Most who take their backswing too fast start their downswing before they finish their backswing, which leaves their backswing abbreviated and they are then racing their arms to catch up to the rest of their bodies, usually with minimal success. The golf swing is about 3 second process. Starting from your take away, when your arms are parallel your should be at 1, at the top of your backswing you should be at 2, and at impact you should be at 3. Now, these may not be exact seconds, but you need the same time intervals in between each point to have a even tempo.Comment
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Re: Fast swing speed, any surefire cures to slowing it down?
Mizunoman, there's a difference between a natural tempo and a executed tempo. Let me explain:
When you taped your 'good' swing where your swing tempo is measured ... it was based on natural movements. Your brain does all the work and you don't have to think about it, everything is subconcious.
When you speed up, normally your gross motor control is telling your arms to go quicker. It deviated from the natural tempo that is natural or bedded in your subconsious. But, it doesn't tell everything else in the gross motor to speed up as well, let alone the fine motor control like your fingers, eyes, ears (yes, ears are very important to the swing!) ... so what happens - no tempo, no rhythm and a bad swing and probably a bad result. Why? A quick tempo isn't your natural style.
You struggle with quickness yourself not because the tempo is fast ... you struggle becuase the tempo on a 'bad' swing is not the same as what your golfing brain is used to so the sequence of events is out. If everything in your swing was sped up euqlly, you wouldn't have a problem.
Al has a naturally quick swing which he can't develop a rhythm with because the timing of transition is out. It's actually the other way around: the timing of his transition is out of synch with his natural tempo.
Natural tempo is everything ... it controls what, how and when.Comment
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Re: Fast swing speed, any surefire cures to slowing it down?
I am new to golf and have a quick tempo and a fast swing. My golf teacher ( Im in the midst of taking lessons) has told me to keep my tempo, "it yours," and not try to be something you are not. I find I benefit from slowing down my once too quick backswing but my agressive downswing at a fast rate is fine. The small parts or keys to make it more effective (Turning my L shoulder more and releasing hands at R hip) are what I must work on. Its great to hear someone else state this and then explain why. I have always done things fast and agressively. I cannot emulate Fred Couples and when I try it has less than satisfactory results. Thanks for the explanation.Comment
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Re: Fast swing speed, any surefire cures to slowing it down?
I'll chip in on this one (something I rarely manage on the golf course!)
I've recently discovered my natural tempo after having some coaching and really improving my swing. It's difficult to categorise but I guess you would say it's fairly relaxed. I can speed it up to really go after a shot but I do have to make a strong conscious effort to keep my body and legs in sync with my arms. If I don't then I hit a bad shot. Conversely, I find it almost impossible to slow it down and attempt to caress a shot. When I'm not striking the ball well my first thought is to concentrate on my swing tempo and almost always it works. I think Mizunoman has the same experience.
I've read quite a lot about tempo recently and almost everyone seems to agree that every shot should be played with the same natural tempo (driving, pitching, putting) with control of power and distance achieved by varying the length of the backswing.
I'll go with Graham on this one, don't fight your natural tempo, fast or slow, as it's not a battle you can win.Comment
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Re: Fast swing speed, any surefire cures to slowing it down?
Just to add fuel to fire.
I also believe don't interfer with natural tempo.
Theres alot of fast swingers (golf) out there and it works for them, it wouldn"t for me because its not natural for me.
My original coach had a swing like a girl and tried to get everyone hitting it like him, I was lucky his father who had retired for three years stepped back in to help me.
I use to hit really really short but straight his father got me to play for the next 3 months (dont worry about the score) just hit it hard. From here we found my natural tempo and worked from there.
In a pressure situation we revert back to whats feels natural so why put the brakes on your swing and change it????
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