Dale Hill Pro Newsletter - 5th August 2010
It’s not something that many club golfers stop for a second and think about, but how’s your rhythm? It’s a tricky question, because rhythm, or tempo, is so hard to quantify, and even if it was, most players wouldn’t recognise a good tempo it until they looked at their scorecard!
Well now it seems it doesn’t need to be that difficult after all, because a man by the name ofJohn Novosel has added a little science into the equation. For almost a decade John has been timing the swings of Tour players to discover what ‘rhythm’ and ‘tempo’ is all about, and how it translates into performance.
His research (backed up by Yale no less) has proved that almost every Tour golfer has the same tempo: a 3-to-1 elapsed-time ratio of backswing to forward swing, measured to impact. This ratio is expressed in frames of broadcast-standard video e.g., 27 frames to the top of the backswing and nine frames down to impact for a relatively slow, Bobby Jones-type swing (i.e. a "27/9").Ernie Els in his prime was a 24/8, and the brisk swing of Jack Nicklaus a 21/7.
Here’s where things get even more interesting... Having monitored him since his comeback, John believes that the Tiger is returning to his best form... having clocked him recently at the ‘perfect’ 21/7 at the Open and 24/8 in other recent tournaments, which is exactly how he was swinging a decade ago when he was winning tournament after tournament!
Interestingly, John rates a 2 to 1 ratio as the perfect tempo for the Putter, but Tiger had been clocked on the practice-green hitting five-footers with tempos varying from 16/7 to 17/9. Perhaps that has lead to the change of Putter?
It’s interesting that something which most people would put down to ‘feel’ could be so technical after all – only in golf! If you want to improve your tempo, all it takes is a video camera or a stopwatch and a little help from your PGA Professional. A little ‘refinement’ work should restore your stroke, and have you dropping that handicap in no time! Click here to book a lesson.
Regards,
John
Well now it seems it doesn’t need to be that difficult after all, because a man by the name ofJohn Novosel has added a little science into the equation. For almost a decade John has been timing the swings of Tour players to discover what ‘rhythm’ and ‘tempo’ is all about, and how it translates into performance.
His research (backed up by Yale no less) has proved that almost every Tour golfer has the same tempo: a 3-to-1 elapsed-time ratio of backswing to forward swing, measured to impact. This ratio is expressed in frames of broadcast-standard video e.g., 27 frames to the top of the backswing and nine frames down to impact for a relatively slow, Bobby Jones-type swing (i.e. a "27/9").Ernie Els in his prime was a 24/8, and the brisk swing of Jack Nicklaus a 21/7.
Here’s where things get even more interesting... Having monitored him since his comeback, John believes that the Tiger is returning to his best form... having clocked him recently at the ‘perfect’ 21/7 at the Open and 24/8 in other recent tournaments, which is exactly how he was swinging a decade ago when he was winning tournament after tournament!
Interestingly, John rates a 2 to 1 ratio as the perfect tempo for the Putter, but Tiger had been clocked on the practice-green hitting five-footers with tempos varying from 16/7 to 17/9. Perhaps that has lead to the change of Putter?
It’s interesting that something which most people would put down to ‘feel’ could be so technical after all – only in golf! If you want to improve your tempo, all it takes is a video camera or a stopwatch and a little help from your PGA Professional. A little ‘refinement’ work should restore your stroke, and have you dropping that handicap in no time! Click here to book a lesson.
Regards,
John
