tic toc tic toc tic toc

I wanted to write a blog about focussing on tempo today.  I’ve been thinking a good bit about how to keep a consistent speed to my swings regardless of the club.  Tempo has been one of my main exercises this week.  Before I started writing, though, I decided to look back at what I was doing a year ago today and found this in my personal notes:

“got out to Heron by 7AM after getting up at 6 for no good reason outside of waking up early and feeling good about it.  I practiced for 3.5 hours, all of which felt really good and I had a REALIZATION about my putting, namely that I need to SLOW DOWN and really CONCENTRATE on what I am doing.  I’m working on my arc, my TEMPO, my speed, etc, all of which are better when I slow it down and really think about my ultimate goal. ”

Seems there is a common theme that has spanned the past year and will probably continue for the years to come.  There are certain things that a golfer is always working on and for me, tempo is one of those.  I have a tendency to get fast with my arms and then overcompensate on the next swing by getting my body out in front of the club.  Both of these produce sub-optimal results of either a hook or a push, but if I can get in the tempo-groove all is well.

I often look back at where I was and what I was thinking last year.  In a sense, it helps ground me and at the same time boost my confidence.  There is a chasm between then and now, but with similar themes on each side.  Last year I was just picking up a PW for the first time, trying to learn how to hit the ball off the ground with an even tempo; this year I am trying to maintain consistency between 210 yard 3-hybrids and 160 yard 6-irons by having a similarly smooth swing with both; next year who knows what I’ll be fine-tuning, but I can imagine it will be worlds different than today but with the same theme of staying on tempo.

Looking forwards or looking backwards, doesn’t really matter as long as you know what you need to do today.  For me, that starts with a visit to the Nike folks to have my 3-hybrid worked on.  After that, it’s time to get the metronome out and solidify the smoothness of it all.