From: "James F. Tims" <p00168@psilink.com>
Subject: Re: swing speed question
Organization: Semper Excelsior
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 18:04:46 GMT
X-Mailer: PSILink (3.2)

>DATE:   Mon, 4 Jan 1993 15:03:06 GMT
>FROM:   Phuong Vu <pav@masc.rice.edu>
>
>I am a beginner to golf and have heard people uses the following
>terminology but I don't have a feel for what they mean.
>
>- tempo: what's a good tempo ?  how do you teach a person to have
>  a good tempo, especially since it seems so important to a good swing.

A good tempo is one which does not make it difficult to make the 
transition from backswing to downswing.  A good tempo does not upset 
one's balance.  Too fast a tempo will force the rhythm of the swing, 
rhythm generally meaning the characteristic slowing and acceleration of 
the arms and club perceived as a pendulum.  Some players have more 
rhythm in their swings than others.  Tommy Armour III and Arnold Palmer 
have no rhythm to speak of.  Fred Couples and Larry Mize are smoothly 
rhythmic, timing their weight shifts and the natural frequency of their 
armswings into a graceful move. 

>
>- swing speed: how do I measure my swing speed ?
>

Clubhead speed?  Stick with yards!  8^).  Some golf stores have clubhead 
speed measuring gizmos at the practice net.  Swing speed, I would say, is 
synonymous with tempo.  

>- tension at the top of the swing: a college golfer told me at a driving
>  range the other day that I seem to have too much tension at the top
>  but he really cannot quantify what it means.  How do I know I have
>  too much tension ?
>
>Thanks.

Most good players start the club away from the ball quite quickly -- but not 
jerkily with a "snatch" -- so that the club is moving fairly fast early 
in the backswing.  They almost immediately begin to uniformly decelerate 
as inertia carries the club the rest of the way to the top of the swing. 
As the club nears the end of the backswing the muscles on the left side 
stretch, and the club is at the top of the arc as if it were a thrown 
ball which is starting back down.  Palmer launches the club into the 
limits of his backswing and the change of direction is violent.  One 
needs strong hands and wrists to make this work.  Palmer falls down a 
lot, too, another consequence of his very fast tempo, but he has great 
balance at impact -- he falls down later. 8^)

The less tension one has a the top of the swing, the easier it is to 
start the weight transfer from the back to front without radically 
effecting the club at the top, i.e. there is less rigidity in the 
structure.  With tension, one is "popping the clutch", while without it
there is a smoother engagement of the gears.  Too little and you wear 
out the clutch!

Tempo and rhythm are the holy grails of the swing.  How can they be 
taught?  Find the answer and you'll be worth millions, overnight.  I 
think the best way to help yourself is to think about grace and balance 
and the idea that hitting the golf ball should not be a struggle.  
Frequently heard discriptions of bad swing rhythm include, "hitch", "yip", 
"yank", "jerk", "jab", "jump", and "stab".
  ,...,.,,
 /666;    ',    jim tims
////;    _~ -   p00168@psilink.com
(/@/----0-~-0
 ;'  . `` ~ \'
  , `    ' , >
;;|\..((   -C----> We're all looking for that perfect blend of grunt and grace,
;;| >-  `.__), and hope we can keep it for more than a day when we find it.






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