"The Zone" - Rhythm and Tempo

A golf swing is like a fingerprint, no two are the same. And some days when we hit the links it all comes together, we call that being in the zone. But what exactly is “the zone?’
It’s a hard thing to explain and I bet if you ask 20 pros you’d probably get a variety of answers. My take is that it’s a combination of rhythm and tempo which are two separate things. Rhythm is the fluidity of the backswing and downswing and how it all moves as one motion while your tempo is the amount of time it takes to make the actual swing. When these two entities work together we enter the “zone.” Most amateur golfers have too much fluctuation between the two which causes inconsistency. Swing path and club face are the two most important factors in consistent ball striking and having good rhythm and tempo allows us to keep our swing path moving in the right direction while allowing the club face to properly square up through impact.
Now the question is how do we develop proper rhythm and tempo? First, its understanding what both represent and second it’s putting that knowledge to good use through proper practice. This can be achieved a couple of different ways. 1) Devote some of your practice time to swinging a heavy or weighted club. This forces the golfer to swing easier and develop the rhythm we spoke about earlier. 2) Another option is to use a metronome. Yes, we have all heard about this for putting but it actually works for full swings as well. And if you can get a friend to video tape your swing (make sure the metronome is positioned so it can be seen as well in the video) that’s even better. A good tempo to aim for is somewhere in the neighborhood of 0.7 to 1.0 seconds although every swing is different as there is no one size fits all.
And finally, have you ever gone to you local range or your clubs range and watched the golfers come and go? 8 out of 10 start with and spend a majority of their time hitting the driver. Not a good idea if you’re trying to develop good rhythm and tempo. If you are a low handicap golfer, professional or you aspire to be either… a good start would be to focus on rhythm and tempo which may also mean changing your practice habits.
Give these suggestions a try, and with good discipline and stick-to-itiveness I guarantee you will find yourself in “the zone” more often!

 Blog written by Vince-Director of Instruction at VJF Golf Academy