Optimize Swing Tempo and Swing Speed to Play Your Best Golf

Video Swing Speed Drill of the Month

2009-06-16T19:41:00.000-04:00

The video swing speed drill this month is the Weighted Club Drill from Jim McLean, owner of the No. 1 golf schools in North America.

Here are a couple of important points that aren't explained in the video:
1. The Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer will detect when the golfer "dumps" the club, as demonstrated by Mr. McLean, because the radar will show a slower swing speed.
2. The best way to utilize the Weighted Club Drill is to note the swing speed with your driver before and after swinging the weighted club. This allows the golfer to quantify the swing speed increase produced by the drill.
Tip: In order to make steady progress, each time you practice at the driving range try to make the swing speed with your driver approach the "after" speed from your most recent session with the Weighted Club Drill, assuming you can do so with all other swing elements intact and solid ball contact.

Enjoy!

Two Absolute Truths about Swing Tempo

2009-06-13T15:54:00.000-04:00

In order to play your best golf, you need to understand the Two Absolute Truths about Swing Tempo.

As Jim McLean points out in the video clip entitled "The Importance of Swing Speed and Tempo" [the second video clip in the sidebar], most tour professionals have a swing tempo with their drivers from club takeaway to ball impact of between 0.9 to 1.2 seconds. By comparison, most average golfers have a tempo that is far slower.

Does this mean that your swing tempo should speed up? Is it absolutely necessary to bring your swing tempo within the range of 0.9 to 1.2 seconds? As Jim McLean states, maybe you need to speed up your tempo, or maybe you need to slow it down. It depends.

Swing Tempo Absolute #1 is to find the swing tempo that is ideal for you. You can determine your ideal swing tempo by practicing at the driving range and observing your swing tempo relative to swing speed and other qualitative factors. This may take more than one range session of trial and error to dial in. Once you find your ideal tempo, you are ready for the second absolute.

Swing Tempo Absolute #2 is to make your ideal swing tempo as consistent as possible from one swing to the next. You can accomplish this by regularly practicing at the driving range with feedback provided by the Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer. This should be a standard part of your practice routine.

Mastering swing tempo can be far easier than you ever imagined if you understand Absolutes #1 and #2 and you use the right golf swing training device – namely, the Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer from Sports Sensors, Inc.

What Gets Measured Gets Improved

2009-06-08T18:16:00.000-04:00

"What gets measured gets improved." This axiom did not originate from golf, but it most definitely applies to golf and other athletic endeavors.

We'd all like to "improve our golf swings," but what exactly does that mean? Improve what aspect of the swing? How? In what time frame?

If you slice or hook the ball into the woods on every drive, or your divots travel farther than your ball, then swing speed probably isn't the first problem you need to address. But, swing speed will become relevant for every golfer – either to increase swing speed for greater distance, or to improve swing speed consistency for greater accuracy, or both.

At that point, in order to realize the most efficient way to improve swing speed, you must have a way to measure swing speed. Solution: Swing Speed Radar®, the affordable and easy-to-use Doppler radar from Sports Sensors, Inc. And, if you don't mind killing two birds with one stone, you could simultaneously work on your swing tempo by regularly practicing with the Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer. Swing tempo has a significant bearing on swing speed and overall swing mechanics for optimal distance, control, consistency and accuracy.

By taking a methodical approach to improving their swings and utilizing the technological innovations that make Doppler radar less expensive than a decent driver, a high-end putter, or a single round at a swanky club, golfers can accelerate their mastery of the game.

Most golfers know their handicap. Do you want to lower your handicap? Then get to know your swing tempo and swing speed, and begin your improvements there...

Driver Swing Speed and Ball Distance

2009-06-04T12:28:00.000-04:00

This chart shows the approximate carry distance of drives hit at various swing speeds. The variables affecting the actual carry distance include the club loft, COR, launch angle, ball spin and climate. Swing speed ranges are indicated for three general categories of golfers: average golfers, tour pros and long drive pros.

The game of golf is about much more than how far a person can drive the ball, and, quite frankly, how far a person can drive the ball involves more than just swing speed. However, it can be stated with a fair degree of certainty that a golfer with a swing speed below 90 mph will never qualify as a tour pro. Therefore, while swing speed is not the only factor determining a golfer's playing level, it is one of the most important. It is also a factor that can be objectively and accurately measured.

The Swing Speed Radar® and Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer are top golf swing training aids, because they allow golfers of all abilities to understand and improve this important aspect of their games. Some approximate swing speed benchmarks from Jim McLean, owner of the No. 1 golf schools in North America, are:

90 mph to reach a handicap in the single digits
100 mph to shoot in the low single digits
110 mph to take full advantage of the trampoline effect of oversized club heads and high compression golf balls with multiple cores

Again, these are just rough guidelines, but any way you slice it, swing speed is one of the vital keys to becoming a better golfer.

Overview of the Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer

2009-06-03T01:08:00.000-04:00

The Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer is a small, inexpensive microwave Doppler radar velocity sensor that provides the swing speed and tempo rhythm for golfers of all ages and skill levels. It assists players in developing /optimizing their swing, and maintaining consistency, by measuring ACTUAL TEMPO TIME from club takeaway to ball impact at the climax of their forward swing, as well as the SWING SPEED of the clubhead as it approaches the ball. The Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer, featuring simple one-button operation, provides unmatched utility in a single, affordable device.

Clubhead speed and tempo are two significant characteristics of a golfer’s swing that must be optimized and controlled if the golfer is to consistently achieve his/her best ball-striking results. Expensive launch monitors costing thousands of dollars, primarily used by well-funded clubmakers, instructors, or pro golfers, generally include these two vital parameters in their measurement systems. However, less expensive devices for use by most instructors, clubmakers, and by the golfing public are limited in utility. Conventional swing speed meters can be inconsistent, unreliable, and complicated to use. Some even require attachments to the club that can change the club swing dynamics. Metronome-type devices can provide tempo time models for the golfer to try to emulate, but the resulting tempo time can only be estimated by comparisons with the model.

The Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer can be set to measure and display clubhead swing speed alone (SS Mode); tempo time, from club takeaway to ball impact, alone (TT Mode); or both swing speed and tempo time in the Dual Mode, in which the display toggles (alternates) between swing speed and tempo time.

The Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer is the practical choice of clubmakers and instructors who want the flexibility and convenience of use in the field as well as at their home-based hitting stations. It can be used by golfers of all ages and skill levels, at home or at their practice facilities, as they strive to optimize their swing mechanics and rhythm for their best distance, control, consistency and accuracy.

A Prospective Customer Asks...

2009-06-02T15:28:00.000-04:00

Question: Should I get the Swing Speed Radar® or the Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer?

Answer: Yes. But only if you want to lower your scores, spend less time in the woods looking for your ball, and allow your golfing partners subsidize your greens fees.

Question: OK, but which radar is ideal?

Answer: The Swing Speed Radar® provides invaluable swing speed feedback. This kind of feedback can benefit nearly every golfer. The basic Swing Speed Radar® [the blue unit] is, thus, highly recommended, particularly if the radar will also be used for baseball and/or softball swings. However, if shaving as many strokes as possible is important to you – as it is for most avid golfers – then the Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer [the red unit] is well worth the extra cost, if your budget permits. Teaching professionals have discovered that optimizing tempo and learning a consistent rhythm are among the most important skills a golfer can develop for a fluid, efficient swing and solid ball striking.

Conclusion: Without a doubt, the Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer is the ULTIMATE golf swing practice aid on the market today.

What Types of Golfers Should Use the Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer?

2009-06-01T13:00:00.000-04:00

The Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer is a highly beneficial training aid for:

Players learning basic swing mechanics [beginners to average golfers]
Players seeking to lower their scores by driving the ball farther [beginners to advanced players]
Players who wish to fine-tune their swing tempo and swing speed with all clubs for optimal distance, control, consistency and accuracy [average golfers to advanced players]

In other words, this flagship product from Sports Sensors, Inc. will help just about everyone who golfs more than once or twice a year – except maybe the golfer that enjoys picking up the lunch tab at the clubhouse or feels obligated to make “economic stimulus payments” on the course to the other members of his or her foursome.

Every time a golfer – any golfer, from a first-time hacker to a Top 10 PGA Tour Pro – swings a club, the swing has two discernible characteristics: swing tempo and swing speed. These characteristics can be measured. And analyzed. And optimized.

Granted, there are a multitude of other factors in the golf swing, but that is no reason to ignore the two characteristics the golfer can quantify and single out for improvement. When the golfer can increase swing speed, or generate the same swing speed with much greater ease and fluidity, scores are sure to drop. Likewise when the golfer finds his/her ideal tempo and is able to reproduce that ideal tempo swing after swing, consistently better shots will be struck.

The Swing Speed Radar® with Tempo Timer removes the guesswork so the golfer can intelligently address the critical aspects of swing tempo and swing speed. Improving – and ultimately optimizing – swing tempo and swing speed will put any golfer on the quickest path toward playing his or her very best golf.