Which is better, a slow or quick tempo? (Video) - by Pete Styles
Which is better, a slow or quick tempo? (Video) - by Pete Styles

Watching golf from the TV you’ll often hear the analyst talk a lot about tempo and how who’s got a great tempo, who’s got a really quick tempo, who’s got a really slow tempo and that can leave a golfer wondering well, what’s best, what should be my tempo be? Well the problem here is, if you try and use somebody else’s tempo, that’s not really going to work for you. Every golfer or every person has their own tempo, their own cadence if you like.

Some people are fast walkers, some people are always busy, always want to get into things. Other people kind of languish around and do things a lot more slowly. And it’s quite important you take and develop that tempo out onto the golf course with you. The other important thing on the golf course is you remain consistent so your tempo doesn’t change be it the start of the round or the end of the round. So if you are the sort guy that jumps out of the car, rush in, slams the boot, ties your shoelace quickly, walks to the first tee quickly, quick ten balls on the practice ground, quick ten puts on putting green and then goes to the first tee and then says, “Right, now I’m going to slow down, I’m going to do everything in slow motion, like anybody else I’ve seen on the TV.” That’s not really going to work for you. That’s not who you are. So it’s important than when you get to the first tee, I’m not suggesting you should rush, but you should do things in a confidence and authoritative manner like you do in the rest of your life. Then when you play round you need to maintain that -- maintain that tempo throughout the whole round. Particularly as you’re coming towards the back nine the last few holes, you start to get a bit tied a little bit lethargic. Don’t go onto your shell become withdrawn and slow down too much. The flip side of that, is the guy that does everything really slow and quite lazily in the whole of his life then gets on the first tee and says, “Right I’m going to have this today, this is me, I’m going to play as fast as I can, I’m going to keep up with everybody in front of me.” That’s not going to really work for you either. So your tempo needs to be consistent with how you are in general life and consistent throughout the round of golf. So play with your tempo not the tempo of somebody else you’ve seen on the TV. 2015-03-27

Watching golf from the TV you’ll often hear the analyst talk a lot about tempo and how who’s got a great tempo, who’s got a really quick tempo, who’s got a really slow tempo and that can leave a golfer wondering well, what’s best, what should be my tempo be? Well the problem here is, if you try and use somebody else’s tempo, that’s not really going to work for you. Every golfer or every person has their own tempo, their own cadence if you like.

Some people are fast walkers, some people are always busy, always want to get into things. Other people kind of languish around and do things a lot more slowly. And it’s quite important you take and develop that tempo out onto the golf course with you. The other important thing on the golf course is you remain consistent so your tempo doesn’t change be it the start of the round or the end of the round.

So if you are the sort guy that jumps out of the car, rush in, slams the boot, ties your shoelace quickly, walks to the first tee quickly, quick ten balls on the practice ground, quick ten puts on putting green and then goes to the first tee and then says, “Right, now I’m going to slow down, I’m going to do everything in slow motion, like anybody else I’ve seen on the TV.” That’s not really going to work for you. That’s not who you are.

So it’s important than when you get to the first tee, I’m not suggesting you should rush, but you should do things in a confidence and authoritative manner like you do in the rest of your life. Then when you play round you need to maintain that — maintain that tempo throughout the whole round. Particularly as you’re coming towards the back nine the last few holes, you start to get a bit tied a little bit lethargic.

Don’t go onto your shell become withdrawn and slow down too much. The flip side of that, is the guy that does everything really slow and quite lazily in the whole of his life then gets on the first tee and says, “Right I’m going to have this today, this is me, I’m going to play as fast as I can, I’m going to keep up with everybody in front of me.” That’s not going to really work for you either. So your tempo needs to be consistent with how you are in general life and consistent throughout the round of golf. So play with your tempo not the tempo of somebody else you’ve seen on the TV.