So we talk a huge amount about tempo in the golf swing. He’s got a fast tempo; he’s got a slow tempo, his tempo changes when he’s under pressure, all that sort of stuff. But tempo is as important if not more important with a putting stroke. Because putting stroke’s all about controlling the distance if you’re hitting the putt. Now the distance you hit the putt is not just about the length of the back stroke, it’s also about the speed of the down stroke, so tempo becomes very important to. Now just to describe this tempo to you slightly better, I’ve downloaded an app on my phone which I think you can get for free these days, and I’m going to set this app it’s basically a metronome. I’m going to set it to 80 beats per minutes. I’m just going to set it running so hopefully you can hear that through the microphone the tick tock, tick tock just the basic metronome musicians use. I’ll set it to 80 beats per minutes which is actually proven to be the tall average putting stroke on the PJ tour, how long the putter should take going in one direction when it beats it changes direction, when it beats again it changes back again.
So if I set up now I’m going to hold on to this, so hopefully you can hear this. So as I rock that backwards and forwards, each time it ticks I change direction with my putter. Now if I make short putts, short putts still on the same beat, the putter’s now moving much slower. Now if I make much longer putts, they still change direction on the same beat. Having to concentrate here guys to make sure that this is working for you and you can hear it and you can see it. So long putts and short putts both happen on exactly the same beat.
So I’ll turn that off now. So download the app, set it to 80 beats per minute and practice you’re putting stroke, either just in front of a mirror or actually hitting putts but consider that a short putt is tick tock, tick tock and a long putt is tick tock, tick tock. The beat is the same, the speed that the club travels through the middle is different, therefore if you’ve got a short putt, you make a short stroke on a long putt you’ve got a long stroke. So a little putt is tick tock and a long putt is tick tock. So the length of my stroke changes the speed of your putt and that’s how you can improve your tempo and your distance control when you’re putting.