| Rhythm and tempo can be considered together, | | | | a perfect lie to an open green. He hit it with his |
| because in golf they mean very nearly the same | | | | own established rhythm, and he reached the |
| thing. | | | | green with a perfect shot. |
| The rhythm in the swing of a good player is | | | | The poor or average player has no such |
| noticed because of the measured cadence in the | | | | established rhythm. Not only does he often have |
| upward and downward movement of the club. In | | | | a different rhythm for each club but for different |
| his swing there appears to be and there is a | | | | shots with the same club. He is prone to use a 7 |
| definite relationship in time between his backswing | | | | and swing faster, when he should be using a 6 |
| and his downswing. | | | | with a normal swing. He changes again to dig a ball |
| It is measured in two parts, from the time the | | | | out of the rough or a bad lie on the fairway. He |
| club leaves the ball until it stops at the top of the | | | | slows down when he tries to steer the ball. He |
| backswing, and from the time it starts to move | | | | always speeds up when the situation of the round |
| again until it hits the ball. The club does have to | | | | or match has increased his tension. Most of these |
| stop at the top, of course, for the instant | | | | changes are noticeable in his backswing, which |
| required to reverse its direction, whether we feel | | | | becomes faster, sometimes almost as fast as his |
| it or realize it or we don't. No object, not even a | | | | downswing. |
| golf club, can be traveling in opposite directions at | | | | This is why his swing looks so bad and the pro's |
| once. | | | | looks so good. |
| These two segments of the swing can be | | | | Why, you may ask, should anyone bother to |
| accurately timed by a motion-picture camera, by | | | | develop a rhythmic swing? Aside from how it |
| the simple process of counting the number of | | | | looks, of what value is it? |
| pictures the camera takes during each segment. | | | | It has two very definite values. One is that it |
| Such a count shows that the backswing of a | | | | promotes better timing. It doesn't assure or |
| good player takes almost exactly twice as long as | | | | guarantee that we will time a shot better, but it |
| the downswing. | | | | helps. It makes good timing easier to achieve. |
| This two-to-one ratio is the rhythm of the swing. | | | | The second reason is that a rhythmic swing helps |
| The total time or tempo of the swing will vary | | | | a great deal toward the goal of every swing, |
| with different good players, but the ratio or | | | | which is to strike the ball in the exact center of |
| rhythm will not. Nor will it spot, and many more | | | | the club face-"on the screws," as the pros say. |
| which are very close to it. This is one of the | | | | There is a very small area on the face, known to |
| reasons they hit the ball as far as they do. And | | | | all golfers as the "sweet spot," which transmits |
| one of the reasons they find the sweet spot and | | | | the maximum propelling force. When contact is |
| get close to it so often, is because their swings | | | | made on this spot, the ball will go much farther |
| are grooved in a constant, unhurried rhythm. | | | | than if the contact is toward the club's heel or |
| This is why the good player looks so good when | | | | toe. |
| he swings at the ball. There seems to be a | | | | Pertinent here are tests made for the United |
| definite, unhurried, relationship between the two | | | | States Golf Association by the Arthur D. Little Co., |
| parts of his swing. We sense it if we see him hit | | | | a research organization, during the United States |
| the ball only once, and it becomes more and | | | | Amateur Championship at Brookline in 1957. |
| more marked the oftener we see him swing. He | | | | Pictures were taken of the contact between club |
| has established a definite rhythm and he sticks to | | | | and ball. These were compared with the distance |
| it. In fact, one of the things he does when he | | | | attained and with the velocity of the club head at |
| goes to the practice tee before a round is | | | | impact. |
| re-establish his rhythm, so that he hits a 5 iron, | | | | Among the conclusions drawn by the USGA was |
| for instance, at exactly the same speed, with | | | | that accuracy of contact was highly important in |
| exactly the same effort, with exactly the same | | | | gaining distance. By accuracy was meant contact |
| tempo, each time he swings it, whether the shot | | | | with the exact center of the club face. Distance |
| is simple or difficult. | | | | dropped, even with a faster swing, if contact was |
| We will always remember Jimmy Demaret playing | | | | not made precisely at the center. |
| the twelfth hole at Inverness in the National Open | | | | The average golfer rarely gets this perfect, flush |
| of 1957. Demaret was in contention and his drive | | | | contact, although most of the time he isn't |
| on this hole wound up near the right edge of the | | | | conscious of not getting it. He thinks of it only |
| fairway. It is a par 5 hole with the first half | | | | when he hits the ball well out toward the toe or in |
| downhill, the second half uphill. Jimmy's drive had | | | | toward the heel, or toward the top or the sole. |
| caught a slight downslope, so that he had a | | | | The pros, on the other hand, hit many shots on |
| downhill lie. He was standing slightly above his ball. | | | | the sweetvary from club to club. The ratio will be |
| It was a most difficult shot to be made with a | | | | the same for the 8 iron as it is for the driver. |
| wooden club. To reach the green, Jimmy had to | | | | The tempo of the swing will not change, either, |
| use the wood. His swing was as smooth and | | | | for the individual player. |
| unhurried as if he had been hitting an 8 iron from | | | | |