Sequencing and Tempo Overview

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In this series, we're going to go over tempo or sequencing and how it relates

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to power.

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So many golfers struggle with finding the rhythm and the tempo of the golf

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swing.

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Now we'll explore in later videos how tempo and how sequencing affects the path

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or the

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face because I think of the golf swing as balancing these three, I'm trying to

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control

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the path, I'm trying to organize the face to path and I'm trying to control my

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sequencing

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or my tempo.

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So all three of these play off of each other.

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In this series, we're going to talk mostly about the tempo or the sequencing.

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So in general, if you're trying to hit the ball far, you want to apply as much

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force

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as you can in the swing plane and cover the, in order to do so, you want to

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cover a great

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range of motion.

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So if I was to take a swing only back with my wrist, it's going to be hard to

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create

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a lot of speed compared to if I use a lot more pieces of my body.

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Well, when I start using all the pieces of my body, my legs, my core, my

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shoulders, my

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arms, my hands, now it becomes more important for me to have them working in a

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coordinated

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fashion or have them working in a specific order.

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So tempo can think of, you can think of as sequencing or order.

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We use some things that help with tempo or help with sequencing are ropes and

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chains

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and softer items.

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So when I have a stick like this, I can really push it hard.

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But if I had a rope, if this was a soft object, then if I go to push it hard,

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it doesn't

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really do anything.

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Let me grab a rope and we'll demonstrate that.

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Okay, so if I push on the rope or a stick with my hands, I can feel a lot of

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power or movement

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here in the tip of the stick.

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If on the other hand, I push on the rope, the rope doesn't move a whole lot.

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I don't get any power.

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In order to move the rope, I have to use more of my body or I have to pull on

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it.

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So in general, the more that I pull along the axis of the club or the direction

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that the

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club is pointing, that tends to use more of my body.

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And it tends to be a more repeatable way of getting my body in position to

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control low

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point and club face and all that good stuff.

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So the ropes and the chains and things like that, the orange whip, things that

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I can't

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just power with my arms, but I have to power them more with the body, those

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tend to help

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you figure out sequencing a whole lot better.

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In general, we're trying to use our legs, our core, our shoulders, and our arms

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, and

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you want to use them in a unified way.

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One of the analogies that I've heard that I think is probably the easiest or

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the best

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to understand would be if you were pushing a shopping cart.

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If I was to just push with my arms, it's not going to move as much as if I

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pushed with

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my whole body.

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If I'm going to push with my whole body, ideally I'm going to push from the

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lower body while

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keeping the energy transferring through my core, I'm going to push from lower

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body, core,

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and then arms.

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I wouldn't want to push my arms first and then push my core and then push my

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legs.

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I would push them kind of all together, but just leading with the lower body or

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the part

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closest to the ground.

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The other thing to think about is more of this pulse versus force.

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When I'm trying to create speed in the golf swing, am I trying to apply as much

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force

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as I can, or am I trying to apply more of a pulse of force?

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If I get this pulse or this impulse, ideally, if I do that at the right time,

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it tends to

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have an easier way of getting speed into the club head.

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A lot of amateurs apply a lot of force too long, and by doing so, they miss out

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on being

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able to transfer that speed to the club head.

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In this section, we'll explore creating speed versus creating force and what

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those two different

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things feel like.

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At first, when you try to create speed, it might just create or it might just

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make you

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feel like you put in a lot more effort, but hopefully by going through these

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and working

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on your sequencing, you'll start to feel how you can create speed instead of

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just trying

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harder.

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The major drills that we're going to use are looking at exploring your tempo

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and how it

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relates to hitting the ball further, as well as how exploring using the

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different parts

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of your body as the engine, and ultimately, how can you use the different parts

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of your

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body in more of a coordinated fashion.

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A phrase that I use a lot is the geometry, the face to path and the low point,

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that gives

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you solid and straight, but it's the sequencing and the tempo that gives you

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club head speed

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and consistency.

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You want to work on both, you want to be able to work on your dynamics and your

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rhythm.

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Those can be really good playing thoughts, but you also have to understand the

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geometry

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of what creates solid contact and what creates straight contact and how it

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changes for the

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different clubs.

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That's why we started with the rounds the way that we did, and now that we're

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going

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to layer in the sequencing, hopefully it's going to make you feel a little bit

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more athletic,

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feel maybe less mechanical, and ultimately be more enjoyable or something that

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you feel

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like you can take to the course a little bit easier.

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The drills in this section, we're not going to dig into the details too much.

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The drills in this section are more exploratory.

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They're ways for you to feel sequencing without having to really work through

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it.

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The most common, I already talked about the ropes, or using speed sticks or

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light and heavy

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clubs to get more of the whoosh progressions, getting the timing of the force

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or the timing

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of the impulse at the right time so that you get this feeling of effortless

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power as opposed

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to powerless effort, which is what most amateurs feel.

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They feel like they swing hard and the ball doesn't go anywhere compared to

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more elite

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golfers who tend to feel like they swing easy or easier, but the ball just

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rockets off the

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club head.

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It has a lot to do with the sequencing that you're using.

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It also layers back to what we were talking about with speed versus strength.

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When you tighten your muscles, it creates a lot of tension, so it does create

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force,

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but it also creates stiffness, which can slow things down.

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An example I use is from American football, where when athletes are getting

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ready for

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the play, you can tell which one they're going for.

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Are they going for speed or are they going for strength?

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The linemen, the linebackers and the people in the trenches typically are

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digging in and

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tightening up because they're about to try to push each other really hard.

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They're going to try and apply a lot of strength.

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The wide receivers, the cornerbacks, the skill players who are about to try to

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get maximum

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speed, they're shaking things out and getting loose.

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In general, tension and effort are going to sabotage your efforts for creating

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better

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sequencing and better speed.

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What gives you better sequencing and better speed is more coordination and

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timing of the

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movements, not so much swinging as hard as you can.

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As you explore these, try to pay attention to what part of your bodies are

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creating the

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movement and how hard they're actually working.

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It might surprise you what actually creates the most speed for your swing.

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Tempo is the glue that holds the swing together.

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Remember, low point and path and face give you direction, but it's tempo or

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sequencing

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that tend to give you the dynamics which create consistency as well as power.

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Training your tempo can help you under pressure, tempo and sequencing go hand

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in hand.

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If you need to work on your tempo, then ropes, step drills and sticks or

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getting the whoosh

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drills working can help you with your tempo and training how hard you're

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swinging or your

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maximum effort goes a long way in your repeatability.

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These are great things that you can use to take it to the course.

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Those are good playing thoughts under pressure.

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Hopefully in this first round, we covered low point, we covered hitting the

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ball straight,

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we covered adjusting your swing for the different clubs and then we covered

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tempo.

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We're going to revisit all of these pieces multiple times in the next two

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layers, but

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basically if you get lost, you can come back to some of these exploratory

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drills.

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In the next layers, we're going to go into more of the details.

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Typically what will happen is in this level, you'll identify something that you

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struggle

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with and as you get into more of the details, you'll be able to figure out your

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specific

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keys that help you dial in what you're struggling with.

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In the next level or in the start of round two, we're going to go back into low

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point,

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but this time we're going to really dig into the details of how you control and

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influence

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your low point.