Tag: books

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Tour Tempo

When I lived in San Diego, I played golf year around. I tinkered with my swing quite a bit while I was there and one book I found interesting was Tour Tempo, by John Novosel and John Garrity. It was a very interesting concept and it improved my swing.

The idea is that every tour player has a rhythm to their swing. In fact, the ratio of backswing to downswing are the same for all players even if they swing faster or slower. The book goes on to help you develop this same rhythm. It does this using music, counting, and a few other techniques.

It was really an interesting concept and the reasoning behind it isn’t very clear, but it worked for me. Some think the tour tempo shortens the swing, or promotes a smoother transition, or just gives people a more consistent swing though. In any case, it wasn’t hard to do and I downloaded some music to listen to before and during practice. It really helped. It gave me a consistent rhythm to think about during the swing and something to emulate while on the golf course. It made my swing more repeatable. It even improved my swing when I tried to give it a little extra. When I swung harder, I tried to keep the same rhythm, just faster. That helped, too.

All in all, it was a worthwhile exercise and it helped me break 80. Try it!

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The Plane Truth, One plane or two?

When I moved to San Diego, I needed a golf coach. I liked my previous one and I liked having someone look at my swing with a critical eye. I found someone, but the interesting thing was that he had a different philosophy than my previous coach. He taught the one plane swing and my previous coach taught the more upright two plane swing. About that time, I had heard about the book The Plane Truth by Jim Hardy

The Plane Truth compared the two swings, but generally supported the one plane swing. The book is a great comparison of the two swings. It goes through both swings and breaks them down from the setup to follow through. The most important benefit of this book is that it helped me wade through the various tips in magazines and on TV. It helps differentiate which bits of advice are suitable for the one plane or the two plane swing. That made it a lot easier to decide what to work on at the driving range.

When I first learned to golf, my natural swing was a little flatter and more of a one plane swing. However, when I started taking lessons in Honolulu, my coach had me move more toward the modern two plane swing. I used it pretty well, but seemed to plateau. As a result, I considered moving back more toward my natural swing. For the most part, I hit the ball great. I was longer and even broke 80! Unfortunately, it wasn’t all easy. There were a few difficulties, especially with the encouragement to adopt a ‘flying elbow’ type of move.

I still use some of the important philosophies of the one plane swing, but I had to move away from my coach. It’s pretty tough to change your swing based on a book. In any case, the book was a useful read no matter which swing plane you choose or which one your coach wants you to adopt.