Charthills Pro Newsletter - 6th August 2010
It’s not something that many club golfers stop for a second and think about, but how’s your rhythm? It’s a tricky question, because rhythm, or tempo, is so hard to quantify, and even if it was, most players wouldn’t recognise a good tempo it until they looked at their scorecard!
Well now it seems it doesn’t need to be that difficult after all, because a man by the name of John Novosel has added a little science into the equation. For almost a decade John has been timing the swings of Tour players to discover what ‘rhythm’ and ‘tempo’ is all about, and how it translates into performance.
His research (backed up by Yale no less) has proved that almost every Tour golfer has the same tempo: a 3-to-1 elapsed-time ratio of backswing to forward swing, measured to impact. This ratio is expressed in frames of broadcast-standard video e.g., 27 frames to the top of the backswing and nine frames down to impact for a relatively slow, Bobby Jones-type swing (i.e. a "27/9"). Ernie Els in his prime was a 24/8, and the brisk swing of Jack Nicklaus a 21/7.
Here’s where things get even more interesting... Having monitored him since his comeback, John believes that the Tiger is returning to his best form... having clocked him recently at the ‘perfect’ 21/7 at the Open and 24/8 in other recent tournaments, which is exactly how he was swinging a decade ago when he was winning tournament after tournament!
Interestingly, John rates a 2 to 1 ratio as the perfect tempo for the Putter, but Tiger had been clocked on the practice-green hitting five-footers with tempos varying from 16/7 to 17/9. Perhaps that has lead to the change of Putter?
It’s interesting that something which most people would put down to ‘feel’ could be so technical after all – only in golf! If you want to improve your tempo, all it takes is a video camera or a stopwatch and a little help from your PGA Professional. A little ‘refinement’ work should restore your stroke, and have you dropping that handicap in no time! Click here to book a lesson.
Regards,
James
SARAH SAUNDERS SECTION
Our amazing assistant course manager Ben Abbott completed his 2nd Iron Man last Sunday in an astonishing 11 hours and 18 minutes. In a field of 1200 (including professional athletes) he finished in 136th position and 33rd in his age class.
He started with a 2.5 mile swim in open water which took him just over an hour, a 112 mile bike ride in 6 hours 15 minutes and a full marathon run in 3hours and 55 minutes! Not surprisingly, he took the day off on Monday but was back on the course at 6 Tuesday morning, a little tired and nursing the odd ache but proudly wearing his Iron Man medal.
Sports Physiotherapist, Rosemary Livesley, who has worked at Chart Hills for the last 7 years, mentioned in passing that she was going for a little walk herself… It transpired that it was not such a little walk but a trek across the British Isles, following a walk first devised by the famous hill walker Alfred Wainwright.
The Coast to Coast walk started at St. Bees on the Cumbrian coast and finished at Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire. Rosemary walked through the Lake District taking in 4 mountain passes, across the Vale of Mowbray and across the stunning North Yorkshire Moors. Somehow, Rosemary did all 192
miles and 25,000 ft of hill climb, in just 10 days and most of it on her own.
Like Ben, Rosemary did this as challenge for herself and is rightly very proud of her achievement - as are we all. We are all very proud of both of our athletes, well done Ben and Rosemary – thumbs up from everyone!!!
A Date for The Diary:
Please remember to put your name on the list for the 20th August. There will be a 9-hole competition followed by BBQ and entertainment from the Rock Shack. Remember that non- golfers can come along for the meal and entertainment, just add their name to the list!
Regards,
Sarah
