drone shot of hole 16 of the predator course at sunset in summer

Early Season Golf Tips: Tempo & Target

AJ Eathorne swinging golf club at driving range

After a long winter’s break, the thought of returning to the luscious green grass sounds very appealing, but perhaps slightly daunting. 

Often times our ‘feel’ and touch around the greens seems to still be on vacation and left somewhere between Christmas decorations and Spring Cleaning. Well, fear not! We are here to begin the dusting off of the short game so that you can hit the links and enjoy the game from the start of the season!

First of all, we need to start with tempo. 

This is one of the most important parts to getting it all back and not just with the short game. Often times after a long break from golf, our body parts get disconnected (arms move separately from our trunk) and thus our swing feels out of sorts and weak. 

A good way to sync these parts back together is by working on tempo drills.

  • Get into your good, tall golf posture and have a slight bend at the hips. 
  • From here, let your arms hang naturally. 
  • Now, feel like your big muscles and full body turn can help in moving the arms back and forth like that of a metronome or pendulum.
  • Once you get some comfort and rhythm with that, you will feel as though your arms and body rotation are working together.  
  • Try bringing in a golf ball to the mixture now and use the same smooth tempo with a chipping or putting stroke. 
  • Remember to pick a target also so that your brain is focused in on a point. This will help you to wake up the detail part of the brain.

By focusing not only on tempo but also target, the cobwebs in the brain will start to clear away and you will feel more comfortable picking your shots on the golf course.

The more your whole body works together, the stronger you will feel and, thus your golf game will come back to you in no time!

Written by AJ Eathorne | Former LPGA Tour Player and Former Predator Ridge Academy Manager

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