Putting Distance Control and Tempo

Tiger Woods was and still is one of the best at controlling tempo in his putting stroke.
Tempo and timing has a huge effect on the golf swing. Vary of that tempo from day to day or even from swing to swing has an effect on your shots. In putting tempo can greatly affect speed control. We all know that speed dictates the line of the putt and in order for a putt to stay online be it has to be traveling the correct speed.

The length of the stoke has an effect on speed just as much as tempo. Although this is true the tempo of the stroke should not be affected by it’s length.
The best in the world have a very small variation in tempo change from shot to shot. The key is not what you would think right off the bat. Most players believe that tension or grip pressure is the greatest influence on tempo in the putting stroke. But this is not so. The biggest change or factor of change in tempo is the length of the lever. That can be changed by lifting or lower the hands or the slightest of change in posture during the stroke. If posture changes it will change the length of the lever. This then changes the timing of the tempo of the stroke. It only has to be a slight change and the putt can come up short or move off line. This is not what most players work on when finding problems with their putting.

No matter what type of posture you have it is important that it remains consistent. As long as it is consistent then you will be keeping the length of the lever consistent. Therefore the odds of your tempo remaining consistent goes up. Hence your speed control goes up and you sink more putts. If we look at PGA and LPGA Pros the best have a consistent tempo and posture. This is not what most of us work on when we are putting. So it is a good idea to begin to look at posture in putting more. You will find that it will help you build a more consistent stroke. There is a product out that measures the timing of the putting stroke and is very affordable to the average player. That is called Blast Motion Golf. This is a great way to not only gather information about your timing but compare it to PGA Pros. It also measures several other data not only for Putting but for chipping and full swing with any club in your bag. Remember length of stroke matters but timing is even more important to keep consistent and sink more putts. Do this and watch your number of putts per round drop. If that happens then so will lower scores.