The 3:1 Tempo Tour Players Use | Golf IQ | Golf Digest

The 3:1 Tempo Tour Players Use | Golf IQ | Golf Digest

August 7, 2026



In this podcast episode of Golf IQ, Luke Kerr-Dineen breaks down Dr. Robert Grover’s study into the physics of the golf swing. Presented at Yale University it discusses the idea of tempo and the right and wrong way to achieve it.

Watch Dr. Grober’s full presentation here: https://youtu.be/MRnjedSebWY

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View Comments (44)

  1. I tried asking AI to show me an animated clip of what 1 to 1, 1.5 to 1, 2 to 1, and 2.5 to 1 tempos would look like in real life, but it was unable to generate it. It would have been helpful to see what those other tempos look like in real life.

  2. Buy the Garmin S70 watch and use the tempo training feature.

    One of the best golf investments I’ve made for getting better simply based on that tempo training.

  3. Tempo vs. Rhythm = tempo is speed/pace, rhythm is proportional sequencing… the 3 to 1 ratio count you describe. Some suggest 1,2 up and down on 3 (which does not create the 3:1 ratio unless you pause at the top), others suggest a three or four count: up 1,2,3 then fire on 1 (or count 4) down to impact. Even then with a transitional pause at the top. Like a waltz dance rhythm. Not a new concept by any means. The Tempo is how fast you do it.

  4. So here's where I disagree with terminology. Tempo is a measure of speed. Rahm and Singh have different tempo (speeds). They have the same ratio of 3:1, which would be rhythm. Keeping the same rhythm in a different tempo, gives you the same 3 to 1 ratio at a different speed. We want a good rhythm at a comfortable speed.

  9. Saturday morning player here, if you get paired with someone who has a really slow backswing on the first tee you know immediately their goal is to break 90

  10. Speeding up my backswing is probably the fix for a shorter hitter like me – but this isn't always the right way to go for amateur golfers. For example, I have a high handicapper friend who's backswing is as fast as his downswing and constantly mishits the ball. He needs to slow his backswing down to less than half the speed. It is a common mistake I see in high handicap players.

  12. Slow backswing is a compensation. It isn’t optimal, but if someone can’t do the fast backswing with consistency or the path or the face control needed, then you gotta do what you gotta do.

  14. "… because it's moving based on the weight of the thing itself." Technically – no. The frequency of a pendulum is based exclusively on its length (taking gravity as a constant. Under different gravity constraints, the frequency would also change, of course). The frequency of a pendulum in a grandfather clock is NOT based on its mass (or its weight, which is constant in a constant gravity)

  15. Another thing to remember is your “downswing speed” is not the same as your “clubhead speed”. For example, Jake Knapp’s downswing takes a longer time to transpire because his backswing is so long & the club has to go further, but he doesn’t hit his extremely high clubhead speed until the last ~quarter of his downswing.

  16. strange, most guys have a sketchy swing bc they move too fast on either or both back or downswing. cam youngs swing works bc he goes back slow. morikawa, matsuyama, more than a few do same. these are guys w good swings before they went slow on the back to make them even better. and youre telling amateurs to be faster?

  18. This is the best LKD video ive watched. Love the rawness and naturalness of this. Less polished, way better. Feels like a normal golf bloke talking to us. More of this please. Thank you.

  20. LKD: nice video, please note that when you talk about ratio, it is rhythm while talking about speed is tempo. So, Rahm has a fast tempo & Adam Scott has a smooth tempo, but both have the same rhythm of 3:1

    Incidentally, for short game the rhythm is 2:1 . Cheers!

  22. Great video on a complicated subject. If you watch any of Dr Kwon's sessions on YouTube, you will find him VERY often telling the golfer they need to make their backswing FASTER!

  27. OK. Let’s get something cleared up. The word tempo is used in music to describe the overall pace of a piece of music. It is what you would set on a metronome. In golf, tempo is the overall speed of the swing. The 3:1 ratio is the RHYTHM of the swing, the variation of duration of its components parts, as in a piece of music. The book should have been titled Tour Rhythm, but that’s not as catchy a title as Tour Tempo. But, 3:1 is rhythm, not tempo. You can play a piece of music at different speeds (tempo) but they will all have the same rhythm. Swings can be faster or slower (tempo), but have the same rhythm. And finally golf, does not get to redefine words. Use them correctly and they have much more meaning.

  32. I'd love to be able to contact him. I've written a golf app that is partially inspired by this and other of his research. Do you know how I can reach him?

  33. The style of these videos has changed. They’ve become more informal which lends us more to the presenter’s unfiltered tendencies. I preferred the style of past videos, they also appeared to have more fact-based info plus were time-boxed better with important info over additional commentary that exists in this video.

  34. I won’t act like I know more, but if any 10+ handicap I’ve ever met, 90%+ have a very rushed Takeaway with poor sequencing in their swing. I don’t think this is a good video for most

  36. It’s been shown many times when it comes to the swing and tempo that backswing>transition>downswing for inconsistent players is most always slow>fast>fast where better players and pros are fast>slow>fast.

    The swing in terms of energy transfer is kinetic>potential>kinetic. You create kinetic energy with your backswing by using the ground your body’s and the shaft that energy is then stored as potential during the transition and released as kinetic in the down swing. The longer you allow that potential to build the better transfer you will have in the downswing.

    Thr formula for kinetic energy is EK=1/2mv2 meaning the more speed you put in the more energy you get out so faster backswing means faster downswing on paper, the transition is where the magic happens and that’s what separates the best players form the rest of the pack

  42. I’ve noticed I hit driver better when I try and swing it back faster, I hit the ball pretty far to start with but this could explain why I hit it straighter and further just by swinging back faster.

  43. my common flaw is not completing the backswing then i transition too fast to make up for it, result is a very poor weak shot and poor tempo. My "slow it down" key is to start the downswing as slow as i can, the result is a downswing that is off the charts fast. < thats what i feel. what we see might be different but that doesnt matter

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