Pendulum Putting Stroke:
Ever heard the term "pendulum putting stroke"?
Golf commentators and instructors use the term all of the time but can they explain exactly what it is?
A pendulum keeps the same time regardless of its swing path length. A 1-meter string attached to a bob on one end and a fixed pivot point on the other end will swing back and forth in 2 seconds (1 second out and 1 second back). If you pull the bob back 1 foot, 2 feet, or just 1 inch and let go, the bob will take 2 seconds to swing back and forth.
When applied to putting, the theory is that you should swing your putter back and forth with the same timing for ALL putts based on your personal tempo. In other words, you vary your backswing length while keeping your timing constant. Let's say your putting stroke "swing" time, (from downswing to finish), takes .75 seconds. Your backswing should also take .75 seconds. (Note: Tempo varies from person to person. A putting stroke that takes .75 seconds, as in this example, would have a tempo of 80 beats per minute).
The key point in this example is: If you take your putter back 6 inches for a short putt or 2 feet for a long putt, your putting stroke should ALWAYS take X seconds for the backswing and X seconds for the downswing.
(some golfers keep their backswing length constant while varying their timing which results in inconsistent distance control and "pop" strokes.)
The Pelz "Touch-touch" drill with a Metronome
As described by Dave Pelz, to practice "pendulum" putting stroke timing, set a metronome to a "beats per minute" setting that you are comfortable with somewhere from 70 to 95 bpm (
from Dave Pelz's Putting Bible"). Place a pillow at each end of the putting stroke. At the "tick", hit the back pillow and on the "tock", hit the follow-through pillow. For a shorter stroke, move the pillows closer together. Keep the same time. This is the classic "touch-touch" or "pendulum pillow drill" to feel your pendulum tempo. Adjust the tempo up 5 bpm until you arrive at a comfortable rate. Let's say (as an example) that we arrive at 90 bpm as a comfortable tempo using the "touch-touch" drill. Top of the backswing on "tick" and top of the followthrough on the "tock". Back and forth, in sync with the metronome. 90 beats per minute is .67 seconds between beats.
How to use a Metronome for actual putts:
Now hit real putts. While listening to the metronome "tick-tock", putt balls on the green. How do you use the "tick-tock" for putting cues? Surprisingly, there are very few sources that go into any detail on exactly HOW to use a Metronome for actual putts.
Some instructors say the "tick" starts the takeaway, a subsequent "tock" is at the top of the backswing and the next "tick" is at the finish. After trying this approach for a few putts however, you will find yourself striking the ball on the final "tick" instead of striking the ball in between the downswing "tock" and the finish "tick". With this approach, there is no audio cue for impact!
A better approach that is taught by a few Golf Instructors is one in which the start of the takeaway is the "tick" and impact is the "tock". We will call this the "takeaway-strike" method. This approach will focus your timing on the takeaway and the ball strike. But where is the audio cue for the top of the backswing? It's between the "tick" and the "tock". But where?
If you know your tempo is 90 bpm (using the "touch-touch" drill), you should set the metronome to 60 bpm for the "takeaway-strike" method. That's one second between each tick. The 1 second period covers the time from takeaway to the top of the backswing down to impact. If the 1 second time is allocated in equal parts to the backswing and downswing to impact (as many people incorrectly think is the case), (1/2 second backswing, 1/2 second downswing to impact) the equivalent backswing tempo would be 120 bpm while the equivalent downswing tempo would be 60 bpm! This is incorrect because the backswing time has been set equal to the downswing to impact time. In a pendulum putting stroke, the backswing time is twice the downswing to impact time.
If we go back to the example and allocate .67 seconds to the backswing and .33 seconds to the downswing to impact, the equivalent tempo for the backswing and downswing would both be 90 bpm, which makes more sense. Why? Because the backswing takes .67 seconds and the full downswing to finish takes .67 seconds. That's one "stroke" or cycle per .67 seconds or 1/.67sec = 1.5 cycles per second or 1.5 * 60 = 90 cycles or "beats" per minute.
So, to find our tempo in this example, we used 90 bpm for the "touch-touch" drill and use 60 bpm for the "takeaway-strike" putting drill. How is 60 bpm the same as 90 bpm? Confused? It is easy to be confused using metronomes. Without an audio cue at the top of the backswing, you could get any number of allocations for backswing/downswing to impact time allocation. And most of them would be wrong.
So, if you set the metronome to 90bpm for the "pendulum pillow drill", you should set the metronome down to 60 bpm for actual putts using the "takeaway-strike" method. If you set the metronome to 90bpm for both, you would in effect be performing the "Pillow Drill" at 90 bpm to find your tempo, then using 135 bpm for actual putts!
Confused about which method to use for practicing your putting?
If you want to be sure to train with the proper allocation of backswing to downswing to impact time with continuous audio guiding you, listen to Puttronome Tones.
Puttronome Tones provide a precise, proven method of training putting tempo.
