Golf BPM

There has to be a better way

As an instructor I have always wanted a tool to use to teach my students how to repeat their rhythm tempo and timing. I used various methods; I’ve found that a metronome was close but still not what I was looking for.

This is when Golf BPM was created, I worked with “The App Man” Jeremy Callahan and various music producers to create an app that helps you with your rhythm, tempo and timing. Golf BPM can be used on and off the golf course, making it fun and effective to use while practicing, playing or even just listening casually while driving in your car.

Just think of all the different things going on around you while driving, if you had music that you could listen to that had tones that match your perfect rhythm, tempo and timing it would be almost as effective as actually hitting at the range. Instead of wasting timing doing nothing in the car except for getting mad at the traffic and all of the horrible drivers you actually be doing something to help your golf game.

What the Pros Say About Tempo

Sir Nick Faldo was quoted saying that rhythm, tempo and timing is the glue that holds every great golf swing together and as a coach I couldn’t agree more. The more you can ingrain that flow in your mind, the easier it will be to repeat when you get into close match or coming down the stretch in a tournament or casual round.

Sam Snead is said to have had one of the most graceful swings in the history of golf, he has been quoted saying that he would whistle a waltz tune while playing and this what helped him to keep perfect rhythm, tempo and timing under the heat of the battle.

Jimmy Demart put out some instructional records that helped you understand how to use music as a tool for your golf swing. There are so many different sayings and counting methods that you can use while swinging the club that can help you get your tempo going but now you can have music that is made specifically for you in mind.     

Music Makes Your Body Move

Music and tones have a powerful effect on most brains, different sounds and rhythms create certain responses. Music has the ability to take you to a certain frame of mind and provokes a certain mood or feeling.

The music we have built is all original and is designed in a certain format and certain BPM’s that allows your mind be at ease while listening. We want the golfer to be able to zone out and get lost in the rhythm of the music, using the tones and/or the counts to guide you on your journey to creating a repetitive golf swing.

We have done a lot of research and have spent countless hours reading about the effects sounds have on your mind. Not only do we use certain tones but all tones are timed to the best swings on the PGA Tour.

Teaching Golf Tempo With Music

The best part about the Golf BPM is that through all of our testing with various levels of golfer we found that it is fun and effective.

If you are a fellow golf instructor, Golf BPM is also a great training aid to use during lessons or during junior clinics. You will find your students will love it and the kids will bug you to turn the music back on.

For those that didn’t understand the importance of music and the tone/counts prior to listening they sure understood after five minutes of playing with the app. We found that all of the students and/or juniors that listened to the music with the voice counts on, quickly got themselves in a perfect rhythm.

The voice counts and/or tones will also help all golfers with the rhythm of their pre shot routine, the way they walk to the ball, set up to the ball, look down the line and the starting of the overall swing. The goal is to get yourself moving to the BPM that best fits your swing tempo. 

How to Choose a Swing Speed (BPM)

Finding the BPM that best fits your swing is fun and can also be challenging. We recommend starting with selecting driver to five iron and then choose the 144 BPM, you will immediately discover if this is too fast or too slow.

Even if you feel it is too slow, try and sync up with the counts/tones, get some confidence going and then if you want to explore please do so. We have found that moving up in the BPM’s will help increase your club head speed also.

We also like to use the 126 BPM for a good foundation to get everything moving smoothly at the beginning of a practice session. We have not really seen a pattern except that the younger more advanced players love to try and swing at the fastest BPM (184 BPM’s).

We love the fact that we have built a training aid that will really help golfers of all levels improve their rhythm, tempo and timing which will help them improve their overall game.      

If you head out to your local driving range, you will see tons of people listening to music while they are practicing hitting balls. If you go to a PGA event and head to the range, you will also see the pros practicing while listening to music.

That begs the question… what are the listening to? And better yet, is that music helping their tempo, rhythm and timing?

The answer to if the golf music is helping is 100% NO! Each song in your playlist has a different BPM (beats per minute) and that is not helping your tempo.

In the early 2000’s when the iPod came out this same exact question came to Doug Timmons. At that point he had been teaching golf and started to notice more and more golfers were practicing with golf music. Doug loves music and out of curiosity would ask what golf music they were listening to. Of course, this music ranged from hip hop to rock to pop and everything else.

But all the music had one thing in common. And that was it was not helpful to the golfer’s rhythm, tempo and timing. And as an instructor the main issue in his teaching was, he could never consistently teach students how to develop perfect tempo.

So, Doug created “Golf BPM” golf music. Golf BPM is an App similar to Pandora with stations and playlists with one gigantic difference. All the golf music is tailored to help golfers of all levels develop perfect rhythm, tempo and timing in their golf swing.

When it comes to golf music compare what the pros are doing…

First, let’s look at Rickie Fowler. Our swing analysis of Rickie shows that he hits at 184 beats per minute. In a “Golf Digest” online article Rickey listed four songs he loves to listen to:

1. “Wake Me Up,” Avicii – 124 BPM’s

2. “Radioactive,” Imagine Dragons – 136 BPM’s

3. “Mockingbird,” Eminem – 84 BPM’s

4. “Take You Higher, Goodwill – 128 BPM’s

Second, here is Rory Mcilroy list from the same article. Rory swings at 156 BPM’s

1. “Wake Me Up” Avicii – 124 BPM’s

2. “Under Control” Calvin Harris – 126 BPM’s

3. “Sweet Nothing” Calvin Harris – 128 BPM’s

4. “Can’t Hold Us” Macklemore – 146 BPM’s

Article link: https://www.golfdigest.com/story/golf-and-music-pro-golfers-playlists

Now I’ll concede that both Rickie and Rory certainly have better musical taste than me but their music selection from a beats per minute perspective is all over the map. Not to mention that the BPM’s are at a much slower pace than their actual swing.

It’s interesting to see that with all the technical advances in golf that even the best pro players are not effectively using music correctly. Think about that… if you find that you swing at 184 BPM’s then all you have to do is find music in that range.

Here are two options you have for finding perfect golf music for your swing:

Golf BPM Music App: First, Golf BPM will also help you determine your perfect swing BPM when register on the App. Then all the golf music has three distinct beats and a voice prompts. Golfers just pick a station, club (driver, 5-iron, etc.) and then put in their headphones and time their swing to the music.

The second thing you can do is once you know your BPM you can then download an iTunes add-on called: “BPM Detection”. With this add-on you can see and order all your songs in iTunes by BPM. Then you can create your own golf music playlist at your exact BPM.

With the Golf BPM App and the BPM Detection add-on you now have a fast and simple solution to having perfect, tailored golf music to practice to.

Rhythm, tempo and timing is the secret to every good golf swing. But its extremely difficult to practice and teach… Until now, GolfBPM is the solution you’ve been looking for.

Just install the App, put in your head phones and start timing your swing to our music. We have four stations ranging from Hip Hop, House, Rock and Pop to choose from. After you select a station you choose a swing speed and club type.

From there all you have to do is time your swing to the voice prompt (1, 2, 3) and/or musical beat. Each song has a distinct beat that you will easily be able to identify. There is also a coach that counts out the 1, 2 and 3. You can mute the voice and just use the music or you can keep it if you like.

And that is how easy it is to use Golf BPM to develop perfect rhythm, tempo and timing in your golf swing.

Tempo is the glue that sticks all the elements of a golf swing together – Nick Faldo

You probably hear all the time how important tempo is in a golf swing. But what does that even mean? And how does music relate to a golf swing? There are three undeniable links between music and your golf swing: Tempo, rhythm and timing.

It doesn’t matter if you are covering a song on your acoustic guitar or hitting a driver… if you lack tempo, rhythm and timing you are going to suck at both.

But there is another issue with music and your swing.  The majority of the music in your playlist is counterproductive to your swing. Why? Because every song has a different BPM (beats per minute) than your natural swing speed. The first song you play is too fast and the next is to slow.

Swing Tempo Ratios

For this article we will talk about a driver to keep it simple. The correct swing ration for a driver is 3 to 1. It works like this:

            If you total swing time is 1 second, then your takeaway time would be .75 seconds and your downswing would be .25 seconds. So if you take .25 and times it by 3 you get. .75. 

Now your total swing time might be 1.12 seconds or .92 seconds. Whatever it is, there is a perfect 3:1 ratio in those numbers. And that my friend is what actually makes your tempo perfect. So the next time you are playing and someone says “That was a smooth swing” you’ll know you nailed it.

Now that you know what the perfect tempo is, how can you work on this while you are at the driving range? How do you even know what your ratio is? Are you too fast on the takeaway or downswing?

How to figure it out – The hard and expensive way

The most effective way to figure this out is with the Blast Motion sensor (or similar). This is a small sensor that you attach to the butt of your golf grip. The sensor is incredible and has an App that literally tells you your swing ratio after each shot. We love the sensor but there is one problem… If your ratio is off there is no way for the average golfer to know how to speed up or slow down their backswing/downswing.

Or You Could Just Listen to Music

I know earlier I stated that music is actually detrimental to your tempo but what if… someone made music that had tones and voice prompts you could time your swing to and have perfect tempo? That is exactly what we have done at Golf BPM. We launched with four stations and 24 tracks (with more songs on the way). You just time your swing to the tones or voice prompt and you will nail perfect tempo, timing and rhythm. And the best part is the songs will get stuck in your head just like normal music does.

This is not a new concept. Masters Champion Jimmy Demaret created records in 1959 with waltz music to swing to for perfect tempo, rhythm and timing. I think I found and bought the last remaining set on eBay a two weeks ago. Plus, you can’t bring a record player to the driving range.

Have you ever noticed all the people on the driving range that are listening to music while practicing? The next time you do, ask them what they are listening to. Or better yet, watch them closely and see if their swing tempo changes from song to song.

Our App, songs and swing speeds are much more complicated than a written article explain. But the idea and concept and execution are simple. Put on your headphones, choose a swing speed and then time your swing to the tones. We recommend starting at 144 BPM’s and then working your way up or down depending on your current swing speed.