7 hand-timed swings
What is Tiger Woods' swing tempo?
Tiger Woods' driver tempo is 3.69:1 — a 0.82s backswing into a 0.22s downswing, timed by hand from his 2000 Open footage. Across his 7 swings in the library his ratio runs from 2.06:1 with a wedge to 3.69:1 with a driver, so his tempo moves enormously depending on the club.
0.82s
Backswing
0.22s
Downswing
1.05s
Total duration
3.69:1
Driver tempo
From his 2000 Open driver. See the marks
One player, one tempo?
Not really. Tiger Woods' ratio travels 1.63 across the clubs timed here — from 2.06:1 with a wedge to 3.69:1 with a driver. “A player has a tempo” turns out to be a simplification: the club changes it more than most coaching copy admits.
Every Tiger Woods swing in the library
| Shot | Tempo | Back | Down | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driver The Open Championship, 2000 | 3.69:1 | 0.82s | 0.22s | 1.05s |
| Iron PGA Championship, 2007 · 7th | 3.19:1 | 0.67s | 0.21s | 0.88s |
| Putter PGA Championship, 2000 · 18th | 2.98:1 | 0.54s | 0.18s | 0.72s |
| Short iron The Memorial, 2000 | 2.82:1 | 0.83s | 0.29s | 1.13s |
| Putter PGA Championship, 2000 · 16th | 2.58:1 | 0.54s | 0.21s | 0.75s |
| Wedge Johnny Walker Classic, 2000 | 2.12:1 | 0.63s | 0.30s | 0.93s |
| Wedge The Memorial, 1999 · 14th | 2.06:1 | 0.49s | 0.24s | 0.73s |
Every figure is derived from three marks read off tournament footage. How we time swings explains the method and its limits.
Other players
Swing to Tiger's tempo.
Elite Tempo plays each of these as beats you can swing along to, then times your own swing the same way so you can see how close you got.