Golf swing tempo, measured: 16 tour swings, hand-timed.
Swing tempo is the ratio between how long your backswing takes and how long your downswing takes. Almost everything written about it quotes the same figure — 3:1 — as though tour players all share one number.
They do not. Timed from the actual broadcast footage, these 16 shots run from Phil Mickelson's 2.02:1 to Cameron Young's 4.26:1. The 3:1 rule is a useful average and a poor description of any individual swing.
Every figure below is derived from three marks — takeaway, top of backswing, impact — read off tournament video to 1/100 of a second. How we time swings explains the method and where it can be wrong.
By player
Off the tee
| Shot | Tempo | Back | Down | Total | vs 3:1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiger Woods The Open Championship, 2000 · Driver | 3.69:1 | 0.82s | 0.22s | 1.05s | +0.69 |
| Fred Couples The Masters, 1992 · 10th · Fairway wood | 3.34:1 | 0.90s | 0.27s | 1.16s | +0.34 |
| Rory McIlroy PGA Championship, 2014 · 16th · Driver | 2.45:1 | 0.63s | 0.26s | 0.89s | −0.55 |
| Adam Scott Qatar Masters, 2002 · Fairway wood | 3.05:1 | 0.82s | 0.27s | 1.09s | +0.05 |
| Cameron Young Ryder Cup, 2025 · Driver | 4.26:1 | 1.19s | 0.28s | 1.47s | +1.26 |
Approach
| Shot | Tempo | Back | Down | Total | vs 3:1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiger Woods The Memorial, 2000 · Short iron | 2.82:1 | 0.83s | 0.29s | 1.13s | −0.18 |
| Rory McIlroy Wells Fargo, 2010 · 15th · Long iron | 2.51:1 | 0.63s | 0.25s | 0.88s | −0.49 |
| Tiger Woods PGA Championship, 2007 · 7th · Iron | 3.19:1 | 0.67s | 0.21s | 0.88s | +0.19 |
Short game
| Shot | Tempo | Back | Down | Total | vs 3:1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiger Woods Johnny Walker Classic, 2000 · Wedge | 2.12:1 | 0.63s | 0.30s | 0.93s | −0.88 |
| Scottie Scheffler The Players Championship, 2024 · 4th · Wedge | 2.60:1 | 0.74s | 0.28s | 1.02s | −0.40 |
| Jordan Spieth Travelers Championship, 2017 · 18th · Sand wedge | 2.58:1 | 0.62s | 0.24s | 0.86s | −0.42 |
| Phil Mickelson Scottish Open, 2013 · 18th · Lob wedge | 2.02:1 | 0.52s | 0.26s | 0.77s | −0.98 |
| Tiger Woods The Memorial, 1999 · 14th · Wedge | 2.06:1 | 0.49s | 0.24s | 0.73s | −0.94 |
Putting
| Shot | Tempo | Back | Down | Total | vs 3:1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiger Woods PGA Championship, 2000 · 16th · Putter | 2.58:1 | 0.54s | 0.21s | 0.75s | −0.42 |
| Cameron Smith The Open Championship, 2022 · 17th · Putter | 2.05:1 | 0.52s | 0.25s | 0.78s | −0.95 |
| Tiger Woods PGA Championship, 2000 · 18th · Putter | 2.98:1 | 0.54s | 0.18s | 0.72s | −0.02 |
Hear them, then match one.
Reading a ratio tells you very little. Elite Tempo plays each of these as beats you can swing to, then records your own swing and times it the same way, so you can see whether you actually matched it.