New: Golf mode
Your swing has a tempo. Do you know yours?
Every good swing has a rhythm, about three to one, backswing to downswing. Tempo Tunes finds yours and builds a playlist so impact lands on the beat. Free on iPhone and Android.
Already have the app? Update it on the App Store or Play Store to get Golf.
Four ways to find your tempo
Three practice swings is all it takes. Not sure yet? Tap a style and go.
1
Hold your phone
Grip it in both hands like a club and make three practice swings. No club needed.
2
Film your swing
Prop the phone up, step back until you fit the frame, and swing. The camera does the timing.
3
Use your watch
It counts each swing on your lead wrist and taps you when it has one. A real club is fine.
4
Enter your numbers
Already timed by a Garmin or a swing trainer? Type in the two times and you are done.
Try your numbers here
Have a Garmin or another swing trainer? Type in the two times it gives you and Tempo Tunes turns them into your BPM.
Stroke
Backswing time
Downswing time
On a Garmin watch, Swing Tempo shows both times after every swing.
No numbers yet?
Tap a style and it types the times for you.
Your playlist holds
129BPM
Your tempo 3.0 : 1, 0.93 s from takeaway to impact. Tour players run about 3 : 1.
Closest style: Tour. Three beats back, one beat down, and every song stays within 4 BPM.
Free. Switch on Golf in the app, tap Enter my numbers, and type the same two times.
How the number is made
The ratio is what good swings share. Tour players swing quick and Tour players swing smooth, but time them and the full swing keeps coming out about three to one: three parts back, one part down. Putting runs closer to two to one.
Your speed is your own. Two golfers can both be three to one and be a third of a second apart from takeaway to impact. So Tempo Tunes times your swing, then does the math on your numbers.
Seconds become BPM. A full swing is four even counts, three back and one down. Tempo Tunes finds the BPM where those counts sit on the music, so you start back on a beat and impact arrives on one. A 0.93 second swing is 129 BPM. Yours will be your own.
The playlist holds it. Pick your genres and the artists you love, and the playlist is filled from 2 million+ tempo-verified tracks, growing daily. Every song stays within a few BPM of your swing, so every rep on the range gets the same count.
Common tempos, at a glance
Swings are often timed on video, in frames at 30 a second. Here is what those timings come to in seconds and in BPM. The calculator above does your exact math.
Full swing, 3 : 1
| Frames | Back | Down | BPM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 / 6 | 0.60 s | 0.20 s | 150 |
| 21 / 7 | 0.70 s | 0.23 s | 129 |
| 24 / 8 | 0.80 s | 0.27 s | 113 |
| 27 / 9 | 0.90 s | 0.30 s | 100 |
Putting, 2 : 1
| Style | Back | Down | BPM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brisk | 0.60 s | 0.30 s | 100 |
| Classic | 0.67 s | 0.33 s | 90 |
| Slow | 0.75 s | 0.38 s | 80 |
Full swing styles in the app: Quick 150, Tour 129, Smooth 113.
Questions golfers ask
- Is there one correct swing tempo?
- No. Quick swingers and smooth swingers both play great golf. What good full swings tend to share is the ratio, about three parts backswing to one part downswing. How long the whole swing takes is yours, which is why Tempo Tunes measures you instead of handing you a number.
- Why does impact land on a beat?
- Tempo Tunes counts a full swing as four even counts: three back, one down. It picks the BPM where those counts fit the music, so takeaway starts on a beat and impact arrives on one. A 0.93 second swing works out to 129 BPM.
- Do I need a club, a net, or a launch monitor?
- No. Three practice swings with the phone in your hands is enough, indoors or out. You can also prop the phone up and let the camera watch, or let your watch count.
- Which watches work?
- Apple Watch and Wear OS watches run Tempo Tunes and time the swing on your wrist. A Garmin does not run the app, but its Swing Tempo screen shows a backswing time and a downswing time after every swing. Type those two numbers in and you get the same result.
- Does it work for putting?
- Yes. Switch the stroke to Putting. A classic putting stroke runs about two to one, so it gets its own math and its own styles.
- Will it lower my scores?
- We make no promise about your score. Tempo is one thing good swings have in common, and music is an easy way to practice it without counting in your head.
- Where can I save the playlist?
- Apple Music, Tidal, and YouTube Music today. Spotify opens to everyone once Tempo Tunes reaches 250,000 monthly listeners, and every golfer who joins gets us closer.
- Does it cost anything?
- No. The calculator, the app, and the playlists are free, on iPhone, Android, and the web.
Stay in Tempo with Tempo Tunes
Golf is one switch inside Tempo Tunes, next to Tempo and Run. Save your playlist to Apple Music, Tidal, or YouTube Music. Spotify opens to everyone at 250,000 monthly listeners, and every download gets us closer.
For Jaime, who golfs.