By Kim Jeong-kyoo

A perfect swing requires good rhythm and tempo along with balance. What has to be done first to introduce a good rhythm and tempo into your swing is to set up in balance with a comfortable feeling. Improper pre-swing preparations cause you to feel uneasy, pushing you to swing helter-skelter.

Uneasiness creates a sense of danger and the common human reaction to danger is a quick, hurried motion. It is an instinct to try to get away from danger as quickly as possible.

That is when you are uneasy at address, your composure is lost, which forces you to hasten to swing. To swing rhythmically at a leisurely tempo, your address position needs to be proper so you can feel comfortable.

You would have probably experienced that your setup was so comfortable and perfect that you did not want to move at all. A sense of total relaxation made you feel so nice that you just wanted to stand still that way for ever. It is that comfortable feeling at address that encourages you to swing rhythmically at a nice and leisurely pace, which is critical for a solid, powerful shot.

Here is a good practice drill that can ensure a leisurely pace.

As you swing back from your normal address position, lift your left foot off the ground and move it back toward your right foot so they are together. To be sure of getting a good tempo, count `one' at this stage of the motion.

Counting `two,' put your left foot back to the same spot as it was at address as you start the downswing. This movement would be somewhat similar to that of a stone-skipper, an infielder in baseball or a discus thrower making his stride before throwing the stone, ball or discus.

For the `three' motion, you just throw what you imagine you have in your hand, releasing your right foot. A good method for releasing your right foot properly through impact is to push hard off the inside of your right instep or kick your right knee toward the target through impact the way stone-skippers or discus-throwers do when they throw. That ensures your balance between turn and slide, encouraging a perfect rhythm and tempo.

Swinging a golf club like stone-skipping or discus-throwing encourages better a weight shift and better overall leg motion, making it easier to stay down with your head and upper body well behind the ball through the shot.

Better yet, that promotes a big turn and a wide swing arc, which are essential to producing longer distance.

More importantly, envisioning yourself skipping a stone or throwing a discus makes your swing simple and easy to repeat, encouraging a leisurely pace.

When it comes to golf swing, the simpler, the better. Simplicity begets balance and sedate pace, which, in turn, underlie powerful, solid contact on the sweet spot of the clubface on a consistent basis. A simple swing made at a leisurely pace looks prettier than a complicated one.