Golf tempo apps compared: metronomes, sensors and video

Golf tempo apps come in two kinds, and it's worth knowing which you want. Some train your tempo: they play tones or music at a three-to-one rhythm and you swing to them. Others measure it: they time your own backswing and downswing and tell you your ratio. If you're new to the idea, start with what golf swing tempo is and why 3:1 matters.

The short answer

Tour Tempo

Tour Tempo is the app from John Novosel, whose 2004 book Tour Tempo, written with John Garrity, made the three-to-one ratio famous. It plays three tones, for the takeaway, the start of the downswing and impact, at the frame counts Novosel found in tour swings: 18/6, 21/7, 24/8 and 27/9 for the long game, and two-to-one counts for the short game. It also has a frame counter, where you film your swing and count the frames yourself.

It's £24.99 to buy, with yearly and lifetime subscriptions on top.

Best for: learning the 3:1 rhythm from its source.

Golf BPM

Golf BPM sets your swing to music: original tracks with spoken counts, "one" for the takeaway, "two" for the downswing, "three" for impact, at several speeds, with slower two-to-one tracks for chipping and putting. A short quiz suggests your speed. You register to start a free trial, then subscribe.

Best for: golfers who find music easier to swing to than beeps. It doesn't measure your swing.

Golf Pro Tempo

Golf Pro Tempo is a metronome with drills, and it can also measure: import a video, mark the address, the top and impact frame by frame, and it works out your backswing, downswing and ratio. The core practice is free; Premium is a weekly, monthly or yearly subscription, or £12.99 for life.

Best for: practising to tones and checking the result, on a budget.

Golf Swing Tempo Analyzer

This one measures with an Apple Watch: its motion sensors time each swing, and it tells you how many were slow, fast or near a three-to-one ideal. It's free to download, with packs of swings to buy. You'll need an Apple Watch.

Best for: measuring tempo on every swing without filming.

GolfFix

GolfFix is an AI swing coach rather than a tempo app, but its paid plan analyses your rhythm and tempo from your video, alongside its swing fault diagnosis, and includes tempo drills.

Best for: tempo as part of a full AI swing analysis.

Golf Studio

Golf Studio is our app. Film or pick a swing, mark three moments on it (the first move, the top and impact) and it shows your backswing and downswing times and your ratio over the video, with a score out of 100 from Beginner to Tour Pro. An update on the way finds the three moments for you: the first move and the top from the golfer's hands, and impact from the sound of the strike. It's free, with a shot tracer, a club tracer and highlight reels too.

Best for: measuring your real tempo from an ordinary phone video, for free. Worth knowing: it measures rather than trains, so there's no metronome, and it's iPhone only for now, with Android on the way.

What about watches and sensors?

If you'd rather not film at all, Garmin's Approach golf watches have a Swing Tempo training mode, and Blast Motion's club-mounted sensor reports your backswing, downswing and ratio on every swing. Both are hardware you buy, rather than an app, and they measure every swing you make.

Which should you choose?

• You want to learn the rhythm: Tour Tempo or Golf BPM, and swing to the beat.
• You want to know your own ratio from video: Golf Studio measures it free, with a score out of 100; Golf Pro Tempo and Tour Tempo let you mark or count it too.
• You want every swing measured: an Apple Watch app or a sensor.

The best approach uses both: train to a metronome, then film and measure to see whether it's stuck.