Tempo Rules, OK?

My encounter with tempo, courtesy of 'Tour Tempo' by John Novosel et al, has been a positive on so far. It's early days, but I'm encouraged by my experience yesterday on the golf course.

I started very badly: bunker failure on the first hole, water ball on the seventh, and a lot of indifferent shots in between, including some three-putts. However, I kept plugging away and counting on every shot, and parred all bar two of the last ten holes.

The shot making, ball striking was solid, if not spectacular, but my putting was excellent. And for me, the two are closely related, probably because of the confidence factor. However, I did have a sense of freedom and enjoyment, much like the 'enjoyment, learning, performance' approach of Fred Shoemaker, in my shot making.

I do think counting 'one and two' - consistent with the 3 to 1 backswing/downswing ratio of TT - helps me keep at bay the swing thoughts that used to crowd my mind. I find that I am able to think 'swing straight to the target' as I rehearse the stroke, and then turn off that thought process during the execution of the shot.

I am also finding that I have increased confidence in my fundamentals - alignment, posture, grip, footwork, etc. - and focus more on the requirements of the shot; which is what I'm told good players do.

One ongoing area of concern is my chipping and short pitching. I wonder if I need to re-think some of my club selections or prepare differently for these shots? My fundamentals are basically correct I am sure, but something is lacking in the execution. This is particularly relevant to the 30 - 40 metre, half shots that seem crop up so often in my rounds. Poor chipping and pitching puts too much pressure on the putting, so there is work to be done.

A final reminder for myself: 'keep your expectations modest - trying (too hard) fails'.