Al, try and insert a Wayne Grady type pause at the top of your swing in practice. Don't worry too much about the quality of the strike although you may find no real difference. Then hit some balls without the pause, hopefully your muscles should now be 'tuned' to swing a bit slower, easing the jerkiness you may be finding in your transition. Keep practicing until you notice improvement.

Another tip is to start the swing from the top. Take your backswing and hold it at the top make a note of the position and then take a few practice swing just lifting the club in front of you (no backswing as such) and slotting it into place. This will give you the correct feel for the exact point of transition and you will be able to tell exactly at what point in the backswing you need to start down.

Tempo is always a problem. I often find the best way to get my tempo right is to watch players with beautiful timing. Els, Couples and Snead copme to mind. luckily Sneads swing is readily available on the golf channel in the late evening when they screen the celebrity golf tv show from the sixties. If you can picture their swing in your minds eye you can try and duplicate it yourself.

D.