Homemade Whippy?

In another forum we have been discussing the benefits of good tempo. The Tempo master was mentioned as an excellent aid for developing this but seems to be difficult to get hold of in the UK.

Has anybody had a go at making a substitute?

I've done it.

Here in the US you can go to the hardware store and buy what they call a driveway marker rod. It is a solid rod made of fiberglass of some plastic and roughly the diameter of a metal wood bore (.335). They are used with a reflector stuck on top to help people locate a driveway on rural roads at night.

I took an old pulled steel shaft with long parallel sections (4cm or so) between the steps and cut it off just below the grip just after a step. I then got a wooden dowel that was slightly too big to fit inside this step and sanded it down until it was the proper size. I then epoxied this into the cut off shaft as far as the step was long.

At the same time I simply epoxied the driveway marker rod into an old metal wood head as I would any head/shaft....ferrule and all.

The next day after both were dry I cut off the part of the dowel that was sticking out beyond the cut shaft and then drilled a hole (size of the driveway maker rod) through the center of the dowel that was epoxied into the shaft.

I then simply cut the driveway rod to the length required and epoxied it into the hole I drilled in the dowel. Viola....a whippy tempo master for about $5 US as I already had a pulled shaft with grip and an old metal head lying about.

I had never heard of a whippy before but I like the idea. webwar...thanks a bunch for the description. Do you hit balls with it?