The right tempo lets you keep your swing under control. The right rhythm lets everything unfold in the proper time and sequence. These two dynamics interact to produce your best swing.
Tempo varies between golfers, but rhythm should not. I know you could read a Russian novel during Ai Miyazato's backswing, but that's her and we'll let it go.
The correct rhythm is two parts backswing, one part downswing. Sometimes you hear that the ratio is 3:1, but this is wrong. It's 2:1. If you count 1 when the club starts away from the ball, then 2, 3, with 3 when the club is at the top, and 4 when the club hits the ball, and all your counts are at equal intervals, that's the rhythm of the golf swing.
I think what confuses people is there there are three counts going up to only on going down, but those three counts define only two intervals. Watch a tournament on TV sometime and count out the swings you see. It's 2:1.
As for tempo, it needs to be as fast as you can make it and still keep your swing under control, meaning you stay balanced throughout. If you're off balance when you finish, this can be for several reasons, but one of them is that you lost your balance because you swung too fast.
The 2:1 rhythm can be applied to any swing tempo. What normally happens is that the downswing is rushed and a golfer hits the ball before you count 4. Try counting out the swings in your group the next time you play. I would bet you green fees that everybody in the foursome hits the ball before you get to 4.
Learn to swing in a 2:1 rhythm first. You can use a metronome to count your own swing if you need to. Once you have absorbed that rhythm, then play with your tempo until you find the one that gives you the best ball flight. You can swing too fast, but you can swing to slowly, too.
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