Never renowned as a ‘bomber’ in his prime, three-time Major champion Padraig Harrington now belies his age to smash the ball further than he has ever done before.
The 52-year-old has won six titles on the PGA Tour Champions since making his debut in June 2022, but perhaps more impressive than that is the Irishman’s numbers off the tee – an average of 308.7 yards in 2022 and 302.4 yards last season, which saw him top the Driving Distance leaderboard each year.
Of course, that is against players that are 50 years old plus, but Harrington was still producing the goods on the DP World Tour last year by driving the ball +3.04 yards further than the Tour average.
So, what’s the secret to his extra distance off the tee?
“If you want to hit further, you’ve got to hit it harder,” Harrington told YouTubers Me and My Golf.
“And to do that, you’ve got to break a lot of inhibitions.
“I got a launch monitor in 2003 and my top ball speed was 169mph on the old vector cameras. By 2008 I could get 190mph ball speed doing a Happy Gilmore and could do that for four hours and get faster and faster, but it wasn’t transferring to the course.
“I changed my attitude around two to three years ago – now I want my first swing to be the best, not my 150th swing. I used to peak around 70 swings in, so that’s why you see me take three vigorous practice swings out on the golf course as generally my third of fourth swing is quickest at this stage.
“The simple answer to hitting it longer is to lose some inhibitions, stop trying to hit it straight and just swing at it.”
And how can us weekend warriors implement that into our practice routine?
“I say this to pretty much every amateur – you’ve got to hit at least 20 balls once a week with no interest in hitting them straight,” he said.
“You’ve got to be purely focused on getting the clubhead to go as fast as it can. You’re trying to get to a limit on the range that you can back off on the course.
“Anybody pre-1990 that plays the game moves their feet and hands during set up, and this adds speed. The more aggressive your feet are, the more speed you’ll get. It also makes you look like a better player when you waggle compared to standing stiff over the ball – you look terrible!
“You’ve got to be athletic and move your feet. You should never be still, everything I do is in a beat.”
