Padraig Harrington is talking about the don’ts of golf, and he admits that’s strange, though there certainly are don’ts.
It’s just the word itself.
“I’m normally a very positive person,” he said.
Still, Harrington was ready for what he called “the mega lesson of don’ts.” The thoughts came in a recently posted video to the three-time major winner’s YouTube channel, which has become an instruction must-visit, and his latest post is a must-watch, despite that un-positive vibe. You can view it below, and below that are some comments.
Padraig Harrington’s don’ts of the golf swing
Don’t keep your head down
You’ve heard this one. But it needs to be repeated. “By all means, keep an eye on the ball,” Harrington said in the video, “but your head is nice and relaxed. It doesn’t tuck down onto your chest. For most people, it will rotate a little bit in the backswing, and certainly in the follow-through, it will come up to a high position. … Your head must move.”
Don’t keep your feel still or locked to the ground
During the swing, Harrington wants to avoid a set position. “You can create no speed, no power; you’ll go offline,” he said in the video. “Your feet should move at address … and then move back and forth. So simply little stepping. That’s why we do all these stepping drills. You’ve got to move your feet if you’re going to hit the golf ball.”
Don’t stay down during the swing
Harrington said this is “nearly sacrilege.” “So when you hit the golf ball, you must pop up to hit the golf ball. … OK, so our chest is somewhat staying down, but everything else is coming up. You pop up on the left-hand side. … So, we’ve got to make sure that you do that natural thing. Keep an eye on the ball, but make sure you’re jumping up with those legs. You can keep an eye on the ball, but make sure you’re accelerating up.”
Don’t swing slowly
Your backswing, Harrington said, should be set “at your natural rhythm, whatever that is.” “Some people will be quick, some people will be relatively slow,” he said in the video. “What we do know is that professional golfers, I think, swing three times quicker than amateurs in the backswing. So, the backswing is quite for a natural rhythm at that sort of pace. … So, nice speed to it.”
Don’t swing easy
At times, you will, though, Harrington said. “But you must practice swinging as fast as you can sometimes and then tone it down to play,” he said in the video. “Not tone it down every shot because there’ll be some open drives where you should go flat-out. But in general, do not swing slow and easy. Swing hard and fast some of the time in order that you can swing at a comfortable 90 percent and keep your rhythm.”
Don’t cast
“You’ve got to release the club with your hands as much as you can,” Harrington said in the video. “So absolutely throw that club like you’re going to throw it down the range. … People who cast — and this is like everything else in golf, it’s nearly the opposite — so people who cast put no pressure on the grip at this point and then the force of the club gets thrown out and they lose all their speed and power and strike. … So release the club as hard as you can with your hands from the top of the backswing.”
Don’t spin
“So a bad thought is turning your hips when they’re not connected to anything because that generally brings the hands with it, causing you to swipe across the ball and hit a slice,” Harrington said in the video. “Do not rotate your body. At impact, your shoulders are going to be close to square, maybe 10 degrees open. Your torso would be 30 and maybe your hips 45. … We don’t try and rotate. What we actually do is we push. We push. So, we go down into the left side. And as we’re springing up, we push from the ground, which pushes our hip back, which opens this up, our body stays reasonably square at impact. So don’t think turning is not going to add anything and is usually counterproductive. If you have to think about that, you push your way out by getting on the left side and pushing.”
Can Harrington describe what to do?
He could.
“if you finish your golf swing, post it up on your left leg with the left leg straight, your chest up and high, slight little bit of arch, your right shoulder closest to the target, your head up in the air like that, you’ll probably have done all those other things correctly,” Harrington said in the video. “But remember, avoid the don’ts and try and get that lovely pose at the end and you’ll be doing everything — you’ll be doing it well enough to be a good golfer.”