CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It’s hard not to love Padraig Harrington. The three-time major champion still works harder than anybody else on tour — on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo, he spent a good 90 minutes banging drivers — and he’s never afraid to tinker.
Recently, that means adding some fancy footwork into his game.
Late last year, I tracked down Harrington at the RSM Classic, where he swung by lifting his left foot entirely on his backswing (to shift his weight entirely to his trail foot) and then used his lead foot to step out of the way of his hips once more on his way though.
Paddy and his two-step absolutely hammered this one. pic.twitter.com/s9H5QgTaVX
— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) November 13, 2018
The soon-to-be European Ryder Cup captain was doing something similar ahead of this week’s Wells Fargo Championship.
He was still stepping with his left foot on his backswing and stepping out of the way with his hips on the way through. But along the way, he also added a left heel drag, which you can see below.
Paddy's got a new move! It's…
1. Step with the left foot
2. Drag the right heel (a few months ago he was only dragging the toe)
3. With longer clubs he steps again with the left foot again to finish pic.twitter.com/ALiZ2gj10L
— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) April 30, 2019
Why is Paddy doing this? It’s all about weight shift. In essence, he’s trying to move his weight fully back to his trail foot on his backswing, then it moves into his left foot on the way through and onto his heels. There’s a lot of stuff going on, so timing might become an issue. But ultimately, the ball doesn’t care what the swing is doing before impact, and Paddy’s impact position looks pretty darn solid.
