Padraig Harrington has never shied away from a new training aid, swing thought or swing overhaul that has the promise to improve his golf game.
The 53-year-old pro has won three majors, but he’s still remained highly competitive in the second stage of his career. Harrington’s won three times in 14 starts on the PGA Tour Champions this season, and his latest victory came on Sunday, when he beat Y.E. Yang by two and Jason Caron and Hiroyuki Fujita by three to win the Simmons Bank Championship in Little Rock, Ark.
Harrington closed with a five-under 67 at Pleasant Valley Country Club to win the second of three stops of the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs. He’ll now head into the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in two weeks at Phoenix Country Club with a chance to win it all. His victory Sunday vaulted him from 11th to 4th in the season-long standings. The top 36 players advanced to the finale in Arizona.
But ironically, as Harrington held on to his lead down the stretch on Sunday, he did so by reining in something he’s spent years trying to maximize — his speed.
“I’ve tried to keep my speed up to compete with the young guys, so it’s an advantage when I come out here, for sure,” Harrington said Sunday. “This is actually one of the first times I can actually slow myself down on that back nine because I got out of sorts. Unusual for me, but I was trying to swing easy at the end, just keeping it tidy. But that’s because when you’re in contention, you’ve got a little bit more adrenaline. Yeah, it’s nice to have that advantage, it’s nice, I know I can get at a few more pins than other guys, but you’ve still got to hole the putts and hit the shots.”
Harrington’s focus on swing speed over the past few years has worked. He averages 306 yards off the tee, which leads the PGA Tour Champions. David Bransdon and Cameron Percy (both 301 yards) are the only other pros who average more than 300 yards.
Harrington’s secret? One-part swing aid he says provides “instantaneous feedback,” which you can learn more about here, and one-part mean, clean speed. Harrington taught us on Sunday that harnessing speed and finding fairways under pressure can prove crucial.
