I really wish this was a joke. I pray this is a joke. Maybe the Irish April Fools Day is actually in mid-January and we can all laugh and nudge one another while we talk about how Padraig Harrington zinged us once again. But I don't think it is. Nope, the report that Harrington has changed his golf swing again seem very true, and continue to force my palm to slap my forehead as I ponder these decisions.
According to Brian Keogh of the Irish Golf Desk, Harrington is working on a dozen or so changes. 12! Hey Paddy, just a thought ... instead of working on the number 12, for swing changes, maybe you should focus on the number three, for majors you won with your old golf swing. Or maybe we could focus on numbers like eight and nine, which are scores you made in competition after you decided on your first swing change when it wasn't necessary in the first place.
But, whatever, here are the swing changes for Paddy, via Keogh's report ...
“I changed the actual grips on my golf club. Most people would think ‘well, what’s that’. I have a reminder in my grip – I’ve taken it out. I’ve gone to round grips. That’s a big, big change.
“I’ve knocked all the clubs a degree flat – that’s a little change.
“I have weakened my grip, lowered my hands a bit and pushed them a bit further forward … small things.
“Probably the biggest one (and this is partly why I’ve changed these other things), I’ve changed my trigger to take the club away in my routine. I used take the club away from a moving position. I now take the club away from a static position.
“Part of that, I used to have a big squat to take the club away, so that’s gone. There’s a little one. I’d love to get it all gone but it’s hard to change your trigger, full stop.
“I’m taking the club away without my hips so there’s a much smaller hip turn – a much bigger coil but a smaller hip turn.
“Obviously, that changes my plane in the back swing.
“I’ve changed my chin position at the top of my backswing. I used to try and swing my shoulder under my chin, so I’d poke my head out to do it, which we think has contributed to my neck issues. So now I’m tucking my head in at the top of my backswing.
“The trigger probably is the biggest thing. Through impact I’m going back to squatting quite a bit at the start of my downswing, as I used to. So I’m going back to that.
“I’m going back to trying to get my chest more down through impact to get my hands lower through impact and reduce the lateral through impact.
“From seven feet out I probably was 150th in every putting stat so I’ve changed my putting routine as well.
“I’m not standing off the ball when I’m taking my practice putts. I’m practice putting over the ball … when you see a raw beginner, they often do that. When they take a practice putt, they lift it up and do it over the top of the ball. I’m doing that so when I put the putter back down, I’m not adjusting anything. I used to line up and get a feel for the putt, which you see a lot of guys do, then I’d take the putter inside an try a practice putt. But when I take the putter inside, I move my eye line, so the practice putts I’m getting a feel for are not the same as the putts I actually have. So I’m not changing my eye line.
Seriously, when did this guy start looking at the golf swing like it was splitting an atom? JUST SWING THE DAMN GOLF CLUB LIKE YOU USED TO SWING IT, AND STOP OVER-THINKING THIS WHOLE THING!!! YOU'RE NUTS!
Okay, sorry, rant over. There ya go.
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