Playing golf well takes a lot of time and practice. Even the greatest players in the world continue to fine-tune their craft throughout their careers.
Swing advice comes from all over: the teaching pro at the golf course, YouTube, Twitter or the extra guy who got added to the foursome.
Recent Golf Hall of Fame inductee Padraig Harrington is no stranger to working on his game. He is a range rat, loves to find ways to play golf better and enjoys helping weekend golfers.
However, with good advice comes terrible tips.
Instead of providing some of the best swing tips, he decided to do the opposite ahead of the U.S. Senior Open.
“I don’t know what the best one I’ve got because there are all sorts of things at different points in your life that really are important,” Harrington said. “It’s easier to pick up on the worst piece of advice.”
Harrington shared three things that he considers to be the worst swing advice he has gotten.
“Staying still is probably the worst thing,” he said. “Keeping your feet still on the ground. Keeping your head still. Keeping your head down. Swinging slowly. These are all terrible things.”
The tips given are all things that could benefit a player’s swing if done correctly.
Keeping your feet still is not nearly as common as it used to be. Now, people can use their feet to generate more power and hit the ball farther.
Harrington did a video a few years back about why keeping your head still is not good advice.
Swinging slowly could hurt players when generating power. Golfers should learn to swing hard and then teach themselves how to contact the ball properly.
Power is such a game-changing skill in golf that not everyone has.
Golf is a unique sport. It is not like other competitive things. No two golfers have the same swing.
“Golf is quite counterintuitive,” he said.
Harrington explained what his first coach, Howard Bennett, told him about the golf swing.
“People who don’t play golf, if they came to golf and did the absolute opposite of what they think, they’d be better off,” Harrington said.
The three-time major champion has tried many different tactics and knows what does not work.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
