Padraig Harrington – Gain 5 MPH DRIVER BALL SPEED Using This SIMPLE DRILL

Padraig Harrington shows how every golfer can gain ball speed with their driver by practicing a simple drill once a week and how doing a Happy Gilmore swing with a driver can help a junior golfer establish a perfectly on plane swing.

[Music] We’re back with Podrick Harrington, a winner of 30 tournaments around the world. And I think you have a need for speed. Talk speed. This modern game, it’s hugely about speed. You know, somebody who hits the golf ball a long way really does have an advantage. Now, you don’t have to use it. I think that’s one of the big keys you see in golf. You don’t have to hit driver everywhere, but if you have speed, you can choose choose when to use it. Choose when to lay up. You’re going to iron shots are going to be coming in higher with more spin. It’s just an easier game. So, personally, I recommend every golfer should be working on their speed once a week. Now, what does that mean for people? You know, for me, that might mean just 20 balls in the range once a week. Hit as hard as you can with no reference to where the golf ball is going. You’re just purely thinking, how fast can I swing this golf club? And usually that means trying to speed your arms and hands and club head up. Your body is normally already going fast enough. So, I’m going to hit one as hard as I can right now. And I mean I’m slashing and watch for me slashing for me as hard as I can. Look, I dance. I go back to the old school. And it’s as hard as I can. Now, that actually hasn’t gone further than my normal drive because I’ve created so much spin on it. But as long as I keep my speed up 100% for maybe 20 drives once a week, well, my 90% speed is going to be very comfortable on the golf course. If I can just ask one thing then, I I thoroughly agree with that. Is that something you’d recommend people do just before they go out and play? Would that be more after they’ve played on a day they don’t play? If you’re playing a lot, no, don’t do it before you go out. I will always warm up with my personal one for gaining speed. This gains me 2 or 3 miles an hour. It it I swing it about 6 to 8 miles an hour quicker, but afterwards I’ll probably be 2 miles an hour quicker on my normal swing. I do a Happy Gilmore. You’ll see me do six of these every day on the range. [Music] If only I could play golf like that. I’m very tempted. Very, very tempted. I’ve got like I can get over 190 ball speed with that, but I can definitely get to high sort of 180. And that if I can get 180 on the golf course, there’s no need for any more. That’s where actually on tour 180 is where where it sort of starts to plateau out that it’s no more need. There’s no more use for more than 180 ball speed. Let’s let’s just see that one more time. Now, is obviously you’re incredibly talented. You grow up in Ireland playing hurling. This is not difficult for you. Is it something you would recommend all golfers to do or just recommend it for kids? For kids, it’s a great drill because you can’t over swing in the back swing. You watch this as I’m running up here. So, as I’m running up, I can only go this far because I’m going forward. It’s the same as if you were playing hockey. It’d be very hard to hit a puck in hockey. Like, and you would never think of doing this. You’d have no time to get to it. So, your your nice short tight back swing. How many steps would you go back? I can do as many as I like. I do a two swing step on the range because literally there’s a guy hitting here and a guy here. So, I’m a bit worried about running. But I could actually do a full run up. It wouldn’t bother me. This one I’m going to do two steps. You will see as I come in, I get a great plant. What I talked about earlier with Jack Nicholas, great plant here and then everything shoot powers up through the legs and clears. So, here we go. Okay. It’s like a place kick. one. [Music] I’m going to try that one myself. Now, you have one last thing you like to do. I think you referenced Tom House, who’s a great teacher of of producing speed in many sports that that that who has helped you. Yeah. You know, I I’ve done some work with Tom House and you know, through TPI out there in in California and obviously we do throwing, but also we recommend swinging a light club and a heavy club as well as a normal club. for a lot of kids and I would say for anybody beginning the game and hell let’s let’s get everybody doing it. They should get a shaft every so often and swing it and the golf club golf swing should feel pretty much as close as possible to that whipping. There’s a tremendous swish there right between your feet. So you tell you’re not late, you’re not early, it’s just at the right time. Yes, it because you can hear it. So that swish is going to be right here just around this area here. And what you will find if you give this to a kid, he will make the most magnificent on playing golf swing with a stick, he’ll find it hard to do with a club because of the weight of it and maybe he’s afraid of not hitting the golf ball. But with a stick, he’ll just set it there. He won’t give it this big long back swing. He’ll just set it there and whip through it. Do you know? I think I’m swinging faster already. I can feel it. Yeah.