Padraig Harrington

Padraig Harrington

Greetings Golfers,

Last week, Padraig Harrington won the Senior Open - the Senior version of the British Open.

Padraig has been a great player for the past 25 years … but seems to fly under the radar. From 2001 - 2010 … he was usually in the top 10 in the world.

Besides last week’s Senior Open victory … he’s won three Majors … two Opens and a PGA Championship. And played on six Ryder Cup teams and even captained the 2020 team.

Maybe you knew all of this … but I sure didn’t … I knew he was good, but I didn’t he was that good!

The main reason that I’m writing about Padraig is that an old friend just sent a video that Padraig made about the golf swing. Here it is: VIDEO

My friend’s comment to me was: “You’ll LOVE this lesson!”

And I do love it. My ideas about the golf swing are pretty simple: Control the club with your hands to put spin on the spin … and find a natural athletic swing to then use your hands to hit shots. And I think for most people, the swing should be basically a throwing motion.

Obviously not everyone is good at throwing … so they might be better off making more of a mechanical swing. But for people who are comfortable with throwing a ball … building their golf swing around a throwing motion can be a natural and easy way to play golf.

Speaking of natural and easy … sometimes running a golf course is neither one. Lately, I’ve had too much on my plate and haven’t been great at returning emails. I try to respond to everyone who responds to my blogs … and I usually do. But those last two blogs … I’m way behind in responding. I’m not ignoring you … I’ll get back. I enjoy all of the responses … this is not a plea to stop … this is just my way of apologizing for being slow.

Well, today is August the oneth. I can’t believe it. One of the weirdest, rainiest years that I remember. Let’s not waste these days by waiting for perfect weather. The golf season is short … “Waste-not, Want-not”.

Cheers!

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com