When a former champion offers you advice on how to qualify for the Open Championship, you listen. It gets even better if he is already a two-time winner at the event. Recently, famous YouTube golf influencer Peter Finch took on two-time Open winner Padraig Harrington in a 9-hole 1v1 match. Shortly after the game, the duo sat down for a podcast episode to have a long-drawn chat regarding Finch’s performance. Although the Irishman thought the YouTuber had incredible skills, he concluded from his analysis that the golfer lacked the most important aspect for winning the game: mental strength.
Even though the YouTuber lost to Harrington, he was still given credit for his outstanding swing. The two-time Open winner suggested that Finch improve his mental game if he intended to make it to the Open Championship.
“Why did he not score? So it’s not a physical thing. It’s a mental thing. He needs a better attitude. He can’t be disappointed with less than perfection.”
Later, Harrington claimed in a conversation with Finch,
“Look you hit the ball better than I did it. There’s no doubt about you struck the ball better. You hit it further than me off the tee. Your irons were class in a lot of places.”
Harrington is regarded as one of the golf’s strongest minds. His strong mental faculties helped him earn three major victories during his career. However, the golf star highlighted in the episode that one can not strive for perfection because holding oneself to that level only affects one’s attitude on the course. The only way to go is by taking appropriate action with the right mindset.
Thus, the golf legend advised the younger generation of golfers to improve their mindset and offered suggestions on how they can achieve that.
Padraig Harrington gives valuable tips on ‘Hook and Slice’ to aspiring amateurs
Despite its elitist image, golf encompasses many different techniques and technicalities. The legendary Padraig Harrington, while speaking on The Rough Cut Podcast on YouTube, pointed out that most amateurs have a “slice” habit and wish to break it. The Irishman gave some insightful advice on how to handle the situation.
The three-time major champion explained that if a player wanted to stop slicing the ball, he would have to start hooking numerous times.
“If you’ve got a slice and you want to get rid of it. You’ve got to stand the range and hit the biggest hook. You can like 20, 30, 40 yards of a hook – the worst looking shot – and you’ve got to keep hitting that for a while and then when you try and hit a shot, you’ll find it your slices got and then if you keep doing that for a while. Eventually, you’ll end up with a hook”
There is no doubt that slicing the ball has an impact on how far it goes on the golf course. Harrington’s suggestion may therefore be helpful to amateur golfers who wish to increase the distance that they cover and become long hitters.
Padraig Harrington may be long past his prime days, but he is still one of the most successful golfers in Europe. Aspiring golfers may, thus, learn a lot from him because he has considerably superior game sense than the younger generation.
