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Padraig Harrington on Bryson, Rory and Chasing Distance

By Kathlene Bissell

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA - MARCH 19: Padraig Harrington of Ireland plays his shot from the 16th tee during the second round of The Honda Classic at PGA National Champion course on March 19, 2021 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA - MARCH 19: Padraig Harrington of Ireland plays his shot from the 16th tee during the second round of The Honda Classic at PGA National Champion course on March 19, 2021 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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Padraig Harrington is 49-years old, a three-time major champion and he admits that he’s still after more distance off the tee.

“The one thing I’m obsessed about is chasing distance,” Harrington told media at the Honda Classic when asked what he thought about Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy and their desires to hit the ball farther.

Harrington said he has seen many players, McIlroy included, who have gone on the more distance bandwagon.

“It’s not like I haven’t done it myself, so I’m not going to sit here and pass judgment on him,” Harrington noted.

Harrington added that he was surprised that more people didn’t start doing it in 1996 immediately after Tiger Woods won his first tournament in Las Vegas outhitting the field. However, Harrington said with McIlroy it wasn’t just a distance chase, it was also a club selection change off the tee.

Tiger Woods of the United States on his way to his first professional golf tournament win at the PGA Las Vegas Invitational on 5th October 1996 at the TPC Summerlin Golf Course, Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. (Photo by J.D. Cuban/Allsport/Getty Images)
Tiger Woods of the United States on his way to his first professional golf tournament win at the PGA Las Vegas Invitational on 5th October 1996 at the TPC Summerlin Golf Course, Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. (Photo by J.D. Cuban/Allsport/Getty Images) /

According to Harrington, when Rory arrived in the professional ranks, he was more aggressive and hit driver on more holes.  That, he believes influenced others to do the same thing.

“Holes that used to be a 3-wood lay-up off the tee, now everybody hits driver. We all push that risk,” he added.

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He compared today’s situation to 40 years ago for perspective.

“If there’s only one guy, Davis Love in the ’80s was out there on his own, the field doesn’t have to worry about one guy,” he explained. “Bryson obviously is a good player, a great player, so they do have to worry about him, but not excessively about his length.”

What the average tour player does have to worry about, according to the Irishman, is that in 10 years, there will be 10, 20, 30 guys hitting it as far as DeChambeau.  Then it’s a talent you have to have.

Currently, Harrington thinks a ball speed of 180 mph is good enough.  But for those who want to be around in 10 years, he thinks having 190 mph ball speed might be necessary.

Harrington said he has 190 ball speed in practice on the range. He has gained just over 20 mph since he started working on speed and using a measurement device.

“When I started doing speed work, the first monitor I got was in 2000, 169 was my ball speed. Now I can crack out 192 on the range,” he explained.

However, on the golf course, he has increased by no more than 10 mph. He can’t take it to the course and play with it successfully.  To him, that’s one reason DeChambeau is impressive. He cited seeing DeChambeau on the range at Royal Portrush GC with ball speed of 189 on a cold day.

“The fact he can bring it out on the golf course has — as I say, I can bring it out on the range, I just can’t bring it out on the golf course — that is an incredible achievement,” he said.  “I know when I go for speed on the golf course, there isn’t a big enough golf course for me.”

He believes that the cat is out of the distance bag and that there’s nothing that can be done at this point, although he thinks there are six reasons something should be done.

His first reason is that it’s more expensive to build a bigger golf course.

It’s more expensive to maintain a longer course.

It increases the length of time it takes people to play courses because many of them they have to hit more shots.

It slows down the style of play with more people waiting on par 5s as well as par 4s.

It has obsoleted many courses for the big hitters.

“With the ball going further, equipment going further, it also means that golf — and I see this at home — golf is extremely dangerous,” he said. “Guys who are 25 years of age are hitting it 340 in the air, and they don’t know where it’s going.”

He said it’s not necessarily good players, just golfers who can hit it a mile but have no control.

If there is a rollback, Harrington thinks DeChambeau will cheer it on.  As an example, he cited Bryson hitting a drive 350 yards.  A 10% roll-back  takes him to 315, while a 10% roll-back takes a guy who hits 300 back to 270 yards. However, it’s easier to hit the golf course more accurately at 315 than at 345 or 350, he said.

“You can’t change now,” Harrington insisted. “You’re going to have young guys coming out who swing a 7-iron at 110 miles an hour, and that means that there’s no lie in the rough, there’s no tree in the way that they can’t get over or can’t get out of.”

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