Golf equipment fans have known for a long time that Padraig harrington is one. Harrington is a keen tester of new products and has made changes week after week. He also enjoys playing with a variety of equipment brands.
Equipment fans might not realize, however, just how brilliant an equipment mind Harrington really is.
To find out what clubs Harrington has in his bag and why, I spoke to him ahead of the 2023 Valero Texas open. Harrington and I spoke about the wider equipment landscape, brand deals for 2023, Harrington’s driver testing process, Harrington’s use of a TaylorMade wedge from 2008, square grooves and V-grooves, as well as his junior use of a set Ping Eye 1 irons.
Here are 7 key takeaways from my extensive gear talk with Harrington.
1 Padraig’s position on equipment contracts and why he prefers Wilson
Harrington has been a Wilson employee for many years. He supports the brand and does use their equipment. However, he does not own a full set of Wilson clubs. Wilson’s ability to understand a player’s needs for flexibility is a benefit to him, which is why he’s attracted more professional players to the company (such Kevin Kisner and Trey Mullinax ).
“Wilson asks me to do whatever is easiest for him. It is very important. It’s not like a manufacturer saying, “We want you to join 14 clubs.” It’s just how it is. Wilson says, “We want you to play well and play the best clubs em>
“I feel very comfortable using their irons. As you can see, I am very happy with their wedges. They also have an old hybrid 4-iron that I love. The new hybrid 4-iron is too powerful. It was in my bag and I couldn’t bear to get it out. It turns out that I have a 4-iron as well as a 5-wood. My 4-iron must be somewhat similar to my 5-iron. Then, I need to bridge the gap between 5-wood and 4-iron. The new 4-iron went 230 yards. My 4-iron runs about 215-235. It may run 240 on warm days. My 5-wood, on a warm day, is about 215-235 in the air. However, I don’t have any problem hitting it 235 so it can be crossed over. The new 4-iron is just as good. It’s too powerful. I couldn’t hit that 215 shot with it. This is why I keep the 4-iron in my bag. It does the job of bridging the gap.
Players become less dependent on manufacturers as they earn more. Manufacturers are essential to their success. Wilson is becoming more attractive to players because they don’t need to use 14 clubs. You don’t have to be happy with Wilson this week. But if you do want to chase another thing for a while, you only need two clubs. It’s best to not be a free agent and change a lot. This is a distraction. It’s nice to know that Titleist has a great driver. And I can work my way into Titleist and say, “Hey, gimmie, a try with that.” Wilson knows that this is a great driver. They want their players happy and to play well. It’s not like there are only 10 clubs. But it’s not just 14 and the ball.
“The irons work great. There’s no doubt about it. They have won the most majors. They have a wide range of irons. They have the blades if you need it. You can use my iron which is a tour composite with a little bit of a cavity back. You can also have the D irons with rockets. It was rocket-like, like the 4 iron they gave me. While guys love to have driving irons like this, mine must match the 5-iron. It was too high and fast.
“So yes, I believe you’re going see more manufacturers go that way. The problem is that our players want to be autonomous, but full independence is not possible. You don’t want to be the guy who keeps changing. This is what happens when kids make it in their first tournament. The manufacturers give them stuff and they start changing. You don’t want .”
2 The dangers of a 64 degree wedge
Harrington uses a Wilson Staff 64-degree wedge at his own discretion, but he rarely practices with it. Here are the reasons Harrington warns against using it.
The key to a 64 wedge is NOT to use it. It is a terrible wedge for your technique. It is a bad wedge for your technique. It’s in your bag, so it gets used on the course. But you don’t practice much with it because it’s terrible. You’ll be lagging if you have too much loft. It’s best to only take a few shots with it before you put it away. It’s better to practice with a pitching wedge, adding loft to become a good chipper than with a lob wedge taking loft off. This problem is exacerbated by a 64-degree wedge. It is a dangerous club. Although it can be a good thing at times, it can also cause harm.
It’s fine to have it in your bag for a shot, but it’s terrible to use as a practice club. It was a very simple club. I only hit a few full shots and a handful of chips. It’s a good thing I don’t spend too much time with it.
Padraig was the one who in 2008 came up with the idea for TaylorMade ZTP wedges. !
It was unbelievable to me, but Harrington claims that TaylorMade’s 2008 ZTP wedges were originally designed with interchangeable face technology.
“The TaylorMade is clearly attracting a lot attention, but that’s my idea!” Wilson consultant and I got Wilson to create changeable faces. TaylorMade bought them. That was entirely my idea. TaylorMade bought it, and TaylorMade made them. I was very happy. TaylorMade was unable to sell them. People won’t clean their grooves if you don’t make them do it. So they didn’t buy a new one. I don’t see the point in having 400 faces at home. To make sure they were there for me, I bought them. I chipped a bit while I was at home, and now I have a nice 58. I love the grind of that wedge and that I can replace the face once every three weeks. It’s so easy! .”
4) Driver testing doesn’t just revolve around speed
“The driver companies understand that I am a free agent when referring to drivers. So every time a new driver arrives, they will come to me and ask, ‘Hey! Would you like to have a look at it?’
“I will test all, yes, but it must be better than what I have in my bag. Wilson’s new driver is exactly the same. It’s great that they brought in a new driver, but I still love the one I am using. I said, “Look guys, you don’t have to be as good or as experienced as the incumbent. You have to be better. I know this and I’m comfortable with it em>
“Wilson is a very, very competent driver. It’s not difficult to see why. I love the driver that I use. I can’t imagine a better driver from any of these companies.
Ball speed is what gets a driver to talk, then it’s time to bring it to the course. The driver must be as fast as my current driver. I then bring it to the golf course to see if I can get it straight. I’ve tried the “prioritizing speed ” route. In 2014, I used a driver. It never worked weekends. It was very fast. It was fast and it worked for six weeks. I played six tournaments with it, but I missed six cuts. It didn’t work on the weekends. It worked great on the range, but was slow on the course em>
5) As a junior, playing with knockoff irons
“I was a junior player for Ireland under 18’s and owned half of a set golf clubs. They were imitation Ping Eye 1’s. The other half of the set was borrowed from my brother. Each of us had half sets. He had the odds, I had the odds. One of the players was playing with Ping Berylliums equipped with graphite shafts. They were 1,900 pounds. They were knockoffs and cost 100 Pounds. Mine cost 100 Pounds. I used a set of knockoffs to play for my country. Before those knockoff clubs, I had a mix of clubs. I simply picked up the cheapest club they had. The 6-iron may be more versatile than the 5-iron. I was aware of the purpose of my clubs. The 5-iron might be able to go with a fade, while the 7-iron may go with a hook. Every club had a purpose .”
6 Using both V-grooves and square grooves simultaneously
The USGA banned square grooves (or “box grooves”) in 2010 due to their ability to slow down golfers’ spin. V grooves provide a less advantageous advantage as they limit the sharp edges of the grooves and reduce friction on the ball. However, Harrington used both V and box grooves before the rule changes. He would adjust his setup according to the course.
“It’s fascinating that when box grooves were available – very few people are aware of this – I had two sets of clubs at any given time. I had a V groove as well as a box groove.
“Yeah, yes, you see, the box grooves out of the rough were amazing spin-wise, but if it got to a certain level the ball would come out so low that the ball wouldn’t get very far. The rough is so low that a 7-iron would not go 140 yards. My idea was to use a box groove 7 and V-groove 8 irons if I reached a course with this type of rough. I would hit an 8-iron if I reached the rough with 170 yards. The 7 iron might not get there depending on where the lie was. It was impossible to get over the obstacles. To get around trees, the V groove was necessary. A box groove would not lift the air.
“No one was doing it. After playing with the box groove for several years, I discovered that certain rough requires the V groove. Hale Irwin played the U.S. Open with seemingly no grooves. It’s not supposed to matter off the fairway. Although I disagree with this statement, it’s what officials would have you believe. To get out of the rough, you would need the flyers. I was able to do that because of the V grooves. To get the ball, you need to grab your flyer. But if it was the first or second cut of rough or Bermuda rough or chip shots, the ball would be so low and spinny that it would not pose any problem.
“It’s unbelievable that no one knew that I was doing the two-groove thing every day. You can stand there and launch a 7-iron right over the fence if it had box grooves made of light rough. A V groove would launch above it. The launch characteristics of the 7-iron were vastly different .”
7) Don’t blame the person.
Harrington has used only a few putters in all of his tinkering. There’s a reason. However, he would like his current model to stand a few millimeters higher.
“I used a 2-ball blade when it was first released. I then switched to a 2-ball blade which won me my majors. My putts always had a hook so I switched to a face-balanced putter shortly after my majors. It helps reduce left-to-right spin. I was terrible at putting in 2013 and 2014. I had some problems. Then, in 2016-2017, my putter was working well. If I use this putter I can’t say that it’s the problem of the putter. It has to be me. Because I had great times with the 2-ball face-balanced 2-ball, I returned to it. In my career, I have probably only used 5-6 putters.
“I am really happy to have a putter with which I can putt well, and I can’t fault the putter. That’s all I can say. I don’t blame the tools; I blame myself for missing a putt. It comes down to this: I know how the putter works and then it’s me. Me, me, me.
“You know, I have tried to use other shafts in my putter and I will also look at other putters. But, things look a little strange to me when I look down. A putter that has a line on it is not for me. It isn’t square to the face. For that reason, I have never putted with any putter that had a line. I align by feeling. I feel that the putter works and it suits me so I follow that…
“I prefer a deeper putter (a taller face). My only problem is that I hit the ball too high on my face. However, they won’t change the entire system to make me a deeper player. I tried optical illusions to get the ball in the center but it was too high. It seems to be hitting the hole, so I don’t worry too much about it. In an ideal world, it would be nice if someone could putter 3-4mm higher.
