Padraig Harrington reveals the most important tip for amateurs

If you’re dealing with too many swing thoughts, Harrington suggests focusing on three words: swish, chest and hold.

In a conversation with the Golf Channel Academy, he said: “You got to get a grip on the first three letters of the word school. So what do I mean by that?

“Well, the first letter S stands for swish. So essentially, the louder that swish potentially the further the golf ball will go. So everybody who’s starting off the game should spend as much time not hitting a golf ball but getting the club to swish.

“The second letter C stands for chest. When you’re hitting the golf ball, you keep your chest down. We never ever want to see somebody coming in to hit the golf ball and their chest pops up before they hit it.

“So you keep your chest down, not your head down. Another bad mistake is if you try and keep your head down it actually tucks and gets in the way which causes that pop up.

“So when an amateur or beginner is starting off I’m always thinking keep your chest down probably about six to eight inches past the ball before you let it come up out of it.

“So swish the club, keep your chest down. That gives you a strike and there’s only one thing we could add left over H – hold your finish,” Harrington added.

Sir Nick Faldo’s follow-through drill

To go along with Harrington’s three points, Sir Nick Faldo has a useful drill to work on your follow-through. It’s an area of the swing that often gets ignored, even though it can be crucial.

Speaking to Golfing World, he said: “One of the drills I’m really into right now: the golf swing is really, can you get from a really good address position, can you then simulate your impact position and then go through to your follow-through position?

“We spent so much time and I know I was a culprit of that, so much time thinking about our backswing, especially the club golfers. They’re grinding on their backswing: ‘where’s my position?’ He gets the ball so they’re full back and half through, so I want you to think about it the other way.

“Let’s go half back and all the way through it will make a big difference to your game.”

Sir Nick raises an important point there. How we finish our swing can often be as telling as how we set up in the first place.