If you follow golf personalities on YouTube, chances are you’ve come across Padraig Harrington’s “Paddy’s Golf Tips” videos on his YouTube Channel.
Instruction content can often get overwhelmingly technical but Harrington’s “fireside chat” style is disarming and easily digestible. He’s built a small but loyal following of 176,000 subscribers after the idea for documenting his tips on a YouTube channel was born during the pandemic when he posted his first video on Sept. 29, 2020, (shot on his iPhone) at the chipping green of his Dublin, Ireland, home.
The three-time major winner says his inspiration for these videos comes from his passion for game improvement.
“I just love the game and I want people to get better at it,” Harrington said in an interview with MyGolfSpy. “Why do I do Paddy’s Golf Tips? It’s all because of pro-ams. I play a lot of pro-ams and I love coaching the guys that play in them. It just comes naturally, I suppose. I love looking at them and wondering why some of them are as good as they are and why some of them are underachieving.”
When you read the comments on his YouTube channel, fans are clearly appreciative of the time he takes to make the videos and also how personable he is at tournaments as they watch him from outside the ropes. Some are lucky enough to play in pro-ams with him. Harrington acknowledges his gregarious personality naturally connects him with unlikely, and sometimes unsuspecting, students.
“Basically, every person who comes within eye contact with me, you’re getting a lesson. That’s just the way I am,” the 53-year-old said.
“I’m not going to become a YouTuber”
Harrington embraces the part-time coach role but his focus is still on playing full-time as he preps for his fourth full season on the PGA Tour Champions. The Irishman and long-time caddie Ronan Flood talked this topic over at length as they looked around at what all the other YouTube golfers like Bryson DeChambeau are doing with their channels.
“It’s funny. We talked about doing teaching videos and (Flood) looked at me and said, ‘You know you’re not going to change.’ And I said, ‘Well, what do you mean?’ and he says, ‘If you want to grow your YouTube channel, you’re going to have to do what Bryson does. You’re actually going to have to go out there on your weeks off and spend time with celebrities, at different golf courses, with like Bryson’s topics like Break 50. That’s a great challenge.‘”
But Harrington is a realist and he understands there is no way he has the energy and extra time that Bryson does to make that high level of content. Harrington says he plays about 30 events per year so it doesn’t leave him a lot of leeway.
“I’m not sure how many events Bryson is playing, 22 or something. So he’s got eight weeks on me to make that YouTube content. But it’s really good, I’ve got to say. As a player, he’s the first one to really cross that divide. I enjoy his content—put it like that. I watch it.”
Harrington’s desire to instruct and offer recreational golfers some of his sage advice is there but he has to manage his obligations.
“I would have to go out of my way to do that like Bryson does and my caddie told me, ‘You still think you’re a player. You still like playing.’ And that is what I really love—playing the game. So I’m not going to give up that time. I’m not going to become a YouTuber. I just can’t. I will not spend 30 days of the year doing that.
“I’m happy enough to do my individual lessons and do the things that I have time to post because that’s on my time. I can do those when I want to and I can manage it. I’m in control of it. But to take the next step would be too much. I’d have to retire. And I don’t think I want to retire from playing golf at the moment. I don’t think I’m going to go to the next level like Bryson has done but I’m going to continue on with the stuff I like doing on YouTube.”
A different take on the YouTube golf rat race
Most of Harrington’s videos are between six and 20 minutes in length which makes sense for a chatty personality like the two-time Open Championship winner who appreciates being able to say things without time parameters.
“I had done commercial shoots in the past for companies and when they say that I need to nail my lines in two minutes it actually creates a bit of stress. Like you have to be on point for that exact time. I like having some flexibility.”
And Harrington also likes to let his production team hit the record button, execute his first take and move on to the next thing. He wouldn’t be bothered to restart from a small mistake.
“All of these videos and tips you watch are first takes. Every video I do. Now, I might restart in the first 30 seconds if I got it wrong but once I’m in the video for two or three minutes I’m not going back to the start. So if I fumble at that stage, I’m just going to carry on like nothing happened. I’m not going to re-edit a video because you try and do that and doing a two-minute video takes an hour. If it ended up becoming like that, I just wouldn’t do these videos.”
Thankfully he employs a multi-camera production team to record the videos with him and come up with what he calls “glossy” thumbnails to get viewers’ attention on YouTube.
“I do the content but I don’t know how to do the marketing side of it. YouTube is all about those sound bites and the thumbnails and all that sort of stuff. I wouldn’t know that and I certainly wouldn’t have the inclination. I’ve read a little bit about it but I need a production team behind me when it comes to the actual YouTube stuff and putting it out there and trying to get those clicks.”
So how many days a year does Harrington end up spending on his golf tips videos?
That’s a loaded question. On the surface, he does two to three long production days at a course per year. Harrington, his production team and manager Adrian Mitchell seek to put out two short videos per month from those days of multi-camera filming.
“Every day I’m working on the preparation for my tips and thankfully I’ve discovered a great resource: it’s called the PGA Tour Champions. All the players have little nuggets of knowledge so I spend a whole year gathering—I’m basically plagiarizing, if you want to say. I’m looking everywhere to find these tips. So it’s the year of preparation and then I probably do two big days of filming and then a number of little days in terms of the video production.”
Mitchell reviews each short video from a golfer’s perspective to ensure they are understandable and informative—and they usually are.
Timeless, old-school lessons
A great example of Harrington’s brilliance at teaching is his effortless yet informative explanations that appeal to a wide audience. His “How to Control the Clubface at Impact” video from this past October is a prime example. It’s 11 minutes long—and he continually speaks to the camera and says things like “we” would want to try this drill. He then reveals two or three practical drills for the bogey golfer that give instant feedback on clubface control.
“I’m getting feedback and that’s important,” Harrington says as he puts water on the face of his driver to see each range ball’s dimple marks from impact. He also draws a black dot on some golf balls to gather immediate feedback of which groves he’s hitting with iron shots.
Without breaking focus or energy level, Harrington then seamlessly transitions to include beginner golfers in the second half of the video by instructing them not to focus on hitting the ball straight, but rather on hitting shots that move to the left or right by overly manipulating the clubface. The idea being that, in order to know where square contact is, you can figure it out best by exaggerating the opposites with either a shut or open clubface at impact.
“Padraig really enjoys coaching and helping golfers improve at all levels—from newcomers to the game to more experienced players,” Mitchell says. “That includes during the pro-ams he plays each tournament week, as well as through his YouTube channel.”
Harrington’s manager remains in touch with the production company they use for production, post-production and social (Viral Nation) throughout the editing process, making requests for amendments—and then he gives final approval when he deems each video is ready for the golfing public.
“I take the attitude when I film these that you take it or leave it,” said Harrington. “If you don’t like what I’m saying or you don’t like my content, there’s plenty of other people to watch. If you do like my content, well, then that’s great. And this content all came from the COVID time when I first started doing these videos.”
As for what’s next in 2025, Harrington is mulling whether he wants to go back for a time to shooting some tips on his iPhone and then getting these shorter videos out on his X and Instagram feeds.
“I’d actually prefer to do (video tips) more often with shorter videos. And that’s maybe a model going forward where I just go back to two-minute videos on Twitter and Instagram like I used to do in COVID. That would be a lot easier. I could just film them on my iPhone and here you go, if you like it or if you don’t. The question always with these things is how much do you want to commit, how much production do you want to put into it to get to the next level? Are you prepared to go that extra way? Right now with my golf, I’m not prepared to turn around all that time.”
Harrington says he would like to produce more videos in 2025 on how players can coach themselves.
“In the end, the weekend warrior is really most interested in hitting the golf ball better. So I’m probably thinking my next strategy on YouTube is trying to give lessons that will help people teach themselves. So if you see this, this is what you need to do if your divot looks like this. This is what you’re likely doing and this is what you need to do properly with divots.”
Harrington says he’s passionate about coaching strategy for golfers as well but thinks those types of videos just don’t resonate with the YouTube golf audience.
You can’t say the man is not passionate about teaching. And he’s a great example of an expert in his craft who’s able to get out of his own game and results to find joy in others’ improvement—even if he’s not interested in maximizing views like other YouTube golf celebrities.
Top Photo Caption: Padraig Harrington has a small but loyal YouTube following. (GETTY IMAGES/Christian Petersen)
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