Here’s an extreme example. If they played the 10th hole at Riviera – a short par-4 – 18 times every day the pros would stop working on pure distance. They would switch to distance control and their short games. You guys react to your environment, so why not change that environment?

You’re right. And the players still think that the shorter holes are the best holes. The 500-yard par-4 does nothing for me. We hit driver-9-iron to that hole. Who cares? But the 10th at Riviera scares the life out of even the best players.

I would like to see courses set-up differently. There’s one thing I’d like to see more. I can’t understand why they don’t do it.

Every course that has run-offs around greens should shave those banks, so that the ball finishes as far away from the green as possible. But it doesn’t happen. And I know why. At the moment, when a ball runs away a few yards from a green, everyone automatically reaches for the putter. No. On the run-off you need just enough of a collar of rough to a) take the putter out of the player’s hands and b) still let the ball run away from the green.

So you can’t use the putter. You have to chip. I know from playing, that sorts the men from the boys. If you have a tight lie and you have a delicate shot to hit under pressure, nerves become part of the test. But now, you just grab your putter.

Too much rough is useless too of course. In the US Open at Winged Foot back in 2006, I was standing back-right of the par-3 10th green. I air-mailed the right corner of the green with my tee-shot. But the ball died in the rough. I was no more than 18-feet from the hole. All I had was a ‘dunt-and-run’ to the flag. But if the rough had not been there, I would have ended up more than 40-yards from the hole.

That’s the way we have to go. Rough is actually a leveller. It makes the game easier. It gives the bad player more of a chance. And it takes away the edge a more skilful player should have. It just makes it easier.

Narrow fairways don’t help the short-hitter by the way. If you make them so tight that everyone is missing, you might as well be in the rough nearer the green. My mind always goes back to Fred Funk when he won the Players at Sawgrass. He hit 53 fairways and one fringe from the tee. He’s a short-hitter and by giving him the chance to hit every fairway he was competitive.

Personally, however, I would start around the greens. That needs to be sorted out.

I am consistently very low in the ‘greens in regulation’ category. But I’m usually high in ‘proximity to the hole.’ All I ever do is fire at the pins. And if I miss, the ball gets stuck 20-feet from the hole. Instead of hitting to the middle of the green from the rough, I go for the pin knowing that the punishment won’t often fit the crime. 20 feet from the cup is not a problem from the rough.

RIGHT: Harrington’s short game expertise & advice can regularly be seen on YouTube. PHOTO: Getty Images.

With the exception of Gary Wolstenholme, I’m thinking you must be the last guy to play in three Walker Cups for Great Britain & Ireland. Why did you hang around that long? You turned pro when you were 24.

But that was okay back in my day. It’s unusual now though. Young guys turn pro quicker, as they should. You have to go when you’re hot. If you wait, you can lose your place.

I did accountancy at night school because I wanted to play golf and have a nice job. I imagined I would end up managing a golf resort. If I’d known there was something like player management – I know Monty (Colin Montgomerie) considered doing that – I would have leaned more towards that, but that didn’t exist for me.

All I was thinking was that I wanted to be involved in the game I loved playing. I was good at numbers so I did accountancy, all so that I could stay in the business of golf.

When did that change?

When I noticed I was beating everyone who was turning pro. I was 22 and I was beating all the really good players from Great Britain and Ireland. Most of them from Europe too. I was winning all my matches. Leading qualifiers. All that stuff. So it occurred to me to have a go as a pro. But my initial goal was to have maybe five years on the Tour finishing around 75th on the money-list. I would have considered that a great success.

When I turned pro in 1996, the norm for most guys was to play on Tour until they were in their early-30s. Then get a club job.

That only changed when Tiger Woods arrived and the money exploded. But when I turned pro my aim was to create a high enough profile that I could land myself a really good club job.

Even after you won so quickly?

Yes. I won the Spanish Open 10 weeks after I turned pro. I had six top-10s, three made cuts and a win in my first 10 events. I started off fearing that I wasn’t good enough to be
out there.

That sounds ridiculous now.

I know. But that’s where I was. That’s what drove me. I kept my head down and obsessively did my own thing, which is funny now.

At my very first event, I was using clubs that were four-degrees too upright and I got so dehydrated hitting balls for 12 hours in 40-degree Durban heat. I shook all night in my bed after that. I was so sick.

So you’re not that clever.

No (laughs). So I was thinking everything has gone wrong, but I made the cut and finished 46th.

I actually feel sorry for a lot of young lads who come out now. They are class players. They are physically gifted, but they just get lost. They turn up, play average and get discouraged. They’re just not used to pro life. Then they think they need to get better, which is a mistake. They don’t need to get better. They just need to get used to life on Tour. It is that easy to lose confidence.

I was lucky. The opposite was true for me. I thought making the cut was great. Then I made the top-10. Then I did it again. Then I won. For two whole years I played with blinkers. I was still so afraid that something was going to go wrong. I was the kid you tell, ‘don’t look behind, keep going.’

After two years on Tour, I took stock. What broke me was the 1998 US Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. I played my very best and my short game was brilliant. And I finished 27th. I had no more in me, that’s why I went to (renowned coach) Bob Torrance. I took a step back to make my long game better.