On Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, as he prepared for The Players, the Irishman explained he was prepared to go backwards in search of improvement to his swing in order to be a better golfer than he was in 2008, when he won back-to-back majors.

Yet his wife Caroline, caddie Ronan Flood and sports psychologist Bob Rotella all spoke to Harrington this week and told him enough was enough.

“I had a long chat with Bob Rotella and my caddie Ronan last night, it was like an intervention,” Harrington said with a laugh. “Things are definitely turning the corner.

“In the context of my career it would be significant.

“I’ve gone down this road before, I will go down it again, that’s the nature of the game. I kind of get stuck into things and then get very obsessive about it.

“I’m happy that I’ve done it but it’s time to get back to playing golf.

“I have definitely become addicted to my golf swing over the last couple of months and I definitely need to get rid of that.”

Harrington admitted he was still a little way off ending his latest swing experiment but said he recognised the need to do so.

“There’s two things (needed to do that). The first is to realise it, the second is to commit to it,” he said.

“I’m not committed to it fully as of yet because I do want to finish off what I’m doing, but I’m fully committed to a time frame.

“It would take a few weeks to turn it around but, yes, in four weeks’ time, I intend to be fully finished with the game of swing.”