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Don’t Fall for the Bait – You’re Never Going to Swing It like Rory!
The title of this article is a bit absurd. I’m sure most of you are thinking, “of course I’m never going to swing it like Rory McIlroy!”
When it’s phrased that way, it’s easy to come to that conclusion. However, if you saw an article entitled, Rory McIlroy’s 5 Keys To Rip Your Driver (a real title), many of you couldn’t help but read. You want to know what the secret sauce is, and apply it to your game.
This formula has been used over and over again for decades by golf publications. Whoever is the hottest golfer at the moment gets a featured article, and you’re promised to learn how to do what they do. Usually, the information is very watered down and won’t benefit your golf game.
Recently, when Rory McIlroy won the FedEx Cup title and was awarded Player of the Year on the PGA Tour, there was another flood of articles focusing on his driving ability, which is undoubtedly his greatest weapon. To me, it’s a bit silly, but I understand why these articles exist. People are generally curious about what makes players like Rory so unique. But make no mistake, there is nothing you can learn from Rory as it pertains to your golf swing.
He Can Do Things With His Body That None of You Can
There have only been two times in my life when I saw a golf swing, and my jaw dropped. The first was watching Tiger as a junior golfer when he was winning multiple USGA Amateur titles. The second time was when I saw Rory’s first appearance at The 2007 Open at Carnoustie. I had never seen a swing that combined power, speed, and gracefulness the way he did. At 18, he had a world-class golf swing which is a combination of his natural talent and hard work.
Rory’s winning record since then is well noted. He’s also put a ton of work into his body that makes him arguably the best driver of the golf ball we have ever seen.
I saw some of his Trackman stats posted on Instagram the other day:
While some of these numbers might not make sense to you, they are perfect. Long story short – he’s able to generate tremendous speed, strike the ball on the center of the clubface almost every time, and create optimal launch conditions to make the golf ball travel far and straight. When you watch him on TV, it’s hard not to marvel at his ability.
When you see Rory in person, it’s quite surprising. He’s only 5’9,” and most tour players who are power players are much larger than him. So how does he do it?
The Titleist Performance Institute measured Rory’s swing when he was a teenager using 3D analysis. Even before he started working out, the speed of his hip turn and the separation he creates between his upper and lower body were off the charts compared to tour players.
Normal human beings cannot do this. Most golfers sit at a desk all day and consequently struggle with mobility in their golf swing. That’s why it’s unrealistic to suggest that any recreational player should try to swing like Rory does (or any other tour player for that matter). Your body can’t move the way he can. If you try, you’ll likely get hurt.
There Isn’t Much To Learn From Rory, Or Any Other Tour Player
If you are a student of the golf swing and are interested to learn what makes world-class talent so great, I don’t think there is any harm in studying them for fun.
My issue is when people dangle players like Rory and Dustin Johnson in front of regular golfers. You can’t cherry-pick elements from their swing and apply it to others. It’s not realistic, and it won’t make you a better golfer.
So whenever you see articles like these, my advice is to look in the other direction. They’ve been around for years, and the cycle will likely continue for a long time. It’s nothing more than entertainment. Don’t expect to apply it to your swing!
I agree and disagree. Granted, I’m a low handicap player, but my coach video records my swing and then plays it side-by-side videos of tour players like Schauffele and McIlroy. Obviously, I am NOT hitting the ball anywhere near as well as they are. But comparing our swings shows me what I’m doing well and what I can do to improve. It’s also fun to say “see, I am a like Rory.” So while I agree that amateurs will never hit the ball like Rory (myself included), I think we can learn things from his swing that we can then try to apply to our own swings. Even if we apply a little bit of what we learn, we have improved. I also think that in order to hit the ball at all, 85% of what we do has to be similar to Rory. It’s that extra 15% that makes all the difference.
Anthony – what you’re describing is a much different scenario. You’re having a teaching professional give you customized advice. I don’t think it’s unreasonable sometimes to show what a professional golfer is doing to illustrate their point (it depends on the golfer). My point in this article is that reading a watered-down description of what Rory McIlroy with his driver swing in a magazine, or on a website, is not going to help anyone get better.
Agreed. Get an instructor if you really want to model a PGA player so they can at least direct you to someone who manages the club in a fashion similar to you.
Trying to model ANY good players swing without a decent understanding of how & why they are managing their grip/face/path is a recipe for disaster.
Finally, some common sense! The pros routines, equipment, and abilities are not anything like the average golfers and hence should not be used as models for them. Also, the moves a 5 foot 9 inch golfer can make are quite different from a golfer who is 6 foot 2. No guidance is given in this articles regarding choosing an appropriate role model. An appropriate model would have similar body type and would be toward the low end of the stats ladders where the amateurs mostly are, not the high end of the spectrum “like Rory,” or “like Tiger.”
I think what you say about how the magazines market themselves using tour players like Rory is correct. Another example is to put on the cover “Cure your slice with these 5 moves”. They are taglines designed to sell magazines. However, the idea that nothing Rory does can improve a beginners game is something I disagree with. As a former PGA Golf Professional I have studied the golf swing and I came to the conclusion that there are some basic fundamentals that all good ball strikers have in common. I don’t define good ball strikers as tour pros hitting 180 yard 8 irons and 350 yard drives. My definition of good ball strikers are players that make consistent solid contact. It was my goal to show that Rory, Tiger et al. while having different moves have the basics in common. Take for example hip turn. While the majority of the golfing world cannot turn their hips like Rory, the principle applys to all golfers because it a basic fundamental of the golf swing.