The collection of honours for Golfing legend Rory McIlroy has been colossal. Smooth and cool as a cucumber, sensational Rory has been racking up the wins like a true pro. What are those key areas that helped Rory McIlroy to become a master of the game of Golf?
Let’s take a stock on what Rory has to say on the same:
My mental game has improved massively in the last few years and that’s down to experience. If you’re not playing well, it’s about managing your game. You need to reassess your goals on the course so rather than trying to score, you just try to hit fairways and greens and that will give you opportunities. Really simplify it. Once you steady the ship, it then makes it a bit easier. At the start I did feel the pressure, but I’m used to it now. People expect me to win but now I know that if I play the best I can, I’ll be in with a good chance.
It is very important to stay in the moment, to stay in the present. You have to manage your expectations and you can’t get too far ahead of yourself. We’ve seen in the past what this game can do to people.
I think one of my biggest advantages over my rivals is how I drive the ball. I’m not afraid to pull driver out and get it down there and leave myself with a wedge into the green where other guys are hitting 6- or 7-irons. That makes a difference. Also, I’m not onedimensional. I can hit the ball both ways. I can flight it up or down. My start lines are much tighter now too. I feel like I dont have the ability to produce these big misses anymore, which is very important.
You’re not going to be great at everything. Some players try to strengthen their weaknesses, which you can understand, but then they neglect their strengths, and even if the weaknesses get a little better, the strengths aren’t as strong. The foundation of my game is my driving. When I drive the ball well, I win golf tournaments. So I’ll always work on the driver.
The long-term goal of my gym work is basically to stay injury-free. When I started working with Steve McGregor in 2010, I was having problems with my back. It didn’t allow me to practise the way I wanted to – I couldn’t hit more than 15 to 20 drivers in a range session.
I knew I needed to make a change, so we decided to put a plan in place to get fitter, to become a better player and be able to practise more. It means I can now play 18 holes then practise after if I need to. Once I got into it, I started to enjoy it more and it’s now a bit of a hobby. I work on getting a strong core, on my lower half, my ‘glutes’ and rotational strength. I do a lot of work with medicine balls, throws and cables to strengthen the parts of my body that need to be strong for the golf swing.