‘I made a decision to really look at my stats’
Now Rory McIlroy is a big fan of the fact-based approach to preparation, planning and practice EVER wondered how much work a pro puts in behind the scenes? Well, here’s your answer. Away from the driving range and practice green, Rory spends his time wading through PDFs and pulling apart stats and facts so he can gain an edge over the competition.
“I made the decision at the end of 2017 to really look at my stats,” he said. “That’s one of the great things teaming up with TaylorMade; they have an in-house stats guy, James Cornish. He’ll provide a little PDF for me in an email that says, OK, hitting driver on No. 2 will give you a 0.33 percent better chance of making a birdie on that hole because that’s what people did last year. Also, it doesn’t just tell you what to work on, but it tells you what the best way is to tackle or try to get your way around a certain golf course each week.”
Comparing strokes gained stats against the Tour average isn’t a new concept, however. The PGA Tour has been listing them all on their website since 2004, and Rory admits he’s turned into a stats geek when it comes to assessing the state of his game.
“Whether it’s tee to green or putting or around the green or whatever, I think that’s been one of the biggest changes for good that we’ve seen in golf, because it really just lets you see how your game stacks up against everyone else.” Asked to highlight one area he wants to improve, Rory needs little time to think.
“Strokes gained approach to the green. That’s something that I was very strong at a few years ago, and have let slip a little bit. When Tiger was at his prime, he was gaining about a shot a round on the field. Obviously that’s really, really good. But if you can just get yourself to even 0.5, that’s huge. With all this knowledge now, you know that from 175 yards if you hit it 22 feet from the pin, you’re gaining 0.2 on the field or whatever it is. It’s a very objective way to practice, and if this generation isn’t better than the last, because of all this information that we have, then something has gone terribly wrong.”