SWING STUDY: RORY MCILROY

The key points of the Northern Irishman’s picture-perfect swing.

Rory McIlroy’s swing is the one every average golfer (and most of his Tour colleagues) would love to have – it’s balanced, free-flowing and oozes power.

But such are the dynamics of his swing, there is little chance you or some of those envious Tour players could replicate his swing from start to finish. The World No.10 blends orthodox technique with his own unique moves, which require great flexibility and strength. However, there are elements of his swing every golfer can borrow from to improve their ball-striking and achieve more distance with every shot.

Have a close look at McIlory’s swing sequence here and try to emulate some of the key positions of his swing as you stand in front of a full-length mirror. Get the idea of what the positions feel like and take it to the practice range.

1 ADDRESS

McIlroy’s set-up should be copied by every amateur golfer. His body is aligned beautifully to the target and there are no funky unorthodox aspects about his set-up. His feet, knees, hips and shoulders are all parallel to the target line running through his ball. His athletic position and great alignment ensure he will start his backswing on plane and be more likely to swing into the ball on a similar plane.

2 TAKEAWAY

Rory’s takeaway is very much a one-piece takeaway where the clubhead, arms and shoulders move together.

His hips have remained relatively square to the target line and his knees have hardly moved. When a player turns their hips at this stage of the backswing, it is near impossible to create the resistance coil, between your hips and shoulders, to generate power in the downswing.

3 HALFWAY

Halfway into the backswing, his right elbow starts to fold and his wrists start to hinge up ... not vertically but on the plane already established by his turning body. He has already made a significant shoulder turn. It is important to note here that his hands are in line with the middle of his torso, just as they were at address. This is indicative of a swing without any independent moves of the arms away from his body.

4 AT THE TOP

Rory had problems early in his career with overswinging.Now, once his left shoulder is tucked under his chin he is at top of his backswing.

His position here stores an incredible amount of power in the coil of his upper body. Note, his flexed right knee, which remains unchanged from its position at address, which allows Rory’s upper body to rotate and build resistance against that knee.

5 TRANSITION

McIlroy is not a big guy, so where does all that power come from? The secret is in his X-factor turn and flawless transition from backswing to downswing. Rory’s shoulders have turned so his back is pointing at the target, while his hips have rotated only a fraction of that distance. This is the X-factor. The greater the number of degrees between the shoulder and hip rotation, the more torque that is created.

6 DOWNSWING

Lag is when the clubhead trails the hands down into impact and helps achieve maximum clubhead speed at impact. Note where Rory’s hands are relative to the clubhead. There’s plenty of lag and power about to be released into the ball. McIlroy’s right elbow is sitting in nice and close to his turning torso, which is indicative of a downswing that is ideally on plane.

7 IMPACT

This is the impact position every golfer strives for. Every good player is ‘open to the target’ with their upper body at impact.

Here, Rory’s rotating hips have cleared the hitting zone and his shoulders and arms have just about caught up. He achieves this ‘open’ position at impact as a result of his hip shift and turn, which initiated the downswing.

8 THROUGH

Rory continues to rotate through into the follow-through and the butt end of the club is ideally still pointing at the middle of his torso (as it was in the backswing), indicating that the clubhead continues to be out in front of his turning body. More importantly, there is no over-rotation of the clubhead and he keeps it square.