Rory McIlroy has received some advice from renowned golf coach David Leadbetter on how to enhance his game.
It has been a year of near-misses for McIlroy, most notably at the U.S. Open in June, where he was painfully close to securing his fifth major championship win, and his first in a decade. Leading by two shots with just four holes remaining at Pinehurst No.2, the Northern Irishman made several mistakes in the final stretch.
Three bogeys in the last four holes saw him relinquish his lead to LIV Golf star Bryson DeChambeau, who clinched the title by a single shot, leaving McIlroy devastated.
Further disappointment followed at his home event, the Irish Open at Royal County Down, where he finished one shot behind Rasmus Hojgaard. A week later, McIlroy missed out again, this time in a playoff, losing to Billy Horschel at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
While McIlroy is certainly nearing his peak form, he acknowledges there’s still room for improvement. He recently revealed a significant swing change ahead of this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Meanwhile, Leadbetter has shared his thoughts with the four-time major winner on what he needs to do to secure that elusive fifth win. “Having worked with some of the greats over the years, I believe the missing ingredient and flaw in Rory’s game lies in the consistency of his technique,” Leadbetter for Golf WRX.
“Every tour player will tell you that confidence in their swing and control of the ball is the catalyst that fuels their success. The stats back up that Rory’s weak spot seems to be his iron play from 100 to 175 yards – the critical scoring range.
“If you compare Rory’s iron stats to Scottie Scheffler, the current world number one, the difference is quite remarkable whereas they are neck and neck in the driving stats. Simply put, if he hits these clubs closer to the hole, he’ll have more birdie chances!”
Rory McIlroy has endured a difficult year ( Image: Getty Images)
Leadbitter pinpointed exactly where the problem lies, continuing: “With the club moving outside at the start, in actual fact the club is traveling on path farther than need be to complete its journey to the top.
“This creates a sync or timing problem where the body completes its rotation, but the arms continue swinging. With Rory’s aggressive lower body move on the downswing the arms then lag behind and the “stuck” feeling of the club coming too far from the inside results.
“This feeling doesn’t really affect his driver. However, with his short irons, this “stuck” feeling can be a liability and requires expert timing of the hands to square the face up. ”
McIlroy disclosed on Wednesday that he has taken drastic measures to work on his swing, practicing solely in an indoor simulator in preparation for this week.
“I probably haven’t liked the shape of my golf swing for a while, especially the backswing,” he confessed while in the Middle East. “The only way I was going to make a change or at least move in the right direction with my swing was to lock myself in a studio and not see the ball flight for a bit and just focus entirely on the movement.
