SWING IT LIKE RORY

MCILROY SWING SEQUENCE

By Pete Cowen, Master PGA Professional

Static pictures do not do justice to some golf swings because movement creates positions and as you see in the following 16 images, you can’t see how hard the body is working.

Rory is a rare talent and as a junior on the Irish men’s team he was still able to out drive his peers with ease. Although you will probably never be able to replicate Rory’s swing, there are some key points in these frames that you can implement into your own game to better your consistency and distance off the tee.

A classic balanced posture
Start of building a wide arc
Continued extension on a good arc
Right hand and right arm extending

Beginning to set the right wrist and right elbow
The continuation of balancing the right arm but you can’t see how much work the body is doing in these frames
A classic position with the right arm supporting the club and left arm
Compressing down through the body at the start of the transition. NOT around but down! This is where the body is starting to work hard to stabilise all that energy he’s built up in the coil.

Right arm is a fraction behind but perfectly on plane.
The left arm is now vertical and turning around the right side.
Turned around the right side through impact.
The following five images - Rory just continues a balanced extension through to the finish. Despite the 180+ mph ball speed and 125 mph swing speed Rory produces, he is always balanced and never appears to be going hard at the ball. Loading the power in the swing and remaining balanced at every key point is essential to maintain consistency through impact. That prevents energy from being wasted and in turn makes your movement efficient and in turn more powerful. There are other great players that also illustrate this: Ernie Els, Fred Couples and Louis Oosthuizen.