A numerical analysis of Rory McIlroy's last 7 seasons

[bladehunter]

6 hours ago, oikos1 said:

It ain't mechanics, it ain't fast twitch, it ain't his coach. 

 

Anyone who has played a reasonable amount of golf knows what his issue is.

 

Maybe he gets The Open, but if not he'll be entering 9 years without a major.  That is just hard to grasp.  I mean, that's "ho-hum why are we even talking about this player" territory.

Bingo. Between the ears. That’s the greatest place to improve in this game. Almost always 

[Ferguson]

I'm not the biggest Rory fan on the planet but I find myself pulling for him.   

He is so good. 

[moora]

19 hours ago, bladehunter said:

Nah.  It doesn’t need to be “ slower “. Just less.  You can hit a 10 yard less sand wedge  just by less backswing length . 
 

easily proven by watching him hit a 35 yard pitch.  It’s not a full swing.  And yet. He’s good at that.  Tempo remains yet backswing is shorter .   I think it comes down to what he practices.  You don’t see him out hitting 100 yard pw.  But you saw tiger doing it.  You see JT doing it.  Etc. 
 

we saw what DJ did once he committed  to his wedge game.  
 

but let’s play devils advocate.  If what you say is true. He actually needs to hit much  less driver.  Why ?  To use your theory. He’d need to leave himself only full swings.  So pw and up. 

 

There’s a video series on GolfNow about Rory McIlroy and he openly states that he has issues to do with this height, in that he’s shorter than a lot of players so he feels like he needs to hit the ball further with his driver to show that he’s better than taller players. 

 

What is it they say about golf? You should leave your ego back in the clubhouse. But I think ego is still Rory’s biggest problem. Sure, he’s worked on his short game over the past few weeks, but when it comes to those high pressure moments we see in Majors, maybe he just goes back to trying to hit the ball as far as he can and prove he’s got a bigger d!ck than everyone else… lol 

 

An interesting stat analysis would be how his scoring fairs when he’s paired with long hitting players in Majors. Is it the old ego thing playing up when he’s paired with a long hitter and he’s trying to out drive them, but getting worse stats in approaching the green? 

 

[airjammer]

 

1 hour ago, bladehunter said:

Bingo. Between the ears. That’s the greatest place to improve in this game. Almost always 

So you all are saying he has a mild case of the wedge yips?

Edited June 20, 2022 by airjammer

[bladehunter]

1 hour ago, airjammer said:

 

So you all are saying he has a mild case of the wedge yips?

I’m personally saying that you can’t do what you tell yourself you can’t do. Or what you allow others to tell you , that you can’t do.  
 

that plus doing the work.  You cited tiger and 460cc drivers .  I agree he struggled forever with those. But I’d say he conquered that after the back surgeries.  
 

 

the other part of Rory’s head issues is that he rises and falls too much with a missed putt.  Or a great shot.  It’s both. He gets too excited whne he is on a run.  And he gets too down immediately for missing a putt.   Or hitting a bad shot.  Both are harder to concentrate during.  Sure it’s his personality.  But one’s self can be denied if you work on it.  And I think he seems to be on working on that part.  He stuck with it this week.  He putted horribly early Saturday. And didn’t quit. Then he went on a 1 putt run. And that went through to Sunday.  But he again missed some key par putts.  But those are mostly due to poor wedge play. Not putters fault.  
 

i have hope that he’s working on it.  He has too much talent to continue to waste.  If I’m his coach. He’d hit sand and lob wedge Sun up to sun down.   The rest is like riding a bike. You can’t just forget how.  Learning how to hit the 9 windows with a wedge should be beginner level competitive golf instruction . 
 

i just bet anything that he doesn’t spend much time on 100 and in.    I know good players  tendencies and they tend to practice what they’re good at of left to their own devices.  I mean I’d stand and hit drivers all day too if I was rory.  It rewards the brain. Dopamine on demand.  Reward reward reward.  You have to think opposite though. And go do what you aren’t good at.  And do it to a degree that almost neglects the strength.  Then find the balance.  

Edited June 20, 2022 by bladehunter

[bladehunter]

2 hours ago, moora said:

 

There’s a video series on GolfNow about Rory McIlroy and he openly states that he has issues to do with this height, in that he’s shorter than a lot of players so he feels like he needs to hit the ball further with his driver to show that he’s better than taller players. 

 

What is it they say about golf? You should leave your ego back in the clubhouse. But I think ego is still Rory’s biggest problem. Sure, he’s worked on his short game over the past few weeks, but when it comes to those high pressure moments we see in Majors, maybe he just goes back to trying to hit the ball as far as he can and prove he’s got a bigger d!ck than everyone else… lol 

 

An interesting stat analysis would be how his scoring fairs when he’s paired with long hitting players in Majors. Is it the old ego thing playing up when he’s paired with a long hitter and he’s trying to out drive them, but getting worse stats in approaching the green? 

 

Wow. Hadn’t seen that. Now that is interesting.   He needs the right voice on his ear telling him how remarkable it is to hit it that far at his size.  Instead of being self conscious, he should be proud that he has greater prowess than the taller bigger  guys.  And teach him to drive that home by scoring with it.      ( learn to be the top wedge player ).       Rather funny how ironic it is that shorter players tend to be better natural wedge players since they’re closer to the ball.    He’s overcome his natural shortcoming ( pardon the pun) and hasn’t reached out and used his natural strength in a way.  

[r0scoe]

In the RBC, I found he was hitting that knockdown 9-iron instead of a wedge (at least, it felt like they were calling that out on TV every 2nd hole). He was dialed in hard there, I feel like he was not doing the same thing this week. I noticed this more exaggerated follow through with his short approach shots at the RBC that I wasn't seeing at the US Open. 

[smashdn]

Rory has entered the witness protection program at the Travelers.  He's hiding somewhere way down in the pack.