Rory McIlroy, after a short warm-up, recorded 126.2 mph clubhead speed, along with 187 mph ball speed, with his driver.  

Then 126 mph clubhead speed and 187.8 mph ball speed. 

Then 126.7 mph and 189.8 mph. 

Then 127.2 mph and 185.9 mph. 

Then 126.6 mph and 188.3 mph. 

Then 127.4 mph and 191.1 mph.   

Afterward, a voice wondered, maybe a bit jealously: Did it ever get boring? 

“No,” McIlroy said. 

“It’s pretty nice.”

Indeed. But one need not be resentful, he thinks. The knowledge might be transferable. The four-time major winner was talking on a video recently posted to the channel of YouTube star Grant Horvat, and the demonstration was part of an answer to Horvat’s question of whether McIlroy could pop the hood, so to say, and dish on what makes his driver go. 

He had four tips. First, though, have a watch on the video below, and below that, we’ll discuss. 

The setup 

“When I’m really trying to hit it hard, I think a lot of it starts in the setup,” McIlroy said during the video. “Like building a really good base to then swing hard from there.”

Mainly, the right-handed McIlroy will adjust his ball position. 

“So if I’m really going after one,” McIlroy said. “I’ll try and move it up in my stance a little bit. So feel like it’s almost off my front foot. So act like I’m already behind the ball anyway. So I’ll try and get it way up in my stance. I won’t do anything with my left foot, but my right foot, if it’s normally like here for my normal drive, I might just give it a tiny — a little wider base, just my right foot.” 

He also said he aligns left arm with the shaft. They “sort of create this one straight line.” 

The swing 

On the swing itself, McIlroy said he’s “dabbled” in moving the club back faster, but he’s more focused on what follows. 

“It’s like when I load to the top, I get into my left side,” McIlroy said during the video, “but then I really try to feel like I’m hitting the golf ball with my right hip.” 

Instruction

Asked Horvat: “So you try and actually clear? You’re trying to feel your lower body.” 

Said McIlroy: “… There’s different ways. People say you get your left knee out of the way. Or like Tiger [Woods] used to say, snap his left knee. But it’s basically just trying to get as cleared and open as possible at impact. So then your upper body acts like a slingshot and just goes.”   

The target 

Ignore targets as you work on swinging for speed, McIlroy said during the video. 

And work on swinging for speed.  

“To me, when I unlocked a little more speed,” he said, “I would swing on the range and I wouldn’t care if I missed it. And I was missing the range. And then you can bring it from there. But if we’re just working on speed …” 

Horvat said he thought he was trying to make ‘golf swings’ in his own attempts. 

“Try and move the thing as fast as you can,” McIlroy said during the video. “That’s all you’re trying to do here. … Don’t even think of the target. … Try and move that club as fast as possible. Don’t even think of the ball. Just move that thing as quick as you can.” 

Gym work 

McIlroy said a medicine ball drill has also been effective. The move looks as if you’re throwing it like you would a shot put. 

“So I’ll have the ball here — they’re like what Kyle Berkshire does,” McIlroy said, speaking of the world long drive champion. “So he’ll pressure into his left, I’ll slide to my right, and then I plant and then I go that way. So I try to feel the same thing with my golf swing where it’s like I go left, right and then feel like all my weight is going forward.”

Editor’s note: To watch the complete video with McIlroy and Horvat, please click here. 

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