ADDRESS FEEL BALANCED AND STABLE Note how he stands to the ball, with his toes flared and knees slightly pinched in ( left ). He’s supporting his weight on the inside of his feet and legs – the balanced, stable setup every golfer should begin from. Also, check out the triangular shape formed by his arms and shoulders. He’s preparing to swing that triangle back as one unit. You should, too. It’s a great start from a synchronicity standpoint. Finally, tee it high like he’s doing here. This promotes the shallow angle of attack into the ball you want to make when swinging a driver. If you were too steep into a ball on a high tee, you’d pop it up.
I’LL CONCEDE THAT CALLING Rory McIlroy’s swing the best in pro golf is subjective, but I’ve been teaching this game for more than 40 years and have seen my share of great swings. For example, Adam Scott’s might be the best looking. Ludvig Aberg gets the nod for efficiency of motion. Russell Henley is so technically sound, he’s probably the straightest hitter out there. Bryson DeChambeau annihilates the ball. All that said, I rank swings this way: Would you trade yours for Rory’s? I’m betting you and about 99 percent of tour pros would say, “Yes!” As McIlroy is playing in his 16th season on the PGA Tour (which is hard to believe!), Golf Digest recently captured fresh photography of his driver swing and contacted me to do an analysis. Instead of focusing on the things he does that are seemingly superhuman, I’m going to highlight the parts of his swing you can copy. You might roll your eyes at the notion of swinging like Rory, but there is a lot to take for your own game. I’ll break down his swing into sections and give you something he does from each that you can work on. Let’s get started. – WITH RON KASPRISKE
32 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
MARCH/APRIL 2024
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