Why is Rory McIlory so good off the tee and with his longer clubs? After starting off his season with a 3rd place in Abu Dhabi and a 2nd place finish in Dubai, Rory has really got off to a flyer. In a couple of his interviews, both in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, he was asked why he felt his game was in such good shape. He replied by saying, “I feel like my long game is in great shape and feel like I have a lot of confidence off the tee.” In both tournaments he hit well over 50% of fairways and his greens in regulation was up into the high 70%. Both courses being fairly long, this meant he was using a lot of drivers and long clubs into greens. Rory was asked what has helped him so much with his long game. He replied by saying, “I just try to feel like I keep as much width as possible in my backswing, this helps me hit up with the driver and helps me achieve a shallow angle of attack with my fairway woods and long irons.” Going by this, our coaching tip this week is exactly what Rory is doing, as we feel it an important part of being consistent with the longer clubs in your bag. When you are next practicing on the range, try to feel like you are making your backswing as wide as possible. What this does is it creates a wide arc. A wide arc results in a sweeping action when hitting the ball e.g shallower impact which is what is needed with the long clubs. This results in more distance, better accuracy and more consistency. A little drill you can use when trying to do this is, putting a head cover under your right arm if you’re right handed and your left arm if you’re left handed, at address. When making your backswing, take it nice and wide, and let the head cover fall out at the top of your backswing. By letting the head cover fall out, this shows that your back swing is wide, which helps create space for the arms and the club as you come back into impact. Please see the videos for a demonstration. | 
