Rory McIlroy Topic (Was "Overrated")

[Mr. Desmond]

I think the only way to call Rory overrated is to compare him to Tiger. No other player since Tiger has accomplished as much at a young age. Is he the next Tiger? Of course not, but he's the closest thing we've seen to him since.

This guy is too good at times.

He's lacked consistency, of course, when compared to Tiger.

I don't know if his management and changes in women have stopped his golf genius at times ... but one can only guess that he's had distractions.

If he can avoid distractions and develop the weaker parts of his game - I guess it's keeping the ball down in weather - then we may see a formidable challenger to Woods.

[golfbarefoot]

Overrated. Ok. He's won: US Open, Open championship and PGA Championship. ALL Majors. Anyway.. I honestly want to understand, how does a 5'9" man hit drives so long? His drive on 16 today was 360 yards! Seriously how does he do this? He and Sergio Garcia are both not huge dudes and they absolutely crush it. I am honestly intrigued at his length.

[saevel25]

Overrated. Ok. He's won: US Open, Open championship and PGA Championship. ALL Majors.

Anyway.. I honestly want to understand, how does a 5'9" man hit drives so long? His drive on 16 today was 360 yards! Seriously how does he do this? He and Sergio Garcia are both not huge dudes and they absolutely crush it. I am honestly intrigued at his length.

Note that he's getting about 40-50 extra yards of roll on the ball because of how hard the courses get over there.

He has tremendous rotational speed with his hips and core, he also has fast hands.

[jamo]

Overrated. Ok. He's won: US Open, Open championship and PGA Championship. ALL Majors. Anyway.. I honestly want to understand, how does a 5'9" man hit drives so long? His drive on 16 today was 360 yards! Seriously how does he do this? He and Sergio Garcia are both not huge dudes and they absolutely crush it. I am honestly intrigued at his length.

That tee shot was well downwind and the tee was a bit elevated. As for his swing, he has a very efficient motion, makes good contact, and his hips are insanely fast.

[golfbarefoot]

Lol! Ok... So he has good contact... You're killing me

[JetFan1983]

Overrated. Ok. He's won: US Open, Open championship and PGA Championship. ALL Majors.

Anyway.. I honestly want to understand, how does a 5'9" man hit drives so long? His drive on 16 today was 360 yards! Seriously how does he do this? He and Sergio Garcia are both not huge dudes and they absolutely crush it. I am honestly intrigued at his length.

Yea, like @saevel25 and @jamo said, dude's got a lot of good things going for him. He hits the sweet spot basically every time, rotates his hips really fast, gets his weight forward really well, hits the ball with a flat left wrist, good swing plane... list is endless.

He also has this pretty big squatting move that all long hitters seem to make:

Top of his backswing on the left, early downswing on the right. He really squats down with his legs as he's rotating.

Then he springs up and extends the legs, timing it perfectly by the time he reaches impact. His weight is forward, his hips are open, and he's hitting the sweet spot.

No doubt there are a lot of reasons why he hits it so far... fast hands, great grip, great overall sequencing... lots of good things going on... but this jumping up move while the clubhead is moving downward and on plane adds a ton of speed when you do it right.

All the big hitters seem to squat and then "jump" (or extend their legs) for power.

When you can do this without thinking about it and still find the sweet spot, you can swing pretty hard at it and just murder the golf ball.

Tiger hitting a 338 yard drive:

[westcyderydin]

I think the only way to call Rory overrated is to compare him to Tiger. No other player since Tiger has accomplished as much at a young age. Is he the next Tiger? Of course not, but he's the closest thing we've seen to him since.

I agree...but I also wonder.  If Tiger were to just get onto the tour the same time Rory did, would he dominate the same way he did in the late 90's and 2000s?  Would you guys agree the the tour is  deeper and more talented over the last few years than it ever has been?

But then on the other hand Tiger did win player of the year last year winning 5 tournaments when people were saying he was done...

[golfbarefoot]

Hmm.. I'm just not sure about the whole "he hits the sweet spot" thing man.... These are the best in the world. There is something distinctly different how he can flex the ball so so far. Tiger and Bubba are both much larger people too. I completely understand how fit Mcilroy is, but his length is obviously unexplainable here

[saevel25]

Hmm.. I'm just not sure about the whole "he hits the sweet spot" thing man.... These are the best in the world. There is something distinctly different how he can flex the ball so so far. Tiger and Bubba are both much larger people too. I completely understand how fit Mcilroy is, but his length is obviously unexplainable here

What is flex the ball?

It is totally explainable, he has a fast rotational speed with his hips and has fast hands. It isn't hard to understand where speed comes from.

[iacas]

Hmm.. I'm just not sure about the whole "he hits the sweet spot" thing man.... These are the best in the world. There is something distinctly different how he can flex the ball so so far. Tiger and Bubba are both much larger people too. I completely understand how fit Mcilroy is, but his length is obviously unexplainable here

What's unexplainable?

He swings the clubhead very fast, hits up a few degrees (~4°), etc.

Physics are explainable.

[Chilli Dipper]

I agree...but I also wonder.  If Tiger were to just get onto the tour the same time Rory did, would he dominate the same way he did in the late 90's and 2000s?  Would you guys agree the the tour is  deeper and more talented over the last few years than it ever has been?

But then on the other hand Tiger did win player of the year last year winning 5 tournaments when people were saying he was done...

Greg Norman, at 42, was still the world's top-ranked player at the end of 1997; 50-year-old Jumbo Ozaki was ranked in the top ten. Before Tiger ascended to world number one that year, no number-one had been born as late as 1959. When he won his first Masters, the runner-up was 47-year-old Tom Kite.

For whatever reason, the generation of players who should have been in their primes when Tiger Woods came onto the scene (e.g. those born in the early-mid 60s) never produced a world-beater. Colin Montgomerie and Davis Love were perennial top-ten guys, but neither of them could make that last step. Jose Maria Olazabal struggled with injuries; John Daly became a cautionary tale of bacchanalian excess. Vijay Singh eventually became the most decorated player of this generation, but that journey didn't start until his mid-thirties, and after Tiger's ascendance.

The late-50s generation that produced the likes of Norman, the great Europeans, Nick Price, et. al., had been the game's primary force since the early 1980s, and was very long in the tooth by the time Tiger emerged as a successor. That power void allowed Tiger to become so great, so soon, and that situation seems very different that what we've seen in recent years. There's another thread going on about this being the end of the "Tiger Era," but in reality, the Tiger era ended when he lost the world number-one ranking in 2010. That's not because of Rory on his own, but several players are hitting their primes at the same time, including guys who couldn't live up to expectations of being the next Tiger Woods in their early twenties.

For what it's worth, I think Tiger at 25 was a lot better than Rory is right now, but if Rory and Tiger swapped lives, Rory 1975 would have enough majors to count on two hands by now, while a young Tiger 1989 would have four.

[Grndslmhttr3]

Wasn't Ben Hogan a pretty long hitter at like 5'8", 140 lbs?

[Zeph]

Some Rory-stats from pgatour.com:

Clubhead speed: 120.73

Launch angle: 11.46

Spin rate: 2,355

Carry: 286.4

Driving accuracy: 59.64%

[luu5]

Some Rory-stats from pgatour.com:

Clubhead speed: 120.73

Launch angle: 11.46

Spin rate: 2,355

Carry: 286.4

Driving accuracy: 59.64%

But he could be longer with better accuracy...

[RandallT]

But he could be longer with better accuracy... [URL=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwJM-eBnTb4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwJM-eBnTb4[/URL]

Ha- yes, the most unstable golf swing in history! I'd forgotten about that video. Too funny

[golfbarefoot]

Some Rory-stats from pgatour.com: Clubhead speed: 120.73 Launch angle: 11.46 Spin rate: 2,355 Carry: 286.4 Driving accuracy: 59.64%

Thank you for the stats. His club head speed is amazing. I have to say his length is impressive and his overall game is as solid as it gets. He will press even harder now to win a green jacket and complete the slam. I think he will do it too. What a talent and hardly overrated.

[Crim]

[Crim]