tongzilla
New
I followed Rory McIlroy and Simon Dyson in the final round of the UBS open in HK today. I also watched Rory practice on the range before the round. He seemed easy going and carefree joking and talking to his caddy. I'm a bit of a McIlroy fan, and I would like to talk about his ball striking. He hits it very straight on the range and on the course. On the range he warms up with his wedge and works up to his 3 iron, then fairway wood and then driver. He doesn't give me an impression that he's working on anything at all with his swing. When he hits one that's not as pure as he wants, instead of taking tons of practice swings or do a drill or try to figure out what's wrong (e.g. Tiger) he just hits another ball. His misses on the course are mostly pulls, except with wedge there's a slight push tendency. Natural ball flight is a very slight draw. He did not compress the ball as much as I thought he would. Trajectory is normal to high-ish. The ball flight reminds be of Michael Finney's- but maybe a touch lower. He consistently drove the ball 15-50 yards further than Simon Dyson. Even for 100 yard wedge shots he goes into his full finish. He pretty much hits it where he aims it. He doesn't take big chunky divots. With his mid to short irons, instead of having a hissing compressed hot ball flight, the shot is more dull/clunky. At release point, he seems to be less inside than what I see in Youtube...I took a few clips with my camcorder, but his caddy's butt is in the way so I won't share. Seeing him swing up close is less "intimidating" that on TV. Looks like he swings harder on TV...it's an illusion!
