With the winds gusting during both Sunday at the Players Championship and in the rain-delayed Monday playoff, Rory McIlroy hit a pair of clinical short iron shots into the middle of TPC Sawgrass’ island 17th green.
The shots weren’t traditional low knockdowns, but they were quite obviously not full speed pitches either. They both launched with a slightly flatter flight and then rises in the wind, but not so much that they lifted into the air uncontrollably. Crucially, because of the reduced amount of backspin on the the ball, it rose through the air without much left-or-right curve
You can see the general shape of the shot below. Notice the 83ft apex, which is high by mere mortal’s standards, but not particularly when you consider Rory is consistently one of the highest ball hitters on tour (his apex is currently in the top 10 on tour).
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Our own Jamie Kennedy put together this interesting composite shot of McIlroy and JJ Spaun’s shots. Notice how Rory, ordinarily the higher-ball hitter, hit his shot lower and with less curve than Spaun.
The difference. pic.twitter.com/uViIYGQNyM
— Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) March 17, 2025
Rory’s three-quarter, three-quarter
Turns out it’s a kind of new-ish shot that Rory started deploying more this week, as he said following his Players Championship victory:
“I have this little three-quarter, three-quarter shot I call it. It’s three quarter backswing with three quarter speed. It’s a shot that I’ve always had with the wedges, but I’ve been reluctant to use it with like 9-iron, 8-iron, 7-iron down. But this year I’ve gotten more into using that shot with some of those lower clubs like the 9-iron on 17, the 8-iron at the last today.”
A quick aside, while I love this shot, I’m not crazy about the name. Feels like there’s some work to be done there. I’m also bad at naming things, but with the help of AI for some help, these were some decent options:
- The 56er (because three-quarters of three-quarters is 56%)
- The Ulster Knockdown
- The Holywood Horizon Hugger
- The Royal County Downer
- The Rory Reducer
Either way, as Rory says, the recipe for the Rory Reducer (I kinda like it!) is simple:
- Take more club
- Three-quarter length backswing
- Swing with 75 percent speed
It works particularly well for Rory not just because he hits the ball high, but because he boasts one of the fastest swing speeds (also inside the top 10). So by double-dipping by using both a slower and shorter backswing, it all but ensures his ball won’t balloon up into the air on him.
“It’s a shot I’ve become really comfortable with,” he says.
The takeaway for you
Most golfers aren’t in a desperate need to lower their ball flight, even in the wind, because they’re not hitting it high enough to begin with. But when the time does come to go low, Rory McIlroy’s former coach, Pete Cowen, once told me the easiest route:
“The simplest way to reduce spin and height is to reduce speed,” he said. “Club up and swing softer.”
The formula which Rory uses to do that is the same for the rest of us. If you want the ball to fly lower, club up and swing slower. As the old cliche goes: When it’s breezy, swing easy.
