How to drive with a high draw like Rory McIlroy
Todd Anderson is the director of instruction at the PGA Tour Performance Centre at TPC Sawgrass, home of the Players Championship. The 2010 PGA of America Teacher of the Year has seen his students amass more than 50 victories across the PGA and Korn Ferry tours, including two FedEx Cup titles. He is currently rated by Golf Digest as one of the top 20 golf instructors in the United States. In this tutorial, Anderson breaks down Rory McIlroy’s impressive driving ability, which includes a go-to high draw shot that has served him well throughout his illustrious career that includes three FedEx Cup victories, four major titles and 24 PGA Tour wins.
Rory McIlroy is one of the best drivers on the PGA Tour. He is known for hitting a high draw, which goes long and straight. Here, I’ll break down the key elements for this golf shot, which can help you put that high draw into your shot pattern.
Set-up
There are several key elements in Rory’s set-up that help produce this type of ball flight. The first thing in his set-up is that he positions the ball off his left heel [photo 1] with the clubface looking slightly left of his body alignment. Another key aspect is he tilts his upper body a little bit to the right [photo 2], so that his spine is tilted away from the target. What this does is allow Rory to turn behind the ball and load into his right leg, especially into his right heel, so from when he delivers the club, he is hitting the ball with the club moving on an upward angle of attack.
Stay behind the ball
You’ll also notice Rory stays well behind the ball with his upper body. He turns behind the ball, and as he lowers the club down, he keeps his head and upper body behind the ball [photo 3]. This is important to help the clubface close and the club move upwards through impact.
The other thing Rory does so well is he delivers the club from the inside of the golf ball. So as he’s coming down, he’s delivering his left arm from around his body down from the inside [photo 4], and his left arm is extending down/out towards the ball so the clubface can close. This creates is a shallow, inside-out path with a clubface slightly closed to the path, which produces that draw shape.
Sling-shot effect
The final thing that Rory does is, as he delivers his club on this inside-out path, he’s pushing up with his feet – especially his right foot – and releasing his body, arms, hands and club into the ball. His hips will open first, then his chest will open [photo 5], and this will sling his arms out and close the clubface to the path, producing that draw we all love to see.
In summary, set up behind the ball, turn behind the ball, deliver the club from the inside and use your lower body to push up and around to release your hips, chest, arms, hands and sling the club out to the ball through impact. If you do this, you should be able to hit that nice high draw, get a little more distance and have a bit more fun on those right-to-left holes.
