TROON, Scotland—It's not just that Rory McIlroy hits his driver far and straight. It's that he hits his driver far, straight, and high.
It's that last part that is always the most impressive. McIlroy hits the ball really high; higher than it seems possible for most humans to do. His apex averaged more than 120 feet last season, and he can launch it over 180 feet when he really goes after one.
That moonball shot remains, but this season, Rory McIlroy has been pairing it with the literal opposite: A roasting, low, straight drive that has become the most exhilarating shot in the game.
Rory hit the shot twice on Pinehurst's 12th hole last month, and the two shots launched just 3.4 degrees and 2.3 degrees off the ground. They both had a backspin under 1,850 RPMs (the PGA Tour average, for reference, is more than 2,500), and neither shot climbed higher than 37 feet off the ground.
You can see him hit one of those drives right here.
So how does he do it? That's what I asked him ahead of the 2024 Open Championship:
There's a lot in there but two big keys that Rory mentioned that the rest of us can learn from.
1. Tee it lower
Teeing the ball lower brings the launch of the driver down automatically. It can for you, too, and is the first part of the equation...
2. Right shoulder high
This is the key thought that Rory uses to make it work.
Rory uses a nine-degree driver, but at impact the clubface hits the ball with about 14 degrees of loft because of the way he swings it.
It's why Rory can hit the ball so high and far. But when he wants to go low, Rory thinks about keeping his right shoulder high. That helps him reduce the amount of loft he hits the ball with by keeping his hands more ahead of the ball, and sends the ball much lower.
Trackman University, 14 degree Dynamic Loft vs. 5 degree Dynamic Loft
Rory says he's only been able to hit this shot as he's gotten stronger, which makes sense. If we tried to hit this shot, the ball simply wouldn't have enough speed to get off the ground. Rory hits it with more than 180 mph of ball speed though, which sends it off like a missile.
