19th Hole
Rory McIlroy says amateurs can lower their scores by 10 strokes if they follow this tip
“If I were to caddie for like an average player, I really feel like I could take five to 10 shots off a round very easily.”
So says a certain Rory McIlroy, four time Major winner and former world number one.
Sure, it sounds obvious given who he is and what he has done, but it all makes perfect sense and recreational players might wish to take heed and get more competitive at this weekend’s medal.
Speaking during an interview with with Piers Ward from golf instruction site ‘Me and My Golf’, McIlroy expands on the statement.
“I think effective golf sometimes can be pretty boring, or in people’s minds, it can be pretty boring,” McIlroy said. “Playing the shot that you know you can play, or that you can pull off at least eight times out of 10. I think I see, I see amateurs so much trying to play outside of their comfort zone and trying to take on shots that they think they should hit instead of keeping the ball in play, you know, managing their games a little better and that will produce lower scores.
“And yeah, sometimes it’s fun to take on shots that you might be able to pull off, but I think it’s even more fun to just shoot better scores. You know, I think that it’s a — there’s so many other parts of the game that you can do really well at. And yeah, just managing your game a little better.”
As I write, Rory is just inside the cut-line at the DP World Tour opening event in Abu Dhabi but has recent memories of practicing what he preaches.
At the Wells Fargo Championship last May, a tournament he eventually won by a single shot, McIlroy needed to manage his play.
His drive on the 72nd hole went left and into a penalty area, but, on the advice of caddie, Harry Diamond, instead of trying a swing from an awkward sidehill lie, perhaps outside of his comfort zone, with water a few feet away, McIlroy took a penalty stroke, dropped into a better spot and walked away with just a bogey five. Perhaps the move that won the trophy?
“Harry was awesome out there today, especially that decision on the last,” McIlroy said. “I was ready to get in there and try to play that with a lob wedge, and he was sort of like, ‘Let’s take a step back, let’s think about this. Where’s the best place you’re hitting your third from?’ So he sort of calmed me down and slowed me down a little bit and said, ‘Pal, let’s just think about this a little bit.’”
The interview finishes with the best five-word advice.
“Understanding your limitations is huge,” Ward says.
“Exactly.”
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We often talk about how much money there is to be made on the PGA Tour. With a $10M prize to the Fed Ex Cup Champion, $40M handed out in PIP money, and more than $427M in total purse money, it seems there is an endless supply.
All of the money on Tour can make it easy to overlook just how difficult it is to earn a living playing golf.
Professional golfer Grayson Murray shared some insight on what a typical week can look like on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Playing in last week’s Veritex Bank Championship, Murray shot rounds of 68, 66, 66 and 69, finishing at -15 in a tie for 26th place. The 28 -year-old claimed that he lost money on the week after his solid performance.
played in the KFT event this week and shot rounds of 68, 66, 66, 69……going home with less money in my pocket than i started the week. Practice hard kids if you want to make golf your living.
— Grayson Murray (@GraysonMurray) April 17, 2022
Murray then revealed his expenses for the week: “Hotel was $1300, airfare was 1k, caddie was $1900, rental car was $700. throw in a $300-$400 for food. I made 5k…..take out taxes from the 5k.”
He went on to say that he wasn’t complaining and that he’s made plenty of money on Tour.
wasn’t complaining. i’ve made millions on the course im not going to skip meals haha. i was just giving an insight into what it’s like on another tour than the pga
— Grayson Murray (@GraysonMurray) April 17, 2022
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JR Smith, who is currently in the second semester of his freshman season at the HBCU, has become the first male golfer to sign a brand ambassador deal with Lululemon.
- Related: J.R. Smith receives medical attention after stepping in beehive at first collegiate golf event
Last year was the first time college athletes could profit off their name, image and likeness from brand sponsorships.
The former NBA star won’t be able to promote Lululemon at NCAA-sanctioned events but will be able to appear in the brand’s advertisements as well as post about the brand on social media.
Smith went straight from high school to the NBA in 2004, and had 16 year career averaging 12.4 points per game. The 36-year-old walked on the North Carolina A&T golf team after returning to school in 2021.
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More and more celebrities appear to be professing their love of golf in recent times, as the game’s popularity continues to grow all the time.
Earlier this year, one of the stars of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Charlie Day, told Rich Eisen that he currently plays off a handicap of 5, up from a peak of 1 after humorously revealing that he thought he’d “figured the game out” at that point.
While a handicap of 5 is impressive enough, in the latest episode of ‘The Always Sunny Podcast’ another talent on the golf course that Charlie possesses came out that co-host Glenn Howerton described as ‘Rainman like’:
“Charlie has a very strange Rainman-like ability to play a round of golf with three other people, so that you could go out in a foursome, and at the end of that round, you could be having a drink afterwards, and he could tell you every single shot that every single person had over the course of the entire round.”
Charlie confirmed that the odd talent is indeed true, with his co-host describing it as a “party trick that I pull out to impress other people.”
It’s pretty incredible, and it likely makes Charlie Day the most interesting golfer to be in the company of in the 19th hole!
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jgpl001
Feb 4, 2022 at 4:08 am
Absolutely brilliant from the man with the worst course management on tour. How many times has Rory blown big chances on the back nine or lost a tournament on day one with stupid shots??? (and I am a HUGE Rory fan)
Rascal
Feb 23, 2022 at 5:42 pm
So what does this have to do with what he would tell AMATEURS?
More whining for whining’s sake.
CrashTestDummy
Feb 2, 2022 at 10:35 am
“Playing the shot that you know you can play, or that you can pull off at least eight times out of 10. I think I see, I see amateurs so much trying to play outside of their comfort zone”
But Rory, I don’t have a shot I can pull off 8 times out of 10. Every shot is outside of my comfort zone. Lol.
Jbone
Jan 29, 2022 at 2:54 pm
Rory doesn’t understand that average ams don’t have any consistent shots they can rely on.
ChipNRun
Jan 28, 2022 at 4:27 pm
Let’s take tee shots. On a good day, I can carry my driver 220 yards with varying amounts of run-out. At some tournaments, the Senior tees are set up so that a slug of fairway bunkers start about 210 yards from the tee. Do I lay up with a 4W, or try to rip it between the dunes?
Another situation is tee shots that tail into the rough (hey, stuff happens…) For certain tight or terraced or water-bounded greens, I likely will take 7i and lay up to in front of the green. I have a better chance of getting an up-and-down par or a bogie from up front, than trying a hook shot around a tree to a landing zone where you’re either on the green or in big trouble.
Or, the longish greenside bunker shot. Pathway 1 is out to left to flat part of green, but you’ll take a two-putt bogie. Or, Path 2 is over the long axis of the bunker sand… hit it just right you get a one-putt sandie, OR, miss short and you’re back in sand, miss long and you’re short-sided with bunker behind.
Just then, a cosmic Dirty Harry whispers… “Ask yourself this, punk, do you feel lucky?”
Back to reality… should I use a 10-finger grip when I go outside to shovel snow?
MrHogan
Jan 22, 2022 at 10:34 am
“A man has got to know his limitations” – Dirty Harry. Inspector Callaghan.
Rusty Cockering
Jan 21, 2022 at 4:01 pm
“5 to 10 shots off”? Bwahahahaha. Only someone who has never given a paid lesson in their life would say something that stupid.
Jock McSporran
Jan 25, 2022 at 11:14 am
You totally missed the point of his comments or you didn’t actually read it and just went straight to the comments to vent. He talks purely about caddying/game management not improving an average players technique. Bwahahahaha!!
Worm Burner
Jan 21, 2022 at 1:58 pm
Imagine a round with Rors on your bag!? I wonder what the yardage was for his third though, if yardage is what was meant by “Where’s the best place you’re hitting your third from?”, since he still two-putted for bogey. The 3wd he hit off tee the into trouble was probably the smart play too. Until he hooked it. (I looked it up)
I take my medicine all the time. Then I go play golf looking for that Superman shot that keeps me coming back!