Strength and stability propelling Rory down fairways

Fitter, stronger, and longer off the tee, it has taken more than just the right equipment and the harnessing of his immense natural talent for Rory McIlroy to re-scale the heights of world golf.

The three-time major winner returned to the world number one spot in the official rankings on Sunday for the first time since early 2013 following a victory at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club that provided a McIlroy masterclass in driving power and distance.

Others on tour can drive it longer than the Irishman but nobody could match him for consistency off the tee at Firestone last week, McIlroy hitting 46 of 56 tee shots, 82.1%, more than 300 yards, according to the PGA Tour statistics.

He also enjoyed a remarkable streak of 19 consecutive drives of 300 yards or longer during the week, including 14 of 14 in last Saturday’s third round.

His average driving distance of 334.8 yards at Bridgestone leads the season so far with McIlroy blasting the rest of the field away with its average of 299.7 yards and while he was first ranked in driving distance he was 12th in driving accuracy and also first in greens hit and first in total driving, the stat combining distance and accuracy.

All pretty impressive, not just considering his problems off the tee in 2013 when he struggled with his swing and the switch of club and ball manufacturer, but also acknowledging the effort McIlroy is putting in off the course with his fitness, strength and conditioning.

“I’m definitely hitting it longer over the past couple years. I’ve started to work harder in the gym and I’ve got stronger in certain areas of my body which I needed to,” McIlroy said yesterday at Valhalla.

“I’ve always had the speed and I’ve always had the power, but I haven’t really had maybe the strength or the stability to hold on to it my whole way through the swing. So working on a couple of different things in the gym has definitely helped.

“And is there more to come? I mean, maybe, it’s not like I’m going to get much bigger. I’ve put on three kilogrammes of muscle in the last eight weeks, so that definitely helps. I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been.

“But does that mean I want to get heavier and try to put on more distance? I don’t feel like I need to put on any more distance. If I can hit it over 300 yards and in the fairway most of the time, I’m happy enough with that. That gives me plenty of opportunities to hit it close to flags and try and make birdies.

“But definitely over the past couple of weeks, it’s the best I’ve driven the ball, and you know, hopefully I can continue to do that.”

Of course, it is not all down to strength. McIlroy also credits his work with lifelong swing coach Michael Bannon for his longer, straighter driving.

“I think shortening my golf swing a little bit with the driver has definitely helped giving me more control,” McIlroy said. “When the backswing got a little bit too long, I dropped it too much on the inside and I attack it from the inside and I would always hit the draw shot.

“Now I’m very comfortable hitting a straight shot or hitting it left to right. I hit a lot of tee shots last week left to right and that’s when I know I’m swinging it well, when I can get it back down on the plane and I’m comfortable hitting that left to right shot. When I talked about driving the ball better, I just feel like it’s on a tighter line and I can sort of do both. I can sort of play both shots with it.”