What you can learn from the greatest strengths of the game’s two best players
By Justin Parsons


dropcaps_what a fascinating year it has been so far for golf with the emergence of Jordan Spieth as the player most likely to challenge Rory McIlroy’s increasingly tight stranglehold on the World No.1 ranking. Rory has been in scintillating form of late, but what Jordan did at Augusta marked him out as a special talent.

First off, both Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth do everything incredibly well, but their strengths lie in different areas. For Rory, it’s the sheer virtuosity of his ball striking that separates him from his peers. Contrastingly, when I watched Jordan at Augusta, I saw a player in total command of his short game.

When Rory is dialled in with his long game, particularly the driver, he dismantles golf courses and leaves himself so many wedge approach shots that it takes all the pressure off his putting. He can putt ok, and still win. What Jordan does is equally impressive when he’s on. At the Masters, the way he controlled the flight of his pitch and chip shots was incredible for a player aged just 21.

Over the next four pages I look at what both players do with their left hand – Rory on the takeaway, and Jordan at impact – and explain how these techniques can turn you into a better ball striker and more versatile chipper.

RIP IT LIKE RORY

Rory McIlroy is blessed with tremendous speed and balance in his golf swing, attributes he has worked tirelessly to refine with his strength and conditioning coach, Steve McGregor. But for Rory to be able to transfer all that power and energy so effi ciently, I believe that throughout his career, he’s been able to control the top of his backswing position. Rory and his coach Michael Bannon work very hard on completing the backswing when his shoulders stop rotating – if you can do that it’s easier for you to transfer the energy back into your downswing.

It’s a great idea for you to follow these two key checkpoints to ensure you also complete your backswing in this optimum position. It all starts with the takeaway, which is such an important move to get right. What Rory does is maintain the integrity of his le wrist as he takes the club back. The club stays outside his hands and from there he can set it on plane and then complete his shoulder turn to the top of the backswing.

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This little exercise is brilliant for working on your takeaway, and it also provides a refresher for your left-hand grip position (for righthanders). Hold the club just with your left hand, but let your thumb and bottom three fingers come off the grip as pictured. So with just your index finger wrapped around the grip, practice moving the club away while maintaining the angle of your left wrist. You’ll notice how the clubhead stays out in front of your hands.

Set then turn

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Once you’ve completed the initial takeaway with your thumb and bottom three fingers off the grip, go ahead and take your normal left hand grip. You’ll notice that if you then set the club as I have done here, there should be a cupping of your left wrist and the club shaft will be perfectly on plane. From here, Rory employs his tremendous flexibility and stability to simply turn to the top. If you can use the drill here to start setting the club correctly, and then complete your backswing with a turn, your swing will start to get a lot more efficient and that will translate into longer, straighter shots.

Chip it like Jordan

We’ve talked about how the left wrist is a key component of Rory McIlroy’s peerless ball striking, and interestingly, Jordan Spieth has talked about how it plays an important role in his short game feels as well. When Jordan practices pitch and chip shots, if he wants to hit a lower flighted shot he bows his left wrist outwards through the impact area as I am doing in this image. This de-lofts the club and creates a lower trajectory with chip shots that have a bit more zip on them.

Conversely, you can add loft by cupping the left wrist through impact. This is a slightly more advanced technique, but working on it can add an extra dimension to your short game. At Augusta, we saw Jordan hit a lot of floaty chip shots that landed softly and held tight flag positions.

Bow to go low

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Hitting chips one-handed is a great way to feel how you can control the flight and the spin of the ball through your left wrist. Bowing it at impact (where you feel like the knuckles are pointing down more towards the ground) takes loft off the club and helps you hit those low, running shots that check.

Cup to flight up

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Keep hitting chip shots with just your lead hand on the club (left for right-handers), but this time try cupping your wrist through impact instead of bowing it. This is more difficult to execute, but it’s a very effective way of hitting soft chip shots that stick much closer to their landing area.


Photos by Farooq Salik