Rory McIlroy will be hoping to win The Memorial Tournament for the first time in his career this week.
McIlroy has enjoyed one of the greatest careers in the entire history of the professional game.
However, The Memorial title has always managed to elude him.
On paper, Rory McIlroy should be perfectly suited to the test that Muirfield Village represents, but that has never proven to be the case.
The 37-year-old Northern Irishman’s best finish at The Memorial was a tie for fourth in 2016 and he has only two top-5s to his name in 13 events played.
McIlroy suggested that his struggles at The Memorial stem from the fact that his main strength is taken out of his hands – the driver.
Because the fairways bottleneck at around 310-330 yards, the six-time major champion is often forced to hit 3-wood off the tee.
Rory McIlroy makes change ahead of The Memorial that’ll see him lose distance
McIlroy has mixed things up this week, perhaps in an effort to improve his chances of winning at Muirfield Village and, indeed, at the U.S. Open in two weeks’ time.
On Wednesday, The Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis explained that McIlroy had made a significant change to his driver this week.
“Rory McIlroy, by the way, is making a slightly significant change in his driver,“ Lewis said.
“Now, he normally has a 65-gram shaft in his driver. Well, he’s added 10 grams to his shaft.
“He’s using a 75-gram shaft driver this week. Why? Well, he feels, even though he’s going to give up some speed with a heavier shaft, his misses won’t be as wide.
“So he’s adding 10 grams to his driver for more accuracy, but, as you know, he’s got plenty of speed to spare, so it should not hurt him significantly in regards to distance off the tee.“
McIlroy certainly doesn’t need any extra distance, so if he loses three or four mph ball speed, it shouldn’t bother him at all.
Balancing act for Rory McIlroy with the driver
We will obviously find out just how much speed and distance Rory McIlroy has lost with his heavier driver on Thursday at The Memorial.
If his ball speed is around the 180-184 mph mark, and he improves upon his accuracy, the change in shaft weight will obviously have been worthwhile.
However, if his ball speed drops below the 180 mph mark, one of his greatest strengths will be nullified.
McIlroy will have to make a call regarding which shaft he uses at the U.S. Open in two weeks’ time. He currently averages just over 326 yards off the tee but he has only hit 55% of fairways.
If those numbers change to around 315-320 yards and 60-65%, we can expect him to use the 75-gram shaft at Shinnecock Hills later this month.
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