How Rory McIlroy Became the World's Best Golfer

With Monday's win, McIlroy becomes the fourth-youngest golfer with four major titles after Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Morris Jr. Image via Getty Images

By Bill Stieg

In 2010, McIlroy was a classic skinny-soft golfer, with obvious natural ability and flexibility—but with a tiny bit of paunch and jiggle.

To make the jump to superstar, he turned to trainer Dr Steve McGregor, who saw in McIlroy "a huge talent, but with relatively little training history other than golfing."

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McGregor’s first step was to balance the discrepancies between McIlroy’s strong right side and relatively weak left side. Workouts included lots of single-arm and single-leg work, including dumbbell presses and split squats. Much focus was put on the lower body—the true source of power.

“The lower-body work stabilised all the power that I had generated on the way down,” he says. “I could generate the power, but I needed the stability to hold onto it.”

“I feel a lot more stable in my golf swing,” McIlroy said when asked about the benefits of his workout plan. “There’s a lot less moving parts."

That newfound strength allowed McIlroy to swing powerfully yet stay balanced, with a finish that evokes the classic swings of Snead and Hogan. The result is a 177-centimetre, 73kg 25-year-old who can slam the ball more than 300 yards (275 metres) with something resembling ease.

And McIlroy wasn’t interested in extra length—he’s been topping 300 yards for years. It’s just that now he can do it without coming out of his shoes.

Combined with healthy eating—lots of chicken and broccoli—McIlroy dropped his body fat from 22 per cent to 16 per cent.

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“I’m the same weight as I was when I started, but I’ve gained muscle, I’ve gained mass,” he says.

To keep it, he's in the gym three or four times a week, working out to maintain the champion's body that he and his trainer began building.