The Rory media bomb continues to dominate the headlines of the golf world and for good reason. I think it is great that he is getting recognition for his amazing performance, but if I could tell the golf world one thing I would say, “be careful to tag him as the next great hope to beat Jack’s record.” Does he have the potential? Of course he does, but why not let him win his next major or his next 6 for that matter before that discussion is in any way relevant or realistic.
Throughout all of the coverage of Rory’s big win last week the media has been quick to say Rory is the new Tiger and Rory will break Jack’s record and Rory’s swing is perfect! They got one thing right in all of this. His swing is perfect and more importantly his swing is perfect for Rory. His swing really is amazing. It is athletic, aggressive and precise. As I say this, I know where this is going. When Tiger came on the scene everyone started to try to swing like Tiger. It is great to try to emulate great players and pick up good habits from them, but does Tiger’s swing really fit you as a player? I will bet it doesn’t.
The point I am getting at is that the coverage of Rory’s swing has missed one thing and Brandel Chamblee got it exactly right in his recent article on Golf.com. You should check it out HERE. Chamblee is 100% right that Rory’s swing is so perfect because it is built on fundamentals and not constructed by trying to be overly technical. The point Chamblee is making is that your swing can be as unique as you want it to be as long as your fundamentals are solid. Look at Jim Furyk’s swing. It looks funky in full motion, but his stance, posture, balance, grip/grip pressure are all fundamentally solid. And guess what? He is a major champion.
It is refreshing to see a member of the Golf media take a step back from the rest of the media buzz and pull out a story that has serious value. Was Rory’s win amazing? Yes it was. Will he be the next Tiger Woods? Who knows? But as a golfer myself I don’t want to hear instructors tell me to swing like Tiger or like Rory. I want to hear tangible feedback about how to build a golf swing that works for me. Essentially this is what Rory and Tiger both did when they were younger. Obviously they both cultivated their swings into works of art, but the take away from Chamblee’s piece, for me, was to understand the fundamentals of the golf swing and stick to them. The rest of the swing will hash itself out. Rory doesn’t have a perfect swing because he has calculated his spine angle and shaft angle to the nth degree on countless launch monitors. No, he has a perfect swing because he has perfect fundamentals.
Like I said before, Chamblee gets it…Plain and Simple!
