The course record at my home golf course in Ireland is held by non other than Rory McIlroy. He set it as a 15 year old boy in 2004. Since he was a boy Rory was always destined for big things. The prodigy from Northern Ireland exuded confidence and many within the game had picked him out as a star of the future. Even his own Dad and his friends could see the undeniable potential in his game and put a bet on Rory winning the Open Championship before he was 26 years old. They bet £400 ($683) at odds of 500-1 on Rory winning the British Open before the age of 26, and the 25-year-old delivered at the last time of asking. To be honest the odds were quite miserly and could easily have been 1000/1.

Here is Rory walking along the fairway with his Dad, who has an understandable £200,000 pep in his step! So Rory lived up to his billing, was winning majors for fun and talk even begun about not if, but when he would surpass the great Jack Nicklaus's record haul of 18 majors. The world was at his feet, but little by little, the wheels began to come off. I want to investigate why this happened to Rory and offer some advice on what he needs to do in order to get back to the top in a major championship once again.

The Nike deal

At the tender age of 22, Rory McIlroy was poised to win the masters at Augusta in 2011. He played his first round in 65 and followed that up with impressive rounds of 69 and 70, which left him sitting pretty on -12 and 4 shots clear of the field. All the young man needed to do was hold his nerve. Unfortunately for him, he did anything but, and blundered and struggled his way to an atrocious eight over par round of 80, which left him languishing outside the ten in a tie for 15th place. It was the thing of nightmares as he found parts of Augusta National that had never been seen on our screens before as the wayward and errant shots stacked up. That setback could have ended many a golfer, however to Rory's credit he bounced right back at the next major championship, winning the US open at Congressional holf club in style to take his first ever major.

To give him the credit he deserves, Rory showed great mental strength to do that. After such a public and incredible meltdown in front of the cameras of the world, it would have been very easy to go into hiding and struggle to perform in a major for a long time. He managed quite the opposite and indeed went on to win 3 more majors to add to his US open triumph.

Rory was growing in popularity and then Nike came knocking. Tiger Woods was not a young man anymore and Rory was becoming instantly recognisable to golfers and non-golfers alike. He was a marketer's dream - young, wholesome, likeable and talented. It seemed Rory would be near the top of leaderboards at majors for many years to come. In Rory's eyes he may have thought he could win with any equipment and any golf balls. That's exactly what he tried to do when Nike dangled a cheque believed to be worth $250 million in front of his eyes in 2013. He just had to sign on the dotted line for the 10 year contract. Now for the real litmus test, how important is the hardware?

Things started of alright and Rory prevailed in two majors in 2014 with the Nike equipment. Rory used a full set of Nike clubs including the VRS Covert 2.0 Tour driver along with a Nike VRS Covert 3 wood, a prototype 2-iron, VR Pro blades, VR Forged wedges, a Method putter and the RZN Black golf ball. He won the Open Championship and the USPGA. He still had that youthful flow and carefree attitude. What would happen if the wheels came off? Could he get it back?

No sooner had the ink dried on the 2014 newspaper headlines and with Rory trying his best to prevail with Nike clubs and Nike balls, his game deserted him. Indeed the best thing to happen to his game was in 2016 when Nike announced that they would no longer make Nike golf clubs. The equipment induced shackles were off, but the damage was well and truely done in those two years as Rory struggled in majors. We are now approaching 10 years with no major for the Northern Irish man. Can he win again and what will it take?

The six inches between the ears

It is one of golf's oldest adages and it is as true today as it was when the expression was first coined. The mind and mentality are hugely important in golf. Decison making, presence of mind, a cool head and an ability to not be self deprecating are in the armoury of every good golfer. The more you lose the head and get annnoyed with yourself, the worse you play, it really is as simple as that.

Some golfers have perfect temperament for the game and they tend to be there at the buisness end of majors in golf. They understand that each golf shot needs to be treated on its merits as an individual task or shot and are capable of forgetting about an occasional bad shot or unforced error. I can almost guarantee you that they have never broken a club across their knee or thrown a club to the ground in disgust. That's just not their style and they either consciously or subconsciously understand the danger of losing control and so control their impulses and keep themselves in check.

I often see Rory with that abject look of utter disappointment or dismay when he hits a wayward one or misses a makeable putt. Sometimes the face contorts and other times, he laughs at himself. This is Rory not controlling his emotions in my opinion. I would contend that at certain majors, this can cost McIlroy anywhere from one to four shots and that's the difference between winning a major and being in the top ten where Rory often ends up.

I do believe that the future is bright though, and Rory is now working with Dr. Bob Rotella, who is the right guy to sort out those 6 inches between the ears. Their is a major on the horizon for him in 2022 or 2023 in my opinion, so long as he listens to Dr Bob and applies the learnings.

The icy cold putter

Rory's head is not always out of kilter and he does get it going at majors sometimes, but often only for two or three rounds. His final flaw that I will mention is that icy cold putter of his. How many times have we seen him miss a makeable eagle putt inside 10 feet or squander a 6 foot birdie while players around him drain 10 footers, 20 footers and 30 footers with relative ease.

There are not many in the business who are better than Rory tee to green as can be seen from the above tweet from 2016 and not much has changed since. He will need to sort out his head and his putter in order to compete at a major again.

Can he do it? Only time will tell and the competition is getting tougher, but I reckon he can do it again and more than once.

Not all of the photos are mine. Three were sourced here:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/golf/article-1181371/Teenage-sensation-McIlroy-Ryder-Cup-snub.html

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/golf/remembering-when-teenage-rory-mcilroy-reduced-royal-portrush-to-61-shots-1.3956329

Thanks as always for reading.

Peace Out.