Rory McIlroy is known as one of the longest hitters in the game, with the Northern Irishman notorious for pounding tee shots that only most can dream of!
Such is McIlroy's distance, he set a new PGA Tour driving distance record in 2022-23, with his average of 326.3 yards beating Bryson DeChambeau's previous best. However, with the recent reports of a full golf ball rollback, those numbers could decrease but, given McIlroy's recent activity on social media, that is something he won't mind.
On Sunday, McIlroy defended the reported decision to rollback technology in golf balls, stating he "doesn't understand the anger" and claiming the call "will make no difference whatsoever to the average golfer." His comments, though, did get many asking why the four-time Major winner went in search of distance and speed in 2021, with the 34-year-old giving a relatively straight answer...
In his tweet, McIlroy wrote: 'I don’t understand the anger about the golf ball roll back. It will make no difference whatsoever to the average golfer and puts golf back on a path of sustainability. It will also help bring back certain skills in the pro game that have been eradicated over the past 2 decades.…'
In response to the comment, one user fired back with the question 'if you don’t think 5-10 yards makes a difference why did you pursue increasing speed? It doesn’t matter, right?' Following the tweet McIlroy, who is never afraid to shy away from the answer, responded with just five words: 'More than anything else, ego.'
Throughout 2020 and 2021, McIlroy regularly praised DeChambeau and his transformation into the biggest hitter on the PGA Tour that season. Following DeChambeau's dominant victory at the 2020 US Open, many took note and, after missing The Players Championship cut in 2021, McIlroy revealed that DeChambeau's US Open win prompted him to "get sucked into that stuff", with McIlroy even admitting to doing "speed training".
More than anything else, ego.December 3, 2023
This fella did and realized hitting it longer wasn’t going to make me a better golfer.December 3, 2023
"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't anything to do with what Bryson did at the US Open," McIlroy admitted at TPC Sawgrass in 2021. "I think a lot of people saw that and were like, 'whoa' - if this is the way they're going to set golf courses up in the future, it helps. It really helps."
However, admitting that the work was "detrimental to my swing", McIlroy has now backed up those comments via X/Twitter two years later, especially when one user took a sly dig, stating: 'Didn't this fella, by his own admission, get lost in the distance sauce when Bryson gained 20-30 yards?' Of course, McIlroy responded, firing back with 'this fella did and realized hitting it longer wasn’t going to make me a better golfer.'
According to a report by Golf Digest, the USGA and R&A will be announcing their intentions to roll back the golf ball for not just professionals like McIlroy, but also amateurs. This move would be a marked shift from the governing bodies' initial proposal earlier in the year, which was only aimed at golf balls used in professional events.
