Secrets of a Champion

Of course, the training has other significant benefits, too, as McIlroy told me when I interviewed him on the eve of his 2014 Open Championship triumph at Hoylake. “I’ve always been able to hit the ball a good distance because of my rotational speed,” he explained. “But when we started looking at how my body was working, it was clear that I would collapse into my left side through impact. That was because I didn’t have enough strength and stability in my left leg to hold onto that power all the way through the ball.”

A quick look at the stats illustrates the point. Between 2008 and 2015, his average driving distance increased from 295 to 303 yards on the European Tour. Not bad. However, his fairways-hit percentage went up from 56 to 59 and even more impressively, his greens-hit average leapt from 68 to 80 per cent. These improvements might seem relatively small but make no mistake, they are the difference between being a top-50 player and a multiple Major winner.

Time spent in the gym will allow Rory to continue to hit high numbers of practice balls well into the latter stages of his career. But just like any other sports star, the Northern Irishman’s form fluctuates. It doesn’t matter who you are; competing at the highest level week after week takes its toll on your game, slowly instilling bad habits that need to be rectified. When it comes to making important swing changes, it appears there are no shortcuts.

“If you’re trying to make some sort of swing change or tweak something in your swing, before it feels 100 per cent comfortable and 100 per cent subconscious, it takes thousands of repetitions,” he reveals. “At the minute I’m trying to tweak a couple of things. My left-hand grip has become a little strong and I haven’t thought about my grip since I was about 12 years old! So all of a sudden I’m trying to think about weakening the left-hand grip a little bit - I practised for a few days last week and it felt so strange.

“But if you can persevere and stick with the uncomfortable feeling, then at the end of the day it’s going to make you a better player. I think sometimes what people don’t do is they don’t stick with something long enough to get through that period. They might try it for a couple of sessions with a pro or at the range and it might not work. Then, they will just revert back to what they are comfortable with because what they are comfortable with might make them hit a good shot now and again, and they are happy with that. There is a certain point where you have to say, ‘Okay, I’m going to be uncomfortable with this for a while, but I know in the long run it’s going to make me a better player'.”