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EXCLUSIVE
R O

RY
The world No.1 talks Tiger, technique,
inspiring golfers... and defending the Open
WORDS CHRIS BERTRAM PHOTOGRAPHY ANGUS MURRAY, GETTY IMAGES
he scene is NikeTown on Oxford Street
T in the heart of London, and the reason a
large crowd is huddled round the store’s
new golf simulator is that the world No.1 is
drilling mid-iron shots into a net.
“I’ve got a 6-iron, that should go 190 yards,”
suggests Rory McIlroy, who is miked up so he
can address an audience who are hanging on
every word and every strike.
It goes an astonishing 204, and the crowd
tease the Northern Irishman at the discrepancy
with his prediction with an audible groan.
“It carried 190!” snaps back McIlroy with a
smile. “What distance do you want me to hit it?”
he asks, leaning forward for another ball.
“192,” someone shouts.
McIlroy does not flinch. Two extra yards? Two!
He thinks – or rather, he expects – he is able to
simply add on precisely two extra yards. And that
despite him being entangled with as many wires
as his pop star friend Niall Horan is when he’s on
stage, and having flown through the night to be in
London after his runaway win at Quail Hollow.
It goes 194. McIlroy looks a bit perplexed at
being two yards out – and expression which
suggests he hit it how he wanted to – but laughs
off the audience’s faux disappointment.
As well as confirming just what a talent he is –
and TG was fortunate to have a box seat three
yards away to enjoy the phenomenal sound of
his strikes – the hour in NikeTown also reveals
both how unaffected by fame McIlroy remains
and how eager he is to genuinely entertain a
store full of captivated golfers. The 26-year-old
appears unencumbered by his status as a
superstar. Content with it, actually.
The terrific Nike Golf TV advert – the ‘Ripple
Effect’ – of him worshipping Tiger Woods as a
kid is played on a large screen before his entry,
and it is still possible to see the little boy from
the commercial in the global star holding court
before us – especially without a cap on and
casually dressed in jeans, t-shirt and Nike trainers.
It perhaps explains why he remains so easy to
like, with the same cherubic, boy-next-door look
he had eight years ago when he won the Silver
Medal at The Open, and even just four years ago
when he won his first major at Congressional.
The face is not as full and the upper body
notably more robust, but the same authentic
smile and engaging manner is evident, none
more so than when a youngster who took up the
game (and made his family do likewise) after
high-fiving McIlroy at the Irish Open is
introduced. McIlroy’s pleasure at having inspired
the boy was palpable. He can probably see
himself in the kid and knows what meeting his
hero (again) would have meant to him. ➔
TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK ISSUE 336 67

EXCLUSIVE
THE COURSE THAT’S BEEN
SAVED BY
SERGIO
How one of the world’s best golfers and his family stepped
in to rescue a dying club that meant everything to them
WORDS KEVIN BROWN PICTURES HOWARD BOYLAN
ugusta National, Pebble
Beach, the Old Course... as
A
one of the world’s finest
golfers, Sergio Garcia has played
many of the world’s finest courses.
But there’s one in particular that
holds a special place in his heart –
and most of us have never heard of
it. As far as the Spaniard and the
current world No.7 is concerned,
nothing can compare to Campo
del Mediterraneo, a little track
near Valencia.
It’s the place where he first picked
up a club and learnt to play under the
watchful gaze of his father, the club’s
professional Victor, and where he
developed into one of the world’s best
and most exciting players; the place
where he has celebrated two
European Tour victories and the place
he often returns to practice and chill
out with his old school friends.
More than anything, though,
Campo del Mediterraneo is Garcia’s
home, and his affections for it run so
deep that he and the rest of his family
decided to step in when the club went
bankrupt around 18 months ago. The
club that made Sergio was just days
away from closing forever – until he
led his family to the rescue.
Now, with the Garcias at the helm
– chiefly dad Victor and Sergio’s
younger sister, Mar – the club is
fighting back.
Sergio rather modestly plays down
his input in the role and prefers to let
the rest of the family take the plaudits
for keeping the club in business. He
contributes where he can and the fact
he’s so closely linked with the club
certainly gives Commercial & Sales
manager, Mar – a one handicapper
herself – a significant helping hand in
terms of promoting the course.
Mar, who was literally born at the
course – “mum was helping run a
competition when her waters broke”
– told us: “Sergio has been very nice
when I approach him for help. This is
like another son for my dad, he didn’t
want to see it close down – he would
have been really hurt and Sergio too,
though not to the same level.”
When the club hit hard times, there
was no way the Garcia family could
let it die. “This is where I was made –
not only as a golfer, but as a person,”
Garcia told us, as he relaxed on the
➔
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TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK ISSUE 336 85

THE SOCIAL
More and more golfers are joining societies instead of clubs. We join one
WORDS KEVIN BROWN PICTURES HOWARD BOYLAN
100 ISSUE 336 TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK

NETWORK
that’s growing to find out why
SOCIETY
GOLF
SPECIAL
All for one...
The Bunkers
Society is
typical of the
movement.
TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK ISSUE 336 101

COVER STORY
RIP IT!
LIKE RORY
WITH MICHAEL BANNON
Rory’s swing is based on rock solid
fundamentals that we’ve been working
on since he was seven years old. The
good news is that anyone can copy them
WORDS MICHAEL BANNON, WITH CHRIS BERTRAM PICTURES WARREN LITTLE, GETTY
henever people ask me about Rory’s swing,
W I always emphasise that it has been a joint
effort right from the beginning. The role
I have played is to engrain the fundamentals within
Rory’s own particular physical attributes. Now, Rory
has more natural talent than most people in the
world, but many of the things we work on can be
transferred into anyone’s technique.
Over the next eight pages, I’ve picked out four
checkpoints to focus on, four crucial stages in the
swing that mould together into a technically
proficient action. I don’t want you to start thinking of
the swing as a stuttering, jerky, robotic series of
unnatural moves. It is the exact opposite – a flowing
motion that should feel as natural to you as pulling
out a chair to sit down. It’s a subconscious action that
you certainly do not over-analyse as you stand over
the ball. But that doesn’t mean that on the driving
range or the practice ground you can’t spend some
time grooving positions into your swing that are more
conducive to consistently better ball striking.
I’m not promising you will hit it as purely as
Rory if you work on the principles in this article
– I don’t think you’d believe me if I did! But
I can promise you if you tighten up your
technique in these key areas, you
will hit better shots more often,
and have more fun as
a result.
TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK ISSUE 336 73

New
Gear
LATEST KIT REVEALED,
REVIEWED & RATED
Colour combo
The colours in
this version are
reversed from the
standard Vapor
Speed; Volt versus
black on the crown
and black v volt in
the cavity.
EDITED BY DUNCAN LENNARD
NIKE
Green
machine
Volt Vapor is a limited edition launch
e’ve had orange drivers, white
W
drivers and blue drivers – but this
is the first illuminous green one.
The ‘Volt’ Nike Vapor Speed driver used
by Michelle Wie (below) and Paul Casey is
going on sale in limited numbers.
Until now, Wie and Casey were the
only two players in the world with
the Tour-only driver that has a
coloured crown instead of the
standard black one, and a ’volt’
coloured cavity. Sticking with
the recent trend of releasing
Tour products to the golfer – last
month they offered Rory McIlroy’s Nike
Method 006 putter to the public – the firm
decided to release 800 drivers in Europe.
While the Volt crown is one-of-a-kind, the
driver’s design and characteristics remain
the same. The Vapor Speed is a 460cc
model that has the highest moment
of inertia and largest, most stable
chassis in the Vapor line-up. It has a
higher launch angle with lower spin
in a slightly more forgiving profile
than the Vapor Pro.
● Details: Available at select
retailers and nike.com, £279.99.
Flex Loft tech
The Vapor Speed
features Nike’s
adjustable Flex Loft
2.0 hosel system
and is aimed at
players looking for
high launch and
maximum distance.
TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK ISSUE XXX 115

Courses
& Travel
WHERE TO PLAY AT
HOME AND ABROAD
EDITED BY KEVIN BROWN
An Open experience
Make an Open-rota course the centre of a great break with these nearby options
WORDS KEVIN BROWN
olf is unique in that ordinary people
G
can tee it up on the same courses
that stage the game’s greatest event.
There are now 10 Open host venues in the
UK, where you can tee it up on the same box
as Old Tom, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Tiger,
Jack, Rory or Arnie. If you plan to peg it up at
an Open venue, you won’t be disappointed.
It’s a treat. but they don’t come cheap. The
average green fee for an Open host is £195,
topping out at £235 for Royal Birkdale. So it
makes sense to make the Open experience
the main attraction in a longer golf break.
Thankfully, there are similar links experiences
right next to our championship favourites –
along with a sprinkling of inland belters –
where it won’t cost a fortune to tee it up. For
example you can play Anstruther, just down
the road from St Andrews, for just £28.
Here, we hand-pick other courses close by
to help you tailor your perfect Open weekend.
140 ISSUE 336 TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK

OPEN VENUE
ST ANDREWS
(OLD), FIFE
It’s the Home of Golf and The
Open is staged on the Old Course
every five years, including for the
29th time this summer.
Green fees: £170.
Contact: 01334 466666.
CRAIL
Home of two contrasting links
layouts (the ancient Balcomie,
designed by Old Tom Morris, and
the more modern Craighead).
Balcomie is still as zesty and
exciting as ever, remaining one
of the Kingdom’s resolute links.
Green fees: £65 midweek, £80
weekends. Contact: 01333
450686.
KIRKCALDY
Splendidly challenging parkland
foil for Fife’s plethora of worldclass
links, Kirkcaldy was
designed by Old Tom Morris in
1904 and provides dramatic
Forth views. Green fees: Mon-Fri:
£34; Sat-Sun: £44. 2-FORE!-1: All
week. Contact: 01592 205240.
ANSTRUTHER
Breathtaking nine-holer a short
drive from St Andrews, arguably
boasting the toughest par 3 in
the UK – the 200-yard 5th, ‘The
Rockies,’ is a real beast. Green
fees: £18 for 9 holes, £28 for 18
holes. Contact: 01333 310956.
KINGSBARNS
Sensational links just down the
coast from the Home of Golf. Has
gone from strength to strength
since being created by Kyle
Phillips in 2000. Annually hosts
the prestigious Dunhill Links
alongside the Old Course and
Carnoustie. Green fees: £226.
Contact: 01334 460860.
Kingsbarns
One of the UK’s
top links.
Anstruther
Hidden gem on
the Fife coast.
➔
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