Rory McIlroy explains how to use his ‘slingshot method’ which could help amateur golfers hit the ball further with driver

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Let’s be honest here, there’s not much that Rory McIlroy can’t do.

However, Rory McIlroy is best known for his prodigious length off the tee when hitting his trusty driver. Interestingly, McIlroy spoke before the Truist Championship back in May 2025 about how his driver gives him a huge advantage.

There are only a handful of players who are longer than McIlroy off the tee, including the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Aldrich Potgieter and Min Woo Lee (and Marco Penge would have something to say about that matter, too).

However, none of the long hitters are anywhere near as accurate or consistent as the Masters champion. And now McIlroy has opened up on the basic fundamentals of hitting long and straight drives.

• READ MORE: Rory McIlroy says if he thinks Marco Penge can hit the driver further than him

Rory McIlroy’s ‘slingshot method’ will help amateurs drive the ball longer

McIlroy has the ability to carry the ball around 320 yards through the air with his driver.

In spite of his fairly small frame – he’s only 5ft 9in tall remember – he possesses an incredible amount of raw, yet very much refined power.

So how can you hit the ball longer off the tee? You may not start generating 190 mph ball speeds, but there’s every chance that, with McIlroy’s advice, you could add some length off the tee.

McIlroy shared his tip on how to hit longer drives when speaking on Grant Horvat’s YouTube channel back in January.

He said, “When I’m really trying to hit it hard, I think a lot of it starts in the setup. Like, building a really good base to then swing hard from there. So if I’m really going after one, I’ll, like, try to move it up in my stance a little bit.

“So I feel like it’s almost off my front foot. So, I’m already behind the ball anyway. I’ll try and get it way up my stance I probably I won’t do anything with my left foot, but my right foot, if it’s normally, like, here for a normal drive, I might give it a little wider base, just on my right foot.

“And then I feel like my left arm and the shaft sort of create, like this one straight line. From there, like, I’m really, I’m not trying to do a ton in the backswing differently. I mean, I’ve dabbled with trying to swing it back faster. If you swing it back faster, it should come down faster. So maybe just trying to feel like I’m a little quicker off the ball.

“And then from there, it’s like, when I load to the top, it’s really, like, I feel like I get into my left side, but then I really try to feel like I’m hitting the golf ball with my right hip. So I’m trying to actually clear.

“Basically just trying to get as open as possible at impact. So then your upper body acts like a slingshot and just..”

Rory McIlroy’s PGA Tour driving stats

McIlroy’s awesome power enables him to make even the longest golf courses seem fairly short.

He was always a long hitter when he was younger, but he seems to have found an extra gear over the past decade.

Here are his supremely impressive numbers on the PGA Tour since 2016.

McIlroy has finished outside the top four in driving distance on the PGA Tour only once in the last 10 years.

The 35-year-old’s unrivalled talent with driver in hand means that if his wedge game is sharp and his putter is cooperating, he usually wins.

Hopefully McIlroy’s tips on how to hit the ball longer will result in you having more success in competitions at your local club as well.