Rory McIlroy has revealed in a Q&A alongside Keegan Bradley the most common mistake he sees amateur golfers making.
If there is anyone for most of us to take advice from, it is surely Rory McIlroy. Despite the fact that McIlroy has now gone nearly a decade without winning a major, he has remained one of the best and most consistent golfers on the planet for the last 15 years.
In that time, the Northern Irishman has regularly played with the very best in the world. But he has also done his time playing alongside those who hack their way around for 18 holes, proving to be completely miserable after asking what the course record was following a par on the first hole.
Rory McIlroy shares the biggest mistake amateurs make
McIlroy and Bradley were asked a wide range of questions in a video for Golf.com. And one of those selected by the four-time major winner was the most common mistakes he sees amateurs making.

He noted that those golfers will often overestimate what they are capable of.
“Honestly, trying to play shots that they can’t pull off. It’s a really boring answer, but if amateurs just played within themselves, and just took on what they could and didn’t try to do too much and play above their level in a way, I think they would shoot better scores than their handicaps, and they’d come way down,” he said.
Where’s the fun in that?
It seems a very fair point.
Most of us have had that moment where we have short-sided ourselves with our approach to the green. With a bunker in front of us, and plenty of room 20 feet behind the pin, surely we play the percentages and take a probable bogey?
Of course we don’t.
We open the face on the 60 degree wedge and attempt to hit a Phil Mickelson-esque flop shot, which probably ends up knifed over the back of the green, or in the bunker in front of us.
McIlroy is definitely right.
However, that won’t stop some of us attempting the Hollywood shot the next time the opportunity presents itself.
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