Rory McIlroy contending at BMW Championship thanks to unique training aid, new rehearsal

ST. LOUIS – Rory McIlroy’s range sessions are starting a bit differently this week at Bellerive Country Club.

Before grabbing any club he’s about to use in competition, he pulls out an extra lob wedge and 7-iron. Attached to each is a jumbo putting grip that’s 45 degrees off-center and abnormally shaped.

Believe it or not, this is the key to McIlroy’s remarkable turnaround that has him contending at the BMW Championship through 36 holes.

In an effort to find a solution to the swing woes that plagued him a week ago in Memphis, McIlroy returned home to Florida for a day to see his coach Michael Bannon, and the two concocted a swing feel and rehearsal that could get him through the final weeks of the season. To find that feel and drill it in, McIlroy had a pair of "Frankenstein clubs created that force him into the correct positions on the takeaway.

“It just helps my right arm work better. Just the structure of it,” McIlroy said Friday. “Then the club gets more supported at the top. And then if I'm there I feel like I can really hit whatever shot I want.”

The aid is notable if for no other reason than it’s unlike McIlroy. A trip to any PGA TOUR driving range or practice putting green will feature countless swing aids, mirrors, sticks, bands and a collection of random things best described as doohickeys. It’s as if a PGA TOUR Superstore had a closing sale and the entire field stopped to find something.

McIlroy usually abstains. You’ll find him on the practice green with nothing but his putter and a golf ball or two. Typically, the only thing he has with him on the range is a TrackMan.

Well, when you put together one of the worst ball-striking performances of your recent career, sometimes extreme measures are required. So McIlroy has started every range session this week with the two clubs with a Flat Cat putter grip attached, finding a good base to build the rest of his day off of. It’s working.

McIlroy is 7-under through 36 holes, three back of leader J.J. Spaun and firmly in the mix entering the weekend. It’s a far cry from a week ago, when Scottie Scheffler beat him by 15 strokes over the first two days, and the two had polar-opposite tee times the rest of the week. McIlroy ranks 14th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. He’s four better than Scheffler on the leaderboard.

Along with the aid, McIlroy has a new pre-shot rehearsal designed to replicate the same feel that the grip creates. Before most shots, McIlroy takes the club back until it is parallel with his waist and checks the position with his eyes.

“I feel like with this rehearsal that I'm doing, I can then get into feeling what shot I'm trying to hit and at least give myself the opportunity to see a shot or to feel what I'm trying to do,” he said.

McIlroy has proven he can swiftly reverse his form after tough days and weeks. Famously, he had lost all feel with his driver during the third round of this year’s Masters. McIlroy went to the range with caddie Harry Diamond after and hit balls deep into the night. They found something. The next day, he hit the ball exceptionally and won his second Masters title.

A win this week would change the tune of McIlroy’s second half of the year, when he’s played very little and contended even less. McIlroy has played just seven events since the Masters, finished no better than seventh, and hasn’t truly contended down the stretch.

Whether he will this week at Bellerive remains to be seen, but he’s in position halfway through, on the leaderboard and with his swing.