Rory McIlroy Sets Single-Season Driving Distance Record

Rory McIlroy has set the single-season record for average driving distance on the PGA Tour.

McIlroy, who has always been known for his length off the tee, has aged like a fine wine when it comes to hitting his driver.

At 34 years old, McIlroy has officially broken the record for average driving distance with 326.3 yards over 128 total drives. His total distance for the year was 41,771 yards.

Rory’s average drive this year was absurd. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/wZkNOPppP9

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) August 29, 2023

This outpaced Brandon Matthews with 321.2 yards per drive and Cameron Young with 316.9 yards.

The previous record was held by Bryson Dechambeau in 2020-21, with 323.7 yards per drive. Dechambeau had 51,790 yards of driving distance that year over 160 drives.

Rory’s WITB

McIlroy has been with TaylorMade since Nike terminated its golf equipment operations several years ago. Although he has had somewhat of a tumultuous relationship with his driver, at one point reverting to a previous year’s model, he has played the Stealth 2 this year.

Set at 9 degrees at 7.5, he plays a Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 6 X shaft, which has a mid-launch and low spin focus thanks to increased torsional stiffness.

As previously mentioned, McIlroy struggled with his Stealth 2 earlier this year:

“Yeah, obviously I went to that new drive in Riviera, and it’s just not — yeah. Look, I wish I could use my driver from last year, but I can’t just because of — you use a driver for so long, and it starts to get a little too — basically, it just wouldn’t pass the test. These driver heads are so finicky it’s hard to get one exactly the same. Yeah, I mean, I’m obviously trying my best, trying to get something that’s as close to what I had last year. Yeah, just struggled a little bit off the tee the last couple weeks.”

But Rory seemed to find his rhythm shortly after. Although a missed cut at the Masters had Rory take a bit of a hiatus from golf, things picked up with wins this season at the Genesis Scottish Open and the CJ Cup. Rory finished 2nd at the Arnold Palmer, the U.S. Open, and accumulated 13 Top 10s in 2023.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Rory will seemingly get ready for the Ryder Cup in Rome in late September starting now, after a fourth-place finish at the Tour Championship this past weekend capped off his year with another stellar season on the PGA Tour.

Cover Image via Golf Monthly