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Rory McIlroy explains why he attached putter grips to 7-iron, lob wedge
Rory McIlroy’s key to re-unlocking his golf swing?
Putter grips on his 7-iron and lob wedge.
McIlroy was spotted on the range at Bellerive hitting balls with Flat Cat putter grips attached at 45-degree angles to both clubs. He explained to Golf Channel’s Kira Dixon on Thursday that his right arm was staying too straight in the backswing and was getting too far across the line at the top, not supporting the club like it should.
“I was trying to save it a lot,” said McIlroy, who is coming off his worst finish in a no-cut tournament, a 66th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, where he ranked ahead of just three of the 68 other competitors in strokes gained off the tee and 35th in strokes gained approach.
The putter grips serve as a training aid for McIlroy’s right hand, helping him get the feel of where the club needs to be hallway back, which then corrects everything else. McIlroy discovered the solution with his instructor Michael Bannon upon returning home last Sunday evening.
“It just helps my right arm work better, just the structure of it,” McIlroy explained on Friday following a 1-under 69 that has him 7 under and T-8 through 36 holes of the BMW Championship. “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. So, it’s more to help the right arm structure and sort of feel like keeping the right hand like on top of the grip more on the way back.”
Rory McIlroy had a few clubs made up with a putter grip to use for practice. It’s helping ingrain a swing feel he found with coach Michael Bannon.
Here’s him using it in his Thursday range session. Can also see the pre-shot rehearsal he said was key to turning his game around.… pic.twitter.com/6gVG80pE7M
— Paul Hodowanic (@PaulHodowanic) August 21, 2026
McIlroy ranks seventh off the tee and 17th on approach through two rounds in St. Louis.
“I hit a few loose shots,” McIlroy added on Friday. “But as I said, it’s going to be a work in progress, there’s going to be days where it feels a bit better and going to be days where it doesn’t. Today I hit some decent iron shots but was a little more squirrely off the tee. Hit a couple decent ones coming in. But, yeah, I’ll go work on it a bit this afternoon.”
Click here to watch McIlroy’s full range session ahead of the first round of the BMW Championship.
