Rory McIlroy, on his way to winning the Wells Fargo Championship last May, made one of those on-your-way-to-winning decisions. His drive on the tournamentâs final hole had skipped left and into a penalty area, but, on the advice of his caddie, Harry Diamond, instead of trying a swing from an awkward sidehill lie, with water a few feet away, McIlroy took a penalty stroke, dropped into a better spot and walked away with just a bogey five.
âHarry was awesome out there today, especially that decision on the last,â McIlroy said. âI was ready to get in there and try to play that with a lob wedge, and he was sort of like, âLetâs take a step back, letâs think about this. Whereâs the best place youâre hitting your third from?â So he sort of calmed me down and slowed me down a little bit and said, âPal, letâs just think about this a little bit.’â
Letâs have some fun now. And be honest, average golfer.
Whatâs your play here?
The hero move? Or the unheralded one? While you think it over, McIlroy already knows the truth. In a recently released video by the instruction site Me and My Golf (which is well worth a watch above), it was his answer when co-host Piers Ward asked him the following:
Whatâs the most common mistake you see amateurs make?
âI think effective golf sometimes can be pretty boring, or in peopleâs minds, it can be pretty boring,â McIlroy said. âPlaying the shot that you know you can play, or that you can pull off at least eight times out of 10. I think I see, I see amateurs so much trying to play outside of their comfort zone and trying to take on shots that they think they should hit instead of keeping the ball in play, you know, managing their games a little better and that will produce lower scores.
âAnd yeah, sometimes itâs fun to take on shots that you might be able to pull off, but I think itâs even more fun to just shoot better scores. You know, I think that itâs a â thereâs so many other parts of the game that you can do really well at. And yeah, just managing your game a little better.â
Or, said in fewer words:
Pal, letâs just think about this a little bit.
âIf I were to caddie for like an average player, I really feel like I could take five to 10 shots off a round very easily,â McIlroy said.
âThatâs something we say all the time, isnât it?â co-host Andy Proudman said. âJust by getting to make the right decisions, the right club, the right hit, the right sort of process and strategy. Iâm sure a lot of guys will relate to that. Are you trying to play and put yourself in a position where you canât really play that, hit the like if you can relate to what Rory says there.
âUnderstanding your limitations is huge,â Ward said
âExactly,â McIlroy said.  Â