We are entering a part of the year where we normally see the world’s top golfers take a break from teeing it up in competition. However, the year isn’t quite over for some of Europe’s best. Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, and Shane Lowry are set to tee it up at this week’s DP World India Championship.
This late in the year, players might have different goals. Whether it’s a focus on bringing home some hardware, exploring a new part of the world, or making sure their game is a good place once the calendar flips to 2026. For McIlroy, this week could be about all three.
The World No. 2 was spotted on the range warming up for his practice round and putting some work in with a training aid that at first glance, looks like a dodgeball that some P.E. student lodged with pencils—but hey, if it works for THE Rory McIlroy, we’re not questioning anything. On second glance, it appears to resemble a training aid from Sure-Golf called “The Connector.”
We dug up a few videos that show that this isn’t the first time McIlroy has incorporated this unique-looking training aid into his range sessions. The lime green foam object resembling a deflated kickball is designed to train more synchronized arm structure and rotation in the swing. Alignment rods coming out each side and the front of the device are intended to give realtime feedback and reference points as you rotate the body.
It is always fascinating to see the best players in the world grinding away on the range with the same training aids that us hackers are also debating putting in our carts this fall. You would think that they are good enough now where they don’t have to resort to looking like Tin-Cup trying to fix the shanks. However, this is what sets golfers like this from the rest. We’re all just out there working to maintain our swings the best we can, and utilizing out-of-the-box golf training aids like this are key to doing so.
In this specific case, McIlroy seems to be working on his arm path on the back swing, specifically his right arm. If his right arm gets too high on the takeaway, the club can get across the line and the face would be shut at the top, which forces him to have to re-route his path on the downswing. And if he doesn’t reroute correctly (which is challenging at the swing speeds we’re talking about here), the ball can start going left very quickly.
The always tuned-in Luke Kerr-Dineen posted a video earlier this year at another range session with McIlroy talking about this exact feel.
“If I get my right arm structure set early, then all I need to do is turn,” McIlroy tells LKD in the video as he demonstrates his ideal arm position—also broken down in-depth in LKD’s explainer on Golf Digest.
So back to India, this specific drill we see him working at Delhi Golf Club helps McIlroy get his right arm and shoulder more externally rotated going back, and doesn’t need much more to get the club in the correct slot coming into impact.
So, the next time you feel ridiculous for using a training aid on the range, feel comfortable knowing Rory is doing the same thing. And who knows, you might be the next golfer to complete the career grand slam and win an away Ryder Cup in the same year…
