Undoubtedly, Rory McIlroy has one of the best drive swings in today’s era. And for that reason and many others, the Northern Irishman has been one of the best golfers for more than two decades. However, after winning 26 PGA Tour victories including four majors, the 35-year-old has tweaked his swing for the better. McIlroy had a particular issue with his backswing as he hit more toward the right of his target.

To improve the error, the 4-time major champion locked himself in an indoor swing studio for 3 weeks to avoid analyzing his ball flight and focus just on his swing. After this intense training, McIlroy showed his new style before the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and Jamie Kenndey of Golf Digest asked if anyone could see the difference. Unsurprisingly, McIlroy’s critic and Tiger Woods’s former coach Hank Haney had something to say about it. He agreed that McIlroy was “definitely on the right track.” But pointed about his head positioning as he had done before. Haney tweeted, “Still too much across the line at the top but much better coming into the ball, needs to also address his head laying back at impact.” 

While McIlroy has worked on his hand positioning, Haney is now asking for the Northern Irishman to improve his head situation. But the former Woods’ coach received a silent but impactful reply proving Haney wrong. In the opening round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, McIlroy stunned the masses with his new swing. The 26-time PGA Tour winner hit a 194mph drive on the first par-4 hole. Although Haney thought that the pro needed to change more, it proved that McIlroy was already doing much better than his past swing.

And this is not the first time that McIlroy, directly or indirectly, made Haney eat his words. A similar instance happened after the US Open when the Northern Irishman gave a fitting reply to Haney’s criticism towards his caddie.

Rory McIlroy hits back at Hank Haney

For many, the mishap happened on the green of the 18th hole at the US Open because Rory McIlroy missed the ‘out’ there. However, for Hank Haney, the mistake was made during the 15th hole. The former Tiger Woods’s coach opined how if instead of Harry Diamond (McIlroy’s caddie) it was Steve Williams, he would have never handed a 7-iron which impacted in a terrible lie and eventual bogey on the 15th. But an 8-iron would’ve been given as Haney blamed Diamond for the mistake.

And as his statement made it to McIlroy, he didn’t stop a second to come to defend his bagman and his friend. McIlroy distastefully said, “These guys that criticize when things don’t go my way, they never say anything good when things do go my way… They are never there to say Harry did such a great job when I win, but they are always there to criticize when we don’t win.”

Soon after, Haney also took back his words and emphasized that Diamond was a great caddie and that he never was criticizing him but just saying that he made a mistake. Now as well, with Haney sharing that McIlroy needs to change more of his swing, it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that Rory McIlroy wouldn’t heed his words.