Rory McIlroy told by former Tiger Woods ally: "Now do this and you'll win seven times in 2025"

Tiger Woods' former golf coach Hank Haney says if Rory McIlroy fixes his head position at impact he'll win 'seven times' in 2025. 

Haney was reacting to a video of McIlroy toiling on the range at Yas Links ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on the DP World Tour.

The 35-year-old was spotted using a water bottle to check the width of his backswing. 

He has spoken of his desire to be less across the line at the top of his swing. 

McIlroy hopes the swing change he is trying to implement will lead to greater consistency and fewer right misses. 

"Much better," Haney, who coached Woods between 2004-2010, posted on X. 

"Now just fix your head position and you will win seven times next year."

This is not the first time Haney has offered his thoughts on McIlroy's head position at impact. 

After McIlroy endured heartbreak at the 2024 U.S. Open, Haney asked 'how great' McIlroy would have been if he 'fixed his head from moving like this in the downswing'. 

He even posted a picture to illustrate his point:

Haney also criticised McIlroy's caddie Harry Diamond over what transpired at Pinehurst No.2 when the Northern Irishman was pipped by Bryson DeChambeau. 

For his part, McIlroy didn't mince his words when he was asked about Haney's thoughts. 

He said if he wasn't willing to listen to Haney's advice then he certainly wasn't willing to listen to his criticism.

"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," McIlroy previously said of Diamond's naysayers.  

"At the end of the day, they are not there.

"They are not in the arena. They are not the ones hitting the shots and making the decisions."

"I've been locked away in a studio"

McIlroy told reporters in his news conference ahead of the DP World Tour event later this week that he's spent his time off 'locked away' in a studio. 

He has not been looking at the ball flight and is focussing entirely on the movement, he said. 

McIlroy also offered his thoughts on the recent report that the PGA Tour had struck a deal with LIV Golf's backers. 

He suggested Donald Trump, along with 'smartest man in the world' Elon Musk, may be able to get a golf peace deal over the line. 

"The only way I was going to make a change or at least move in the right direction with my swing was to lock myself in a studio and not see the ball flight for a bit and just focus entirely on the movement," McIlroy said of the work he is doing with his swing. 

"So [I] did that for three weeks after the Dunhill. Started to get outside and hit some shots last week and see how it is. 

"I'm terrible at if I'm trying to make a certain swing or a certain swing change, and I start to mis-strike it or not hit the shots that I want, I'll just revert back to what I was doing because it's comfortable.

"I think doing this in the studio it was a big key for me to just try to make a start on getting the swing back to where I want it to be. But it's an ongoing process, as you know, to get out here and play. 

"When there's sequences to the shots that you hit, you're always going to revert back to what's comfortable. Hopefully the more that I do over these next few months, it will bed in and get back to the shape I want to be in."

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