Rory McIlroy has an innovative way to get kids into golf

World number one golfer Rory McIlory has said that more children will play golf if the world’s best golfers have more athletic bodies.

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Throughout Europe and the USA the challenge of getting children to play golf has proven to be tough, with many countries reporting that less than 10 percent of their golf clubs’ members are juniors.

Initiatives devised to get more children to play the game have included links between golf clubs and schools in which professionals teach the game to pupils, alternative versions of golf that make the sport easier and more fun and policies that make playing golf at clubs affordable for children.

However McIlroy, who recently announced that he has added 20 pounds of muscle to his body and reduced his body fat percentage from 24 to 10, since working out 90 minutes a day, five days a week from 2010, said that the image of professional golfers is what will inspire children to take up the game.

“I think golf has progressed, it has become more of an athletic sport,” he said.

“When you look at some of the moves guys make at the ball, you need to be strong in certain areas. You don’t need to be built like a linebacker but you need to have stability and strength in certain areas in your body.

“If more golfers look athletic, it portrays a much better image for the game.

“That encourages kids to maybe pick up the sport or pick up a club and maybe it encourages parents to get them into golfing as well. Because maybe 15 to 20 years ago the image of golf wasn’t athletic, it wasn’t the way it is now and Tiger has changed that. If you look at some of the younger guys, the look is much different. I think that is a great thing for golf.”

Not everyone agrees though. Legendary coach Butch Harmon said he is concerned about how much work McIlroy is doing in the gym.

“The only caution I would give Rory is, I see a lot of pictures of him lifting a lot of very heavy weights and I think, in a way, you can almost hurt yourself in the gym if you get too bulky,” he said.

“Hopefully, he will keep his body tone down, more like a Dustin Johnson, who’s in absolutely perfect physical shape to play golf.”