Rory McIlroy on Coaches

Rory McIlroy with interesting and insightful thoughts on coaches, that I think you can apply to coaches of any sport.

"Coaches are important, but I think coaches are important because they need to know who you are as a person and how you receive information rather than who you are as a player.

"You see it all the time [on the PGA Tour], guys will change coaches and they'll have an instant bit of success. That happens. But that goes back to every PGA Tour player is an amazing golfer and if you give them just a little bit of belief that they're on the right path, they can go and win or they can play better again...you get that quick uptick in performance and then you regress back to your average...I think it's way more important for a coach to know who you are as a person and how you receive information.

"Michael [Bannon] knows that it needs to be my idea. That's on me, I just need to feel like I own it. Maybe that's a little bit too much ego or, I'm a bit more of a control freak over it than I should [be], but he knows that I need to be the one in control of that and if I'm not and I feel like I'm being told what to do and it's not my idea, I don't respond to it very well, I shut down.

"Since [Michael and I] started working together on golf, we've been doing it together for 27 years. He knows how I tick, he knows what I respond to, what I don't respond to. I think that's super important in a player-coach relationship."