“I can’t move my hips”: Rory McIlroy once got schooled by swing coach who charges $1000/hour

Rory McIlroy once recieved some schooling from popular golf instructor George Gankas. The swing coach recently talked about the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am winner on the golf show with Dan Rapaport.

Rapaport, along with Skratch, holds a live golf show every Monday from 1 pm EST on his YouTube channel Dan on Golf. In his last video titled, "My golf lesson with George Gankas", Rapaport had a session with Gankas. As the duo got busy with golf on the Westlake Range, Gankas recalled the time when he schooled McIlroy: (~11:37)

Gankas: "A lot of things get fixed when the setup's right. Like Rory one day is like 'I can't turn my hips' and we were in Sherwood and he was over like this and he's like I can't turn my hips I'm like stand up like this and turn and he looks down and he's like I'm all ears."

"Because you're way bent over like this but he also turns because his first move is where back to balance right. But then he goes out and gets it and downswing so it doesn't affect him."

Gankas continued further on how Rory McIlroy manages to rectify his swing and hit the ball correctly:

"And he gets a little bit more where out here and watch his first move is balance right? And then he gets back in there but most people who do that would be further away from the ball and just miss it right but Rory gets back in and digs in there so he can get away with it."

You can watch the full video on Rapaport's YouTube channel right here:

Apart from his session with Rory McIlroy, Gankas has taught a lot of other professional golfers. He is a teaching professional at Westlake since 2007. As reported by GOLF, Gankas charges a $500 to $1000 fee for every hour of schooling session.

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Rory McIlroy's 2025 season so far

Rory McIlroy has made two starts on the PGA Tour so far this year, and has not missed a cut yet. The Northern Irishman started the season by teeing off at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on January 30. After four rounds, McIlroy clinched the title at Pebble Beach, finishing 21-under 267.

In the last round at the Pro-Am, McIlroy scored a 6-under 66, with a bogey-free back nine. He scored a spectacular eagle at the 571 yard par-5 14th hole. His Pebble Beach victory earned him 700 FedEx Ranking Points and $3.6 million. At the Genesis Invitational, McIlroy tied for the 17th spot on the leaderboard, finishing his last round with an even par.

McIlroy earned $270.7k and 56 FedEx Cup points from this event. Here's a detailed look at his PGA Tour results this season.

• 30/1 - 2/2, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Pebble Beach Golf Links, WON, 66-70-65-66, 267 (-21), $3,600,000
• 13/2 - 16/2, The Genesis Invitational, Torrey Pines (South Course), T17, 72-67-74-72, 285 (-3), $270,714

Rory McIlroy also participated in the DP World Tour’s 2025 Hero Dubai Desert Classic. He concluded this event tying for the fourth place on the leaderboard. Here's a look at his European Tour record of this season:

• 16/1 - 19/1, Hero Dubai Desert Classic, Emirates Golf Club, T4, 70-71-69-66, 276 (-12)