--- title: Luke Fitzgerald Swings Golf Club, Misses in Facebook Video description: Golfer Rory McIlroy posts video of Irish rugby player Luke Fitzgerald swinging a golf club and losing it canonical: https://time.com/4070755/rory-mcilroy-golf-club-swing/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-12T22:02:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:01.959Z og:title: Watch Rory McIlroy's Golf Lesson to an Irish Rugby Player Go Hilariously Wrong og:description: Fore! og:url: https://time.com/4070755/rory-mcilroy-golf-club-swing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Rory McIlroy's Golf Lesson to an Irish Rugby Player Go Hilariously Wrong twitter:description: Fore! twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Rory McIlroy's Golf Lesson to an Irish Rugby Player Go Horribly Wrong > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=274ce08b-0730-4993-8fa3-cee714681e74&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 5 Elements of A Viral Video [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Elements of A Viral Video](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vgQtqA8c.m3u8) (1:31)  _Published 2015-06-22. 5 Elements of A Viral Video_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Oct 12, 2015 10:02 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Oct 12, 2015 10:02 PM UTC Professional golfer Rory McIlroy shared a hilarious video on Facebook Monday that shows Luke Fitzgerald, who plays for Ireland’s rugby team, swinging—and very much missing. He lets go of the club mid-swing at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, South Wales, leaving a divot for the ages. But what’s almost better than the shot is the laughter that ensues. The video has been [shared](https://www.facebook.com/RoryMcIlroy/videos/vb.152976388115795/907121399367953/?type=2&theater) more than 5,300 times at the time of publication. And McIlroy did note in the Facebook comments that some members of the team hit good shots. And fortunately for Fitzgerald, he did not seem to be in the middle of an important game when he goofed up that shot. ## Transcript [ NOISE ] What makes a video go viral? Here's our guess. Mishka, I love you. [ NOISE ] Number one, cute animals. [ LAUGH ] Charlie, Charlie bit me. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ UNKNOWN ], we're going to Disneyland. Oh, my god. Number two, cute kids. [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] Number 3, remixes. [ MUSIC ] Whoa, oh my God, oh my God. [ LAUGH ] Oh my God. Whoo. Number four, spontaneity. Look at all those Number five. Cute kids and cute animals. Put this all together and it will certainly end up on your Facebook feed. 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