Rory’s built to last
The 22-year-old US Open champion this week gave television viewers a glimpse behind the scenes of his remarkable year to date as BBC Northern Ireland aired an hour-long special ahead of McIlroy’s assault on the British Open at Royal St George’s in five days.
The documentary followed McIlroy’s decision to part from girlfriend Holly Sweeney, the resumption of their relationship, his final-round collapse at the Masters, his trip to earthquake-hit Haiti on behalf of UNICEF and on to his US Open triumph in Washington DC.
There was also a fascinating look at the golfer’s newly completed backyard practice facility at his County Down home.
The Holywood star with the game at his feet right now following his eight-stroke victory at Congressional Country Club last month, has built a state-of-the-art golf range comprising a short-game area, four greens, four tee boxes, three different types of sand, and pockets of rough to mimic both the US Open and links-style long grass he will encounter next week at Sandwich.
McIlroy even has a replica of St Andrews’ famous Road Hole bunker, albeit with sand imported from Portrush and he employs two greenkeepers, one full-time the other part-time, to ensure it is properly maintained.
“I knew that when I went home and went to practice I’d have a lot of people coming up to me and I wasn’t quite getting the work done that I wanted,” McIlroy said. “So to be able to build something like this, it’s really an investment in the future.
“And since I got it built I’ve won my first major, so it’s paid for itself already. So it’s just been great for me to be able to come and just practice, even for an hour, at whatever time you want, just roll out and not having to put normal golf stuff on, come out in your jeans and your t-shirt and practice.”
Two of McIlroy’s backyard greens have poa annua grass and the other two are bentgrass and of the different options on his range, including the pockets of different styles of rough, he said he has “basically every sort of thing that I encounter wherever I’m out playing,” while his greenkeepers “are in every day and they have to be, it’s kept like a championship-style golf course.
“I can ring the USGA or R&A up and ask what speed the greens are going to be, and if they say they’re going to be around 10.5 (on the stimpmeter), I can say to the guys, right, I want these greens 10.5 for the next two weeks, so I can prepare just like I’m there really.”
And as rival tours in the US and Europe compete for the services of golf’s newest superstar, it will be European Tour chiefs heartened by McIlroy’s view that his new custom-built practice facility is a signal of his long-term commitment to the land of his birth and his home continent.
“I see myself always being based here, always living here,” McIlroy said. “To have something like this, it would be a shame to move away and not have it. And I couldn’t do this anywhere else.
“When I found this property a couple of years ago with this amount of land I knew I wanted to do something pretty special with it and it’s turned out great.”
If McIlroy has his way, both his exceptional talent, the support system he has in place and the unique practice facility he has developed in his back garden will ensure things continue to turn out great for the 22-year-old golfer striving to emulate his heroes Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros and Tiger Woods.
“I feel like I could have a good chance to win more majors,” he said. “Whether the figure will be in double digits, I don’t know, but I’ve won my first one and I won my first one at the same age as Jack won his first one. Seve won his first one at 22, Tiger at 21.
“It’s given me a taste of winning the most important trophies in the world and that’s basically what I’m playing for now, to play for a place in history rather than playing for money.”
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