Rory McIlroy's old back garden is still a putting green -- and it's as quick as lightning!

Extra.ie​

a day ago

The man at the door is a kind and friendly sort. He's also not much of a golf fan, but there's an artificial putting green in his back garden, and occasionally it draws strangers to his house on the corner of Strathearn Court and Belfast Road.
This is Hollywood, where a star was born 36 years ago, and an hour or so north is Royal Portrush, where that same guy will challenge for the Claret Jug this week. The noise and fuss will be off the scale for Rory McIlroy.
However, the interest in this property will be warm rather than frenzied. If Aaron Williamson does check on the scores, his curiosity will be mainly driven by the quirks of one fact: he lives in the house where McIlroy grew up. Pic: Stuart Kerr/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
Hence the garden putting green, installed by McIlroy's dad, Gerry, after they moved in when his son was four, and why pilgrims turn up on Williamson's doorstep every now and then.
'I get the knock on the door from time to time,' he told me on Sunday afternoon, while McIlroy was working his way towards finishing second at the Scottish Open. 'It really isn't very often that someone comes by to see it, but whenever it was that he won the Masters, there was a flurry of interest.'
Williamson has been here since 2021, living in the four-bedroom semi with his wife, two children and dog. He's the pastor at a Baptist church a couple of hundred yards up the street, and it bemuses him more than anything else that he lives on what might be deemed a heritage site. Pic: Richard Heathcote/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
'I find it quite funny and surreal because none of us are big golfers,' he said. 'I suppose it's a nice story to tell. We did a charity event after the Masters because there was quite a bit of interest and more knocks than usual. We almost felt we wanted to release the tension by opening it up.
'A neighbour runs a charity called The Big House, so we said if people paid a fiver, they could come and play a few putts and have a coffee. That was a week after the Masters, and it was an awful day for weather, but maybe 50 people came. The putting green is part of our lives, I suppose!
'Rory has done so well for himself and everyone here is very fond of him. It is nice to sometimes think he was stood out there practising putts to win the Open.' Pic: Oisin Keniry/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
Extra.ie Sport was invited to have a go, so we set up a putt at a similar range to the four-footer McIlroy drained on that fabulous night at Augusta three months ago. Misreading the line and length, two charged by the hole, and one dropped — It's lightning fast.
'That's because it's a bit worn out by now,' said Williamson. Gerry and his wife, Rosie, left for another part of the small town more than 20 years ago, when their prodigy son was in his mid-teens. Each time it has changed hands, no one has had the heart to turf over the artificial surface and its six cups.
'We were aware when we were buying it that it would almost be our responsibility to look after it,' Williamson said. To be honest, there have been times when we would love to put some grass out there but it doesn't feel quite right! It's a bit of a catch-22!' Pic: CJ Gunther/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Williamson has not met McIlroy, but like most in this spot east of Belfast, where the population barely touches 12,000, they all know Holywood is synonymous with their golfing son. The welcome sign off the A2 makes reference to the 'home of Rory McIlroy', and for McIlroy's parents, it is still home.
'When he comes back here, we try not to make a fuss of him, just so it can be a place where everything is comfortable, normal, and he can just be Rory,' said Ruth Watt, the ladies' captain at Holywood Golf Club.
It's where Gerry, a scratch golfer, worked as a barman, and his son learned the game. McIlroy's parents stop in at the golf club most weeks, and their son visits when he can. His home has been in Florida for more than a decade, and his newest property is in Wentworth, but Hollywood, says Watt, will 'always be home'.
The car park keeps a permanent parking space for him; members say he stumped up £750,000 for their gym and substantially more for other renovations.
'He came in and used the gym after the Masters,' said Watt. A trove of his memorabilia, from golf bags to signed flags and replica trophies, are so prominent in the clubhouse that they sell tours to American tourists.
In the bar, there is also a framed scorecard from his course-record 61 at Portrush as a 16-year-old. 'I think it's nice for him to have a place where he knows he can escape,' said Trevor Heaven, the men's captain.
'Everyone here knows Rory and his family and we're all proud. It's good for him to have a spot to go where he doesn't have the pressure he might have out there.'
There's a nook at the Dirty Duck pub, beneath a signed painting of McIlroy, where he used to meet his mates. The barman says he hasn't been in for a few years, but directed Extra.ie Sport to Neds, next to the maypole that has stood since the 1700s.
An 'old man pub', I'm told. The locals confirm McIlroy is in semi-regularly when he's home, and same goes for Coffee Yard just up the street.
'He's a gent and when he's here, he's just Rory to us,' said Martin Gleason at the bar in Neds. 'No one makes a mad fuss about it.' The fuss at Portrush will be significant this week. McIlroy spoke about it yesterday, explaining how the 2019 Open was so overwhelming that he couldn't handle the expectations – he shot 79 in his first round and missed the cut.
Returning as a Master's champion, and finally with a spring in his step after three months of poor form, he reckons he will process it better.