HOLYWOOD, Northern Ireland — Getting a image with the well-known Holywood signal has all the time been on my bucket checklist.
Not the one with two “l’s” excessive within the mountains in Los Angeles, an American landmark and cultural icon, however the one announcing this city of roughly 10,000 mendacity on the shores of Belfast Lough, between Belfast, Northern Ireland’s capital, and Bangor. This one proudly proclaims upon entrance: “Welcome to Holywood, historical gem of the Lough and home of Rory McIlroy.”
Rory McIlroy grew up in Holywood, Northern Ireland, and discovered to play golf at Holywood Golf Club. The membership started providing the Rory McIlroy Tour in April.
Just a quarter-mile away, perched excessive within the Holywood Hills of County Down, is Holywood Golf Club, a picturesque 18-hole parkland course the place the Grand Slam champion reduce his tooth. In April, after McIlroy received the Masters to change into the sixth golfer ever to finish the profession Grand Slam, the membership launched the Rory McIlroy Tour to formalize a method for his golf followers from all around the globe who had been displaying up unannounced for years to rejoice his journey to {golfing} greatness.
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The tour prices 22 kilos for adults and 17 per little one (age 16 and underneath). It contains recent Irish scones with jam and cream. The commercial additionally offers a espresso or tea however I used to be given the selection of a Guinness and had the barkeep pour me a kind of as an alternative. There are picture alternatives with replicas of his trophies and memorabilia – no Green Jacket simply but! – and a likelihood to buy ‘the Home of Rory McIlroy’ memorabilia within the professional store.
More: Inside the final round of Rory McIlroy’s 2025 Masters victory (part 1)
I had a while to kill earlier than my ‘tee time,’ so I drove by means of the city, previous Sullivan Upper School, the place he attended grammar college, and parked close by the famed maypole on the crossroads within the city’s heart. Its origin is unsure however based on folklore, it dates from 1700 when a Dutch ship is alleged to have run aground on the shore close by. The crew erected the damaged mast to indicate their appreciation of the help supplied to them by the townsfolk.
It was a good landmark to seek out the aptly named Maypole Bar, which the locals name Ned, and McIlroy biographer Tim Gay claims in his e-book “Rory Land,” pours the best Guinness in all of the Emerald Isle.
Rory McIlroy grew up in Holywood, Northern Ireland, and discovered to play golf at Holywood Golf Club. The membership started providing the Rory McIlroy Tour in April.
When I arrived for the tour, Paula Denvir, a member since 2010 and final 12 months’s girls membership captain, met me within the parking zone. The course overlooks Belfast Harbor, the place McIlroy’s grandfather labored the docks, which might later launch the ill-fated Titanic.
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“It was fine when it left here,” Denvir joked.
She began the tour on the membership’s health heart, which overlooks the 18th inexperienced, and an indoor coaching heart geared up with Trackman and several other simulator hitting bays which have change into standard in the course of the winter. McIlroy personally funded this wing of the clubhouse, which opened in 2019, and Denvir mentioned it has created a new income stream of members who solely need to use the world-class gymnasium.
Rory McIlroy grew up in Holywood, Northern Ireland, and discovered to play golf at Holywood Golf Club. The membership started providing the Rory McIlroy Tour in April.
From there, she led me on a personal tour of the Holywood clubhouse, the place McIlroy’s father, Gerry, was the bar supervisor. At age seven, a full 5 years earlier than junior memberships usually started, a younger and precocious Rory believed he was prepared for the course. “He said, ‘I won’t hold anybody up. I’m one of the fastest players and I know all the rules of golf,’ ” Denvir recounted in one of many many tales that she shared.
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The partitions of the “Rory Room” crammed in the remaining.
There’s a collage of images of McIlroy by means of the years and those of him from a tender, younger age are one of the best, together with with the likes of Darren Clarke and Nick Faldo. There’s a framed picture of McIlroy in jacket and tie holding the trophy as champion of the 2003 Ulster Boys Under 18. Next to it resides a picture of McIlroy’s caddie, Harry Diamond, who received the identical title in 2002. Scorecards of the course document are framed, too.
Surprisingly, a McIlroy as soon as owned the course document, however not Rory – his uncle, Colm, held that honor. The trophy cupboard is chock filled with McIlroy baubles, together with all the massive ones. McIlroy has donated golf equipment and baggage he is used to win Ryder Cups and majors. Denvir unlocked the instances and took out the duplicate trophies.
“Lift away,” she mentioned.
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Then she led me by means of the bar the place greater than 100 members gathered to observe the ultimate spherical of the Masters in April.
“It was unbearable at times,” Denvir mentioned. “You should have heard all the expletives. We all just sat in there going, ‘Seriously, this is what you’re putting us through.’”
But Denvir stored the religion and the celebration that ensued was price all of the heartache. Her husband, the present membership president, did 12 hours of media the following day. They stamped McIlroy’s signature on a scorecard for me and I purchased a ballmark and a membership emblem hoodie from the well-stocked professional store with merchandise that mirrored that this was the home of the Grand Slam champ.
Rory McIlroy grew up in Holywood, Northern Ireland, and discovered to play golf at Holywood Golf Club. The membership started providing the Rory McIlroy Tour in April.
Denvir mentioned that when the Irish Open was performed at Royal Portrush, McIlroy had stayed in Holywood and used the gymnasium earlier than making the 60-mile drive north, and predicted he would possibly do the identical this week.
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After the Rory Tour, I took on the 6,015-yard hillside course.
The terraced fairways slope in the direction of Belfast and infrequently present a flat lie. I can see how his trademark draw was formed at holes akin to the primary, the place every part kicks proper and the dogleg fifth. It’s a quirky course with some killer views from up excessive by the tenth inexperienced.
McIlroy famous that it had most likely been 15 years since he final performed the course. But ought to he cease by this week to make use of the gymnasium or get pleasure from a pint on the bar the place his father as soon as poured the drinks, his primo parking spot can be ready for him.
(Editor’s notice: This story initially ran on Golfweek in 2025.)
This article initially appeared on Golfweek: Rory McIlroy’s home course in Northern Ireland