Members of Belfast’s Hollywood Golf Club like to joke that one leg has to be longer than the other to play on the course. Holywood is a typical park course on a hillside on the outskirts of the city and is pleasant enough. The expansive views of Belfast Lake from the back nine are especially spectacular. But truth be told, this course isn’t the best in Hollywood. That’s Royal Belfast.
But Holywood has one ace. What makes this course one of the most famous courses in the world is Rory McIlroy’s home club.
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The frontrunner for Thursday’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year Jamboree. That stellar season finally saw him win his first Masters, making him only the sixth man in history to complete golf’s Grand Slam, before walking through the fire to inspire Europe to win the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. McIlroy’s first home was a few short par 5s off the course. Modest two-up, two-down at Churchview.
McIlroy had a great year in 2025 – PA/Mike Egerton
The McIlroy family later moved into a red brick house on the corner of Belfast Road and Strathearn Court. You can still see the famous artificial putting green in the garden beyond the wall.
On a crisp fall day, I arrived at the first stop of a three-day visit to the golf capital of McIlroy. I’ll be playing some of the courses McIlroy grew up on, visiting some of the places that shaped the 36-year-old, and speaking to some of those involved about what it means for McIlroy to be recognized as Great Britain’s Outstanding Sportsman of the Year.
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Northern Ireland has only ever had three Spotty winners. Mary Peters won the award in 1972, Barry McGuigan in 1985 and Tony McCoy in 2010. Remarkably, George Best never won the award. The same goes for McIlroy, who lost to Lewis Hamilton in 2014 for second place. Lando Norris’ recent victory in the F1 World Championship raises the possibility of another F1 driver taking the post, but Hollywood lady captain Ruth Watt is confident Northern Ireland will emerge as a force. “It’s time for another winner,” she says. “There’s going to be quite a few from around here, I’m sure. Rory deserves it this year.”
Pictured in 2014, McIlroy came second to Lewis Hamilton in the Sports Personality of the Year award – PA/David Davies
Watt has been a member of Holywood for 20 years. That means McIlroy was around 13 years old when he joined. By then he had already been a member for five years, and the club famously changed its own rules specifically to accommodate him, lowering the minimum age for membership from 12 to eight.
McIlroy grew up “hitting plastic golf balls around the clubhouse” while his father, Jerry, worked behind the bar. But by the time he was seven years old, his talent was obvious and he needed to be left alone on the track. Under the tutelage of club pro Michael Bannon, who remains McIlroy’s coach and mentor, he began a relentless progression.
McIlroy honed his skills since childhood – Alan Lewis
Watt remembers him as a “cocky kid” who hit the ball super far. “I could tell just by watching his swing that he was a completely different person,” she says. “I still remember him hitting the green on the 17th (a 350-plus yard par 4).”
McIlroy was a golf prodigy from an early age.
Mr. Watt took me on a tour of the facility. The awards board in the stairwell not only bears McIlroy’s name, but also the names of his uncle Colm and father Gerry (all club champions), as well as McIlroy’s long-time friend and caddy Harry Diamond (2003 Hollywood Match Play Champion).
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There is a state-of-the-art gym, which McIlroy helped build thanks to a generous £1 million donation to the club in 2019. McIlroy has a proud parking lot across from the pro shop. “He doesn’t use it as much now,” Watt admits. “But if someone other than your family parks there, it’s easy to find out.”
A glass cabinet contains a replica of the Wanamaker Trophy, the U.S. Open trophy, and a miniature version of the Claret Jug. There are also McIlroy’s bags from the 2010, 2012 and 2014 Ryder Cups. A pro shop assistant pointed to one of Tiger Woods’ old bags that McIlroy had given to the club.
McIlroy may be Hollywood’s most famous export. But he is also responsible for a significant portion of the incoming trades. These days, an enterprising local taxi driver takes tourists, many of them fresh off cruise ships, on sightseeing tours of the area, including 18 holes at his old club. They want the full Hollywood experience.
This year has been a busy year in that regard. “On April 13th, Rory kind of blew up our world, and it’s been non-stop since then,” Watt recalls of the packed bar the night of McIlroy’s Masters win. That’s when seniors from McIlroy’s alma mater, Sullivan Upper, wore green “Honors” blazers to watch a playoff win against England’s Justin Rose.
Sullivan High School members celebrate Rory McIlroy’s Masters win – Pennsylvania/Liam McBurney
It’s a “sort of school color” system, Watt said. The next morning, Sullivan Upper published a photo of McIlroy wearing Sullivan’s green jacket, taken exactly 20 years before McIlroy donned the Augusta jacket.
McIlroy, wearing a green blazer from his high school Sullivan upper, holds one of his many trophies.
Talking about McIlroy’s Masters heroics doesn’t entice me to go to the course, but I especially remember the view from the 10th tee box. In the distance, you can see the famous Harland and Wolff shipyard. More than 100 years ago, the RMS Titanic slowly set sail from Belfast.
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McIlroy’s ties to the region run deep. His grandfather, Jimmy, started the family’s love of golf and passed the bug on to Gerry and uncles Colm and Brian, working as cranes on Belfast’s wharves. “I love flying into Belfast City Airport,” McIlroy once said. “Usually you come over Belfast Lough and you look to your left and you see Helen’s Bay, Kaltra and Holywood. That’s basically where I grew up. I’ve never felt planes flying anywhere else, but I can feel them coming into that airport. That’s very important to me.”
McIlroy is a hero to people in Hollywood.
The feeling is clearly mutual. McIlroy is revered not just for his athletic accomplishments, but also for the millions of dollars he has given back to the community that raised him. He also represents a new generation where sectarianism is not an issue. McIlroy’s great-uncle, who was raised Catholic in a predominantly Protestant area, was killed in the riots, but his family refused to be defined by it.
McIlroy may not be visiting as regularly these days, primarily dividing his time between sunny Florida and his new home in Wentworth. But he still has a place on the waterfront.
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“He wants to continue speaking in Hollywood,” Watt explained, adding that McIlroy has never forgotten his roots. I never added an extra “l” to Holywood. “We obviously want to see more of him,” she added. “I said to his father, ‘Okay, Jerry, put the cherry on the cake. I need a picture of Rory and his green blazer!’ But it gets harder and harder. He’s so busy. But we’ll always be proud of him.
“With Rory, what you see is what you get. And that’s why everyone loves him. He wears his heart on his sleeve and we all get involved in it. When he won at Augusta, the passion when he fell to his knees. We all had goosebumps and tears in our eyes.”
McIlroy achieved his dream of winning the Masters this year – Getty Images/Richard Heathcote
It’s the same story in Portrush, on Northern Ireland’s beautiful Causeway Coast. Days two and three of my trip were spent here, playing in nearby Castle Rock, a challenging link with rolling sand dunes and mesmerizing views of the Atlantic Ocean, before… piece of resistance: Royal Portrush itself. The famous Dunluce Links hosted the British Open Championship in 2019 and again this summer as Lollymania swept across the country. We will be staying at Dunluce Lodge. Dunluce Lodge is a smart new 5 star spa hotel overlooking the 4th fairway. That also happens to be where McIlroy stayed in July. In fact, NBC block-booked the entire venue for the duration of the tournament, but general manager Stephen Meldrum said McIlroy struck a deal with the American broadcaster to sublease some rooms and ended up staying here with his wife Erica, daughter Poppy, and parents Jerry and Rosie.
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It almost proved to be a winning move. A memorable five-under third-round 66, including a guttural eagle on No. 12 that echoed through the Giant’s Causeway, put McIlroy temporarily in contention for the Claret Jug.
However, in the end, world number one Scottie Scheffler was too strong and won by four strokes, leaving McIlroy in a tie for seventh place. Still, it brought an estimated economic benefit to the region of £280m.
Royal Portrush’s head pro Gary McNeil was a huge admirer of the man McIlroy had grown into and said he would always call him to ask for permission to come to a match. “And he was always so grateful and so appreciative every time he came here. And that’s never going to change.”
McIlroy received enthusiastic cheers at Portrush earlier this year – Reuters/Paul Childs
McNeil has known McIlroy since he was a primary school student, when he played for Royal Portrush against Coleraine for Sullivan. “He was just a young kid back then, wearing a Titleist baseball cap and a bunch of hair falling down the back of it. But you could tell he loved it. He was a sophomore, and he was playing against sixth-graders who were about to go to college, and he was beating them in 7-and-6 or something.”
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McNeil was in the pro shop the day McIlroy shot the famous course record 61 at Portrush as a 16-year-old amateur during qualifying for the 2005 Northern Ireland Amateur Championship. Scorecards are posted in the clubhouse.
McNeil remembers his then-assistant Darren McWilliams, also from Hollywood, getting an email from a friend saying McIlroy was lighting up the course. “So we took off quickly and caught up with him on the 16th, now the 18th,” McNeil recalls.
“At this point he was already at nine under. What sticks out in my mind is that on the 17th tee, someone in the group in front of him missed his tee shot and had to go all the way back to try it again. Rory probably made it all the way to the ladies tee. It was probably 60 yards away, but I stayed there by myself and practiced my swing. Then I came back, teed it up, and hit the most beautiful drive just inside the right bunker and pulled it into the middle of the fairway, which was really impressive.”
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It’s safe to say I wouldn’t do the same. Spending an evening at The Harbor Bar, a local institution crammed with autographed flags, player photos and other golf memorabilia, probably won’t cut it. The taste of Guinness will still be there when you tee off the next morning. McIlroy famously hit a forgettable ball in the rough at No. 11 at this year’s British Open, hitting two balls in one. I think there were two balls in sight at one point. “Oh, they’re known for being very hospitable on the north coast,” McNeil says sympathetically.
What does a win over Spotty mean for McIlroy? Does anyone really care? Anyway, there’s a lot of old nonsense out there. McNeil believes it means a lot to the country. “I think he’s been a great ambassador for Irish golf and for Northern Ireland,” he says.
“I mean, there’s going to be a lot of people watching. And I’m biased, but I certainly think he should win. I mean, what he’s accomplished… it’s amazing when you think about it. Very few players have been able to complete a career Grand Slam in golf. And his performance at the Ryder Cup, too, considering everything the Europeans endured there, on and off the course. I think he’ll be a very worthy winner.”
Visit Tourism Ireland’s golf page. www.ireland.com/Golf
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