Atlanta, GA …
Rory McIlroy is only 28 years of age and still has some of his best years ahead of him as one of the game’s best professional golfers.
However, the time will come one day when McIlroy will wind down his career and when he does he would love to delve into golf course design.
McIlroy has managed to build a strong relationship with legendary Jack Nicklaus and helped by the fact he is a member of the Bears Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens in Florida.
And it has been in chatting with the Golden Bear at the golf club Nicklaus designed that McIlroy’s appetite to one day follow in his golf design footsteps.
McIlroy recently discussed this ‘down-the-road’ aspect in his career with the little-known NoLayingUp.com.
Rory McIlroy hints one day he would like to follow Golden Bear Jack Nicklaus in designing golf courses.
“At some point, I would like to get into golf course design and I would need someone to mentor me a little bit as I don’t know the first thing about golf course design. I know what I like and what I don’t like but trying to put that into a design I would not have a clue,” said McIlroy.
“Jack Nicklaus and I have talked about but he learnt from Pete Dye when he was starting to design golf courses and Pete sought of held his hand and walked him through the process and Jack and I have talked about us being that us at some point or maybe someone else
“I have spoken to Michael Hurzdan who designed Erin Hills and we spoke that maybe we can get to a point someday where we can do something together.
“So, I don’t know and that is a long-way down the line#”.
It prompted a question from the unknown interviewer as what are the qualities of a good golf course design
“I love golf courses that give you a choice and doesn’t dictate to you in how you should play it and you can lay-up short of ‘this’ bunker or you can go past ‘this’ bunker,” said McIlroy.
“You can bring two bunkers into play or you can bring one bunker into play and there is so many different ways to play that golf course, so I loved it this year and a great test.
“I don’t like a golf course where you have to hit it to the same spot and play the course like you’re in handcuffs and just restricts your creative imagination.
“Take TPC Sawgrass as that is a golf course that doesn’t play into anyone’s hands as you can be a bomber, a short-hitter and I didn’t like that when I first played the course because it handcuffed me a bit and I couldn’t take it on as much.
“But you learn to love it. You learn to love the way it makes you play certain shots and having hated Sawgrass at the start, I have learned to love it and appreciated what it is.
“I appreciate great golf course architecture and somewhere like a Erin Hills should have been great for me as I can hit driver everywhere but it wasn’t.
“One of the golf courses I loved this year and I had never played before and I loved was TPC River Highlands. A great little golf course that is not too long and makes you think a little bit. I will probably go back there next year because I liked the golf course so much as you don’t have to hit driver everywhere. I greens are small and you have to place your ball off the tee into certain spots and it does make you think.”
