Rory McIlroy's former house up for sale

Rory McIlroy’s former house outside Belfast is up for sale for £2,500,000 and comes complete with its own eight-acre golf practice area designed by McIlroy for his own use

Rory McIlroy’s former house just outside Belfast on the Hillsborough Road is up for sale. It comes complete with its own outdoor golf practice area which was installed by McIlroy for his own use.

McIlroy sold the house two years ago to property developer Gary McCausland. McIlroy's asking price for the house at Moneyreagh had been £2m. Rory McIlroy moved to a £6.5m riverside mansion in Palm Beach.

Mr McCausland is now selling it because “professional commitments are increasingly taking me to London and Paris and we have found we are spending less and less time at home. We feel it is time to let someone else enjoy what is truly a very special place."

Robinhall House in Moneyreagh, County Down is about 25 minutes from Belfast city centre. It also about the same distance from where Rory McIlroy learnt his golf as child, Holywood Golf Club.

It is 25 miles from Royal Country Down Golf Club where Rory’s continuing travails in his national open continued, suffering a nightmare first round 80 in this year’s Irish Open which his foundation hosted.

The house is in a plot of 14 acres. Six of these acres are devoted to gardens which have a trout lake as its focal point.

But the majority of the land is given over to a golf practice facility which McIlroy designed. As well as a driving range there are four greens, two seeded with bent grass to US PGA standard and two greens of fescue grass similar to those on the European tour.

There is also a floodlit all-weather' tennis court and artificial grass 5-a-side pitch.

The five-bedroom, five-reception-room Robinhall House has an asking price of £2,500,000. It comes with planning permission for a swimming pool, spa, gym and staff Quarters with another three bedrooms with ensuites and dressing rooms.

“Robinhall House is undoubtedly a magnificent family home with an exceptional attention to detail combined with a host of environmentally friendly credentials including a wind turbine and heat recovery system,” says joint selling agent Simon Brien. “This sale represents an excellent opportunity to acquire an individual family home.”