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It takes a village to raise a golfer. We usually understand "village" to mean people, and while that's true in golf, the place matters as much as the people. The village green is always a golf course.
Unfortunately, home courses seldom get recognition when the pros they raise go on to super-stardom. Kudos to the DP World Tour for providing a place where fans can be reminded that for all the globetrotting professional golfers do, there is usually one facility, even a humble one, they call home.
While researching last week's Amgen Irish Open, won by Rasmus Højgaard, I took a look at the field via the tournament site's "Entry List" page. In addition to exemption categories (e.g. a player's OWGR ranking, recent tournament winners, etc.), there was also an "Attachment" column. In most cases, this space contained the name of a golf facility a given player represents when out on tour.
Many pros' Attachments consisted of the clubs where they presumably practice near their current places of residence. South Africans Darren Fichardt represent London's Centurion Club. Italy's Andrea Pavan represents TPC Craig Ranch outside of Dallas. England's Paul Waring represents Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai. Many pros are undoubtedly paid to represent certain courses. Fair enough.
Other Attachments speak to their respective pros' upbringings, belying a sentimentality that golfers with an undying affinity for the golf course(s) that raised them can understand. Although Rory McIlroy lives in Florida, he continues to stand by Holywood Golf Club, the suburban Belfast course where he grew up playing the game. Robert MacIntyre represents 4,400-yard, par-62 Glencruitten Golf Club in his hometown of Oban, Scotland - the course where his father, Dougie, is the greenkeeper. For many of our favorite golfers, some courses never stop being home.
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