Rory McIlroy on his personal putting green

And the 16-year-old from Holywood, County Down, is determined to stay in the game's top ranks.

After winning the West of Ireland trophy for the second year in a row, Rory has jetted off to New Zealand to represent Europe in another prestigious amateur competition.

But before departing, the young star revealed the secret of his deadly accurate putting - his own personal putting green in his back garden.

He believes his hours of practice on the green on his doorstep paid off at the Ross's Point course in Sligo at the weekend.

"I got it in about two weeks ago and I have just been on this every minute of every day for the past two weeks," he said.

"It is synthetic turf. It runs at about 10 on the stoke metre. That's pretty fast. It has helped."

His victory at Sligo was all the more amazing given that last year he became the youngest golfer to lift the West of Ireland trophy.

Rory has his own personal putting green in his back garden

Rory, however, is still resisting the temptation to turn professional, at least until later this year.

"I want to give the Walker Cup a go. I think it would be really nice to play at County Down next September, so I'm just going to give that a shot and see how it goes," he said.

"If I make that team I will see what happens. I will still only be 18 whenever I do that. We will see how it goes from there."

Rory's family and friends believe he had every chance of making the big time, especially with a personal putting green literally on his doorstep.