Golfnotes

48 hours trip

with Greg Norman

Greg Norman is not only the wonderful golfer, the White Shark, every body knows, he is also a very busy business men, designing golf courses through his own company, Greg Norman Golf Course Design Cy, all around the world. Here is a short look on his life.

Wednesday

7:25 a.m. (EDT) - Greg and a staff of four take off from West Palm Beach International Airport on board Greg's personal Gulfstream V jet. The alarm clocks had to be set early in order to achieve everything on the schedule for the day. The group is heading to Fort Worth, Texas, for a site visit of The Creeks of Beechwood, a course Norman is designing directly across the street from the massive Texas Motor Speedway. This will be the first stop on a hectic whirlwind trip over a two-day period

7:25-7:45 a.m. - As the plane takes off and climbs to its cruising altitude of 45,000 feet, Norman and his team read the paper, discuss the morning's sports headlines and world news from The New York Times and USA Today. Breakfast is served to the team as the plane begins its journey across the Gulf of Mexico.

8:15 a.m. - Norman and Jason McCoy, president of the Greg Norman Golf Course Design Company, break out site plans and drawings of the current company projects. They discuss design strategies and Greg's golf course design schedule for the remainder of the year. Because of the demands on his schedule, Greg only takes on about seven design projects a year.

9 a.m. (CDT) - The group arrives at Alliance Airport in Fort and heads for Beechwood, a drive of 15 minutes from the airport.

9:15 a.m. (CDT) - Greg, Jason and Danny begin a tour on foot of the back nine of the Creeks of Beechwood. When following Greg on foot, you need to be prepared to run, even in soft sand. The focus of his attention is mainly on structural issues which will allow the developer to save money. First and foremost, however, his changes will make the golf course better.

11:30 a.m. (CDT) - The team moves to the front nine for an inspection. Although he previously completed his work here, he makes minor adjustments by asking Danny to expand several green-side bunkers and requesting that a number of trees be pruned and "limbed" in order to better frame holes

12:45 p.m. (CDT) - Back to the airport, the second golf course design trip of the day will be in Chino Hills, located between Los Angeles and Palm Springs. The group settles in and the discussion between Greg and Jason turns to the Chino Hills project. This golf course is on a very hilly site heavily wooded, and Greg's primary motivation to is save the greatest number of trees possible, using them to frame the golf course rather than taking them down.

1:15 p.m. (PDT) - The group drives to the Chino Hills golf course site and takes off on foot, looking at the virgin land that will soon see construction of the golf course. The developer has already begun moving earth, but today the focus will be on the untouched areas of the property, domain of rattlesnakes and other creatures. Several weeks earlier, an arborist working on the site was bitten on the lower leg by a rattler. Fortunately, he was back at work by the time Greg visited the site. Greg's visit is successful in saving another 500 or so trees by taking the routing of one hole past the grouping rather than through it. In a meeting later in the day, this change is welcome news to Chino Hills city officials when Greg updates them on the progress of the design.

4 p.m. (PDT) - There's still enough daylight left to fit in one more golf course design visit. The plane takes off from Ontario and heads west for a short trip to La Quinta, Calif. This time Greg and Jason will look at a golf course that is completed, the recently opened Greg Norman Course at PGA WEST.

4:40 p.m. (PDT) - Although Greg has a cocktail party to attend that will signal the opening of the new clubhouse at the Greg Norman Course, he's anxious to squeeze in a quick tour of the golf course before dark . He hasn't seen the course since it opened.

5:30 p.m. (PDT) - While on what one person in the group describes as the fastest golf cart ride on record, Greg stops and talks to players on the course and asks their opinion of his design. Several provided interesting comments, but "none of them threatened to shoot me because it's too tough or unfair - so that's good," Greg says.

6 p.m. (PDT) - Now it's off to the resort for a quick shower before the party.

6:45 p.m. (PDT) - Following the round-trip to the resort hotel, which is 20-25 minutes into town, the group arrives back at the Greg Norman Course where Greg will address the members and guests and officially open both the course and its new clubhouse.

7 p.m. (PDT) - At the clubhouse, Greg is met by Larry Lichliter and Joey Garon of KSL Recreation, the owners of PGA WEST. Members of the media are also waiting, including Los Angeles' NBC affiliate KNBC. KNBC interviews Greg for approximately five minutes, and that is followed by another 3-4 minute interview by the local FOX affiliate for its local golf show.

7:15 p.m. (PDT) - Greg is now able to do what he came for, which is greet PGA WEST members and talk to the assembled 600-700 people about the golf course he designed for them. He spends approximately five minutes talking about his design strategies, and another 30 minutes signing autographs.

7:45 p.m. (PDT) - Finally, after a long day that began more than 15 hours earlier and more than 3,000 miles away, the Great White Shark is able to enjoy a cold Fosters as he continues to pose for photos and sign autographs.

8:15 p.m. (PDT) - The group begins to wind down its day by leaving the clubhouse and heading back to the resort for dinner at Montana's, a very nice, quiet restaurant. Greg orders wine -- no, not Greg Norman Estates this time, but a nice bottle from a small California producer.

10:15 p.m. (PDT) - The group finally goes to their individual hotel rooms for a good night's sleep.

Obligations to his family, the golf course and his various businesses and business partners keep Greg as busy as he can be. That's why when he travels on business, he maximizes his time away from home and the office by scheduling as much into one trip as possible. No two trips are the same, but what follows is fairly typical of how Greg travels.

Thursday

6 a.m. (PDT) - The group starts its day by heading to the resort's Morgan's restaurant for breakfast, where Greg enjoys the most important meal of the day.

6:45 a.m. (PDT) - It's back to the Greg Norman Golf Course again, where the designer will officially open it by playing a friendly round with three PGA WEST members.

7 a.m. (PDT) - Before Greg can enjoy a round of golf on his newest creation it's more business at the back end of the driving range taking part in a photo shoot.

7:30 a.m. (PDT) - The four players arrive at the first tee and Greg stands up to the ball and delivers, rifling a three-wood approximately 275 yards, exactly the way he designed the hole to be played.

11:45 a.m. (PDT) - Greg and the members finish their round. He plays a rather unspectacular round, making a few birdies and a few bogies, but giving the group exactly what they had hoped - a good time.

12 p.m. (PDT) - After a few quick interviews, Greg heads back to his plane for another short trip to Phoenix for yet another golf course design visit.

This one is to a property called Stonehaven Scottsdale, and the flight to Phoenix is just over 30 minutes.

1:15 p.m. (PDT) - Upon arrival, a helicopter is waiting to take the group north to Scottsdale for the visit.

Driving across town to the site would not only delay the visit, but it would mean arriving back home in the middle of the night, something Greg has no desire to do.

1:30 p.m. (PDT) - Once on the site, Greg and Jason again go over the terrain with a fine-tooth comb, massaging and refining the layout to maximize its potential.

Along the way, Greg spots one of Arizona's famous residents, a rattlesnake, and decides to leave him there for others to enjoy.

Back at Phoenix International Airport, Guy Maira and Erica Bogardus, Greg's pilots, prepare for the flight home by refueling and ordering dinner for the long night flight.

4 p.m. (PDT) - With sunset approaching back in Florida, Greg wants to get back on the plane and head for home as early as possible to avoid arriving too late.

Once everyone is settled, this time with passengers Tony Fehon of Medallist and Bart Collins, president of Great White Shark Enterprises, on board, the discussion turns away from golf course design and toward other businesses under the corporation umbrella including development and Greg Norman Interactive (Shark.com).

Greg and Bart also spend approximately 90 minutes covering details of a new project Bart has been working on for several months.

In the back of the plane, four other members of the group break out a deck of cards and enter into a friendly game of gin.

Greg eventually joins the fun by watching the group play, and in the case of some players, gives them the needle for their glaring lack of skill in the game.

10:30 p.m. (EDT) - Finally, after 39 hours of non-stop activity, N1-GN arrives back at West Palm Beach International Airport.

Tired and ready for a good night's sleep, Greg and the rest of the group head for home ready to start over the next morning.