Greg Norman, nicknamed The Great White Shark, was born in Mount Isa, Queensland to parents Mervin and Toini Norman in 1955. His mother, the daughter of a Finnish carpenter, played off a single-figure handicap and it was her who introduced Norman to the game when the family moved to Brisbane.

In 1975, he served as an assistant professional at Beverley Park Golf Club in Sydney, New South Wales before quickly moving back to Brisbane and the Royal Queensland Golf Club, where he worked for six years before becoming a tournament player.

After winning his first event, the West Lakes Classic, during his rookie season at The Grange, he decided to join the European Tour the following year, allowing him to compete at a higher level. He won his first event on that circuit – the Martini International – at Blairgowrie in 1977 so now he was off and running with the big boys.

In a playing career that lasted until 2009, he amassed an incredible total of 88 wins around the world: 18 on the PGA Tour (including the Players’ Championship in 1994); 14 on the European Tour (featuring two Open victories, in 1986 and 1993); 31 on the PGA of Australia Tour (with five Australian Open titles between 1980 and 1996); and 25 other tournaments (such as three Suntory Match Play Championships in 1980, 1983 and 1986).

Norman was loved by many for his bold, aggressive style of play and he was regarded as one of the best drivers of the golf ball in his era. In the fourteen seasons between 1984 and 1997, Norman finished in the top 20 for driving distance on the PGA Tour twelve times and in the top 6 nine times. His long and straight driving off the tee with a persimmon wood intimidated many of his fellow professionals, with a high ball flight carrying the ball a very long way.

Greg spent 331 weeks as the number 1 player in the world, ending the year on top of the rankings seven times between 1986 and 1997. He was the first golf player to earn more than $10 million in career earnings – topping the PGA Tour’s money list three times in 1986, 1990 and 1995 – and he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.

He established Greg Norman Golf Course Design in 1987 and in three decades of operation since then, the company – described by one commentator as “one of the most prominent 'celebrity' design firms in the game” – has worked on more than a hundred projects across thirty-four countries in six different continents.

Much of the firm’s design work has been carried out on the ground by design associates such as 

 and for a long time the company had two offices working largely independently to each other. The Australian premises closed in 2010, however, leaving just the West Palm Beach headquarters in Florida to handle business throughout the world.

Around a third of Norman’s courses are located in America, with a dozen of these situated in the Sunshine State of Florida. One of his earliest assignments in this state was at The Medalist in Hobe Sound, which was originally co-designed with 

 in 1995, but was subsequently reworked by Greg in the new millennium.

The Australian office’s best efforts were National Moonah in Victoria, Ellerston in New South Wales and The Grand in Queensland, with honourable mentions due to The Vintage, Pelican Waters and Settlers Run. Norman’s most recent Victorian layouts at Eastern in Yering and Cathedral Lodge in Thornton have both been well received.

Across Asia and the Middle East, the three Norman designs currently operating in Vietnam are among his best offerings, as are his two 18-hole layouts in the United Arab Emirates and a recently opened course in Jordan. The Allegria in Egypt and the Championship course at Al Mouj in Oman are ranked as the number 1 tracks in their respective countries.

In Europe, Norman’s portfolio is a little threadbare, with only three Spanish courses to his name, along with Doonbeg in Ireland, which has just been remodelled by 

 for its new owner. Elsewhere, Greg has one-off designs in diverse countries such as Canada (Wyndance), South Africa (Eye of Africa) and India (Jaypee Greens).

Closer to Greg’s home base in Florida, the Norman design brand can be found in four of the Caribbean nations and his architectural stamp can be seen in several locations across Mexico, from Puerto Los Cabos on the Baja California Peninsula to Playa Mujeres in Cancun, on the opposite side of the country.

After parting company with his management company IMG back in 1993, Greg founded Great White Shark Enterprises, which has since been renamed the Greg Norman Company, and this umbrella organization oversees his design work, vineyards, clothing, real estate projects and more than half a dozen other golf-related ventures.

From the World Golf Hall of Fame: “Norman won 20 times on the PGA Tour and was the first to surpass $10 million in career earnings. He won three Arnold Palmer Awards as the tour’s leading money winner (1986, 1990 and 1995) and three Vardon Trophies (1988, 1989 and 1994). He was PGA TOUR Player of the Year in 1995. But despite his numerous wins, Norman is frequently remembered for his historic losses. He is the only player to have lost all four majors in playoffs.

Norman’s 1986 season most accurately captures his exploits and crushing defeats. He led going into the final round of all four majors. On Sunday at the Masters, he hit an errant approach at 18 and couldn’t save par to lose to then 46-year-old Nicklaus, who closed with a memorable six-under-par 30 on the back nine.

At the U.S. Open Norman ballooned to a closing 78, but that paled when he had victory snatched from his grasp at the PGA Championship when Bob Tway holed an improbable bunker shot at the last hole to beat the Shark by a stroke.

Norman won only the British Open in ’86 when he authored a second-round 63 in windy conditions at Turnberry to open a five-shot advantage and cruise to an eventual two-stroke victory. The ovation he received as he walked to the 72nd green remains one of golf’s most memorable scenes.

Norman could have been defeated by his heartbreaking losses, but he wasn’t. In his instructional book, Shark Attack, Norman wrote, “Sometimes I think I have an almost perverse love of being down, even being defeated, because I know it will spur me on to greater things.”

At the 1993 British Open, Norman did add to his major tournament victories when he fired a remarkable final-round 64 to beat Faldo by two strokes at Royal St. George’s. Through his historic losses and gallant victories, Norman played the game with an intensity second to none.”

From Planetgolf.com: "The recent rebranding of the Greg Norman Company has coincided with a new three-tier pricing structure for Greg Norman Golf Course Design – along similar lines to the offerings of 

, Tony Jacklin and others. Clients can choose from the curiously named Eco Signature Design option or either a Signature Design or a GNGCD Design.

One assumes that the involvement of Greg Norman himself, as well as the seniority of the design associate involved in the project, depends on the package selected. This is not a model for design that our industry should support. Greg Norman Golf Course Design’s commitment to a project should be complete, regardless of the size of the signature fee paid.

Such a pricing structure reinforces a popular belief within the industry that they are more interested in accumulating clients than producing exceptional work."

The Way of the Shark: Lessons on Golf, Business and Life 

by Greg Norman and Donald T. Phillips (2007)

World Golf Hall of Fame – Class of 2001: “Australian Greg Norman dominated the golf world for much of the 1980s and early 1990s with his aggressive game and charismatic demeanor. Labelled the ‘Great White Shark,’ he is one of the most recognizable sports figures.”

Greg Norman

Greg Norman Golf Course Design was established in 1987 and in three decades since then, the company has worked on more than a hundred projects across thirty-four countries in six continents.

Bob Harrison was educated at St Ignatius College in Sydney before graduating from the University of Sydney with a degree in Civil Engineering. His final year thesis was written about a golf-residential project for the Lend Lease Corporation and he spent more than a decade with that company on golf-residential work and commercial project management.

 Golf Course Design firm and for the following twenty years – until his departure in 2009 – he was the lead architect for all of the Great White Shark’s Asian and Australian golf course projects.

The first project Harrison completed was at The Grand, or Gilston Golf Club as it was originally called, in 1990. Not long after the 18-hole layout opened for play, it abruptly closed due to financial issues with the owners, so nobody saw the course until it was taken out of hibernation several years later.

Meanwhile, Bob was working in Asia: at Thana City Country Club outside Bangkok in Thailand; Shiragasi Golf Club near Kobe in Japan; and Nirwana Bali in Indonesia, which was one of the region’s most highly regarded golf facilities before it closed in 2017 for a complete renovation by Phil Mickelson’s design company.

Several Australian commissions all appeared within a very short space of time at the start of the new millennium for Harrison. Three of them debuted on either side of Brisbane – Pelican Waters to the north of the city, along with Sanctuary Cove and The Glades to the south.

Around the same time, the Moonah course at The National Golf Club on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula debuted so the architect obviously indulged in a fair bit of ball juggling in those days whilst managing a number of commissions simultaneously – and with a geographical spread of almost two thousand kilometres.

Shortly after, Bob’s design for Kerry Packer on the family ranch at Ellerston in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales was unveiled. It took a long time for this ultra-private track to make its mark in the golf magazine rankings – though it’s been listed in our Australian Top 10 since 2007 – and for it to be recognized as a genuine World Top 100 proposition.

Brookwater Golf & Country Club on the outskirts of Brisbane and The Vintage near Newcastle were next off the Harrison drawing board during a rather frenetic spell which resulted in seven courses opening for play inside four years. Things then settled down a little before Bob left to go it alone in 2009, though his design for Stonecutters Ridge in Sydney opened under the Greg Norman Golf Course Design banner three years after he parted company with his former employer.

When Greg Norman closed his Australian office a year later in 2010, Bob formed a new design partnership with Harley Kruse, who had previously worked with Brisbane-based 

 and from Greg Norman’s design office in Sydney, where he primarily looked after the company’s Asian projects.

Harley was the lead designer on courses like the Norman course at Mission Hills in China, Jade Palace in South Korea and the Dunes at Danang in Vietnam. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out and both architects agreed to go their separate ways after only a short time together.

Bob ventured overseas to Scotland in 2015, where he was asked by the Australian owner of the Ardfin estate on the island of Jura to lay out a course on a very difficult, but visually spectacular site composed largely of peat and rocks. Like Ellerston, not many golfers have managed to tee it up here but some who have think it may well be destined for global prominence.

More recent projects for the architect include remodelling almost half the holes at Newcastle Golf Club in New South Wales, redesigning the former 27-hole layout at Townsville Golf Club in Northern Queensland, fashioning nine new holes on flood-prone land for Brighton Lakes Golf Club and remodelling work at Castle Hill Country Club in Sydney.

Golf Australia: “An engaging and intriguing bloke, Harrison could probably be best summed up as an enigma. He is equal parts artist and engineer, dreamer and pragmatist. Harrison has an impressive portfolio of completed courses and a genuine appreciation of classic, strategic golf design.”

Planetgolf.com: “Working with Norman for so long gave Harrison access to some terrific course projects, and he responded by helping create a number of highly regarded Aussie layouts. Harrison’s best work, at places like The National Golf Club (Moonah Course), Ellerston, The Grand and Nirwana Bali, is very good.

Since leaving Greg Norman's company, Harrison has established his own private golf design business, offering the same high-quality design services but without the steep Norman signature fee. His most notable solo course is the spectacular Ardfin course in Scotland, on the remote island of Jura.”

Harissongolf.com.au: “Bob Harrison’s record over the last 30 years demonstrates his belief that golf courses should look as natural and as spectacular as possible, whether you are lucky enough to have land that is naturally beautiful and find the best collection of natural holes, or whether the land doesn’t work in your favour and the objective becomes to manufacture a natural overall shape to give the impression that the golf holes were laid out over it.

There is a practical side to modern golf architecture. Traditional sites were mostly natural and easy to construct. But earthmoving techniques and commercial objectives have led to some courses being built on land which is not naturally suitable. Artistic and strategic design skills are always paramount, but successful design sometimes combines these skills with the ability to plan projects so that golf and residential (or other) components all benefit.

Even before the idea became fashionable, Bob always believed in reducing the costly and environmentally difficult expanse of turfgrass to a minimum that still satisfies reasonable play for golfers. The contrast between turfgrass and the surrounding landscape is part of the appeal of every hole, as well as being good for the environment. Design should not become so rational that fun and inspiration are removed from the scene. You have to take some chances.”

"Since leaving Greg Norman's company, Harrison has established his own private golf design business, offering the same high-quality design services but without the steep Norman signature fee. His most notable solo course is the spectacular Ardfin course in Scotland, on the remote island of Jura.” Darius Oliver

Bob Harrison

Harrison joined the newly formed Greg Norman Design firm in 1988 and for the following twenty years he was the lead architect for all of the Great White Shark’s Asian and Australian golf course projects.

Queensland

Australia

The course at Brookwater Golf Club has become quite a talking point in its few short years of existence. It is essentially a public course and therefore receives a very good airing with the golfing public. The word from the golfing vox populi is that it is a very tough test, too tough some say.

Brookwater has been carved out of native eucalyptus forest on rolling land. Some more exuberant reviewers have called it Queensland’s answer to Augusta National. Even if it isn’t quite the dogwood and azalea lined glory of America’s South, the presence of the eucalyptus closely hugging the fairways certainly renders a unique atmosphere, particularly in the earlier holes where no sign of residential development is visible.

The Greg Norman and Bob Harrison design has been executed very well. The holes sit comfortably in the land without anything seeming too forced. The course is laid out as two circuits of nine, the front nine in an anti-clockwise direction and the back nine clockwise. No two fairways run parallel and with the ubiquitous eucalyptus cover you have a nice feeling of isolation.

For the vast majority of us who have only a vague idea as to how the ball will leave the driver face, there is a requirement to plot your way around this course. I found that the best way to do this is to gauge the widest point on the fairway and club to that point. By making some allowance for miss-hits, you lessen the risk of becoming a red-faced woodsman. By following this strategy, the longer hitter will find the driver superfluous on most of the par fours.

The Finest Golf Courses of Asia and Australasia

 by James Spence. Reproduced with kind permission.

In 2017, fifteen years after Brookwater first opened for play, Greg Norman Golf Course Design completed a course renovation, which included strategic design changes to greens, fairways and bunkers.


Brookwater

RACV Royal Pines (Gold & Green)

Oceania

The course at Brookwater Golf Club has become quite a talking point in its few short years of existence. It is essentially a public course and therefore receives a good airing with the golfing public.