Moving Dirt With Greg Norman

CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO | It cannot be easy for a golfer who was so good for so long to find happiness in another profession once his playing days are done. But Greg Norman has managed to do just that as a course designer.

“Actually, that is the only part of my company I am truly in love with,” says the now 65-year-old Aussie, who has lost some of this famous white-blond hair but seemingly little of his tan or muscle tone. “I have more than a dozen businesses, and I care deeply about them all. But course design is my passion, and it is probably the only one I will still have when I go to my grave.”

That passion, he explains, has a lot to do with the creative process and working with land to fashion the best possible routings and the most interesting golf holes. “But I also like how course design allows me to promote the game and introduce it to countries and people that had not been touched by golf before,” he says.

Norman amassed close to 90 tournament titles worldwide, his last coming in 1998. As an architect he has been equ...