how to fix a fairway in greg norman course design

See more

Feb 28, 2005 · It's a fine line, one Norman stumbles over. His course punishes while threatening to bore, a deadly combination. After a while, the round falls into a too-familiar pattern. Desert carry to tight fairway to tucked away green. Tough does not always equal interesting. There are just not enough memorable, knockout holes on the Norman Course.

Where is the Earth Course?

Norman’s first Middle East design, the Earth Course is part of the prestigious Jumeirah Golf Estates, a huge residential golf complex in Dubai. Each year, the course hosts the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, the climax of the European Tour’s Race to Dubai. Norman called the last four holes, played alongside or over water culminating in a meandering creek running the full length of the final hole, “the most challenging mile in golf”. It’s a parkland-style course with rolling fairways and brilliant white bunkering, framed by a plethora of trees and shrubs, making the course a feast for the eyes.

Where is the best golf course in the Middle East?

Located between the Gulf of Oman and the Hajar Mountains in Muscat, Oman’ s capital , Al Mouj Golf is one of the best courses in the Middle East. It’s at the heart of the luxury leisure and residential complex Al Mouj Golf Resort, with the course beautifully positioned along a stunning stretch of coastline. Home of the European Tour’s Oman Open, it’s a testing, sometimes windy links layout with humps and bumps and large, deep bunkering, typical of Norman designs. As part of the Norman project, there’s also an enjoyable par-3 floodlit nine-hole course. The course is at its best alongside the ocean, with several spectacular holes. Al Mouj has helped put Oman on the global golfing map.

What is the TPC San Antonio?

TPC San Antonio is home to two championship courses, the Canyon Course designed by Pete Dye and Norman’s Oaks Course. Spanish star Sergio Garcia assisted Norman with the design of the course which plays host to the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open. It’s long at 7,435-yards and sheer-faced limestone walls facing some of the holes make it a unique challenge. The layout features large, rolling greens and tree-lined fairways which force angled approaches. Cavernous bunkers are strategically placed throughout and there’s devilish water hazards on several holes. It closes with a formidable test, a 591-yard par 5 that requires a carry past a creek to a green that is bordered by bunkers.

The Bluffs at Ho Tram

The most acclaimed course in Vietnam might just be the best in Norman’s entire design portfolio, which now exceeds 100. Set among massive sand dunes on a mostly undeveloped piece of coastline not far from Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam’s commercial capital), The Bluffs scores big on location.

The Dunes at BRG Danang Golf Resort

Norman’s first creation in Vietnam is still one of the nation’s finest. Opened in 2010 on a stretch of central-coast beach that was a popular R&R spot for American GIs during the Vietnam War, the course wouldn’t feel out of place in, say, Scotland. It plays hard and fast and wind is always a factor.

KN Golf Links Cam Ranh

Scheduled to debut in September, the next links-style Norman experience sits at the southernmost end of a long and gently curving sweep of exquisite white sand that is fast becoming the setting for some of Vietnam’s top luxury hotels. The course itself dips and dives through wild, undulating terrain and offers a number of remarkable viewpoints.