From Down Under To High Country
There was a Great White Shark spotted recently in the western Colorado mountains.
Known as the Great White Shark in his playing days, PGA legend Greg Norman does a little bit of everything these days. The golfer from Down Under has his own clothing line, his own wine estates, his own production company and a turf company. But more than anything else, he's designing golf courses.
And he has a beauty in the making in Cornerstone Colorado, a 6,000-acre residential community and private resort club south of Montrose. Norman flew in to check on the development Thursday, to show off the course to media and to stand behind the club's founding members on the tee box as they hit the first drives into the thin, high-country Colorado air.
A tour of the course showed Norman's "least disturbance" design philosophy is working to a T.
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Land lover
It's understandable why the property is appealing. It's framed by the Sneffels Ridge of the San Juan Mountains and Cimarron Ridge and is a gorgeous mix of aspen groves, rock outcroppings, pinyon pine and scrub oak, and it's abound with wildlife.
Norman fell in love with the land the first time he laid eyes on it.
"You know the secret?" Norman asked. "I did my first visit on a snowmobile.
"I kid you not. The snow really told me the ground underneath was perfect. When we came out here, the snow was pure, it was soft. You could see it all parting around the trees where the glades were, where the trees were. You could see the golf course laid out in the snow. When the snow melted, we knew exactly where we wanted to go."
Greg Norman Golf Course Design has been making courses since 1987 and has completed or has ongoing projects on five continents. So the guy knows a good piece of property when he sees it.
And when Norman's not around, the course development is in good hands. Tom Huesgen is the course superintendent, and he comes to Cornerstone after 10 years as superintendent of one of the most fabled courses in the USA -- Pebble Beach.
With Weitz Golf International doing the construction, work began on the course in fall of 2004. But most of the work has been done since spring of '05, with a "soft opening" of at least nine holes in midsummer next year.
According to both Norman and Huesgen, the construction is minimal.
"What you have here is a course that sits very nicely on this property, as opposed to a piece of property that was turned into a golf course," Huesgen said. "The majority of our disturbance has been just to move the top soil. Everything else has been very natural."
Cornerstone Colorado is 6,000 acres in and of itself and boasts 3,000 acres of open space. The course takes up 350 acres, and Huesgen pointed out that most courses are only spread out over 120 to 130 acres.
"We're very spread out," he said. "There's a lot of space between holes. It's going to be very rare that you'll have someone on the green in front of you or waiting behind you. It's going to be a very neat golfing experience. You're going to feel like you're out there by yourself."
Huesgen pointed to No. 10 as a favorite. It's a par-4 with a large natural outcropping of rocks protecting the green. The yardage on the hole ranges from 416 yards off the back tees to 270 from the front.
The course, which is listed as 7,921 yards on the scorecard, ranges from four to eight different tee boxes on each hole.
"The majority of people who play the game of golf always think they're better than they are," Norman said to a round of laughs. "If you want to beat your brains out from the back tees, go ahead. But we want you to find the right tee that suits your game."
The Cornerstone Homestead is similar to the golf course, where homes range from 1/4 of an acre to a 200 acre ranch nestled within 3,000 acres of open space.
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Pioneer hospitality
The Cornerstone Club prides itself on pioneer hospitality. Everything is first class and everything will be five star, with all amenities available, from concierge service, to airport shuttle service to in-home catering.
Ground will be broken on the golf clubhouse in two weeks, and the Cornerstone Lodge will offer state-of-the-art fitness center and spa, swimming and tennis, gourmet restaurant and bar.
In short, everything is over the top, and Norman is treating his new gem the same way. He's made more than his contracted appearances and, since he owns a ranch in Meeker, plans on coming back again and again until it's done.
Why?
"One word," Norman said. "Pride. I have pride in what I do.
"You only have one shot at this. The developers are spending a lot of money on this course. You don't want to screw it up the first time and come back two years later and say, 'Oh, by the way we need to come back and spend a couple more million dollars and fix what we should have fixed in the beginning.
"If you spend the time on the site, get to know it in all weather conditions -- like the snow, like the summer when it can be 100 degrees, when it's getting in the fall season now and what the wind directions are -- you get to know the golf course.
"So in the end product, you know that you've given the best."
