Medalist Tizzy: Shark Wants His Shark Returned
/Greg Norman is so outraged that the Medalist club he founded and co-designed with Pete Dye is undergoing a "restoration" that the Shark is willing to deprive men's locker room users of constant reminders of himself.
The Shark has demanded his name and that of co-designer Pete Dye be taken off the course he founded and wants his memorabilia returned, including the signature shark above the bar in the men's locker room.
Norman's issue is the club's hiring of former Dye disciple Bobby Weed to do a restoration of the original Norman-Dye design that opened in 1995.
In a letter sent to Medalist President De Mudd following a board meeting in early December, Norman demanded that the club stop using his name and Dye's in reference to the design of the course. Saturday morning he called the club to arrange an evening to pick up his belongings.
Everybody keep Greg in your thoughts and prayers during this holiday season. The Shark is having to go to the local UHAUL so he can pick up his shark.
**Jim Kaat--yes, that Jim Kaat--used to be a member at Medalist and shared these thoughts from outside the gates:
This might be a little lengthy but it is my perspective on Greg's time as President of the Medalist...I joined shortly after they opened the course in 1995. Absolutely loved the original design. It was extremely difficult, ground was hard, course played fast, it was humiliating at times but I couldn't wait to go back the next day and play. As a local pro told me, it will either cause you to quit golf or make you a better player. I'm not that good but it did make me better. I don't know why Greg did what he did but suddenly one year he began to change the design of several holes. The members I played with were complaining after the 4th or 5th hole, especially the 5th. That was a great hole in the original Pete Dye design. I remember sitting next to Pete on the patio at the Medalist one day and I said "Pete, If I drive you out to the 4th hole will you put it back the way you had it when we opened." He just shook his head. His dog even shook his head! I said to myself, "This is not good."
We used to boast about the design and how great it was to be a member of the Medalist. Now members are talking about how good it used to be. I voiced my opinions at a member meeting about the way the club was operated and was told by a couple of Greg's appointed board members that if I wasn't happy here maybe I should resign. I did. I was one of the lucky ones who got my investment back in full. Many are still waiting for theirs. In my opinion Greg has no right to attack the current President and board for bringing in a new designer. It was using the course for his personal labratory and redesigning the entire course that destroyed the integrity of the course and caused many members to resign. De Mudd and the current board have made the Medalist a desirable place to be a member of once again. I'm not a member anymore but when I am invited to play there I find it to be run in a more professional manner than ever before and in the best condition it's been in since it opened.If Greg had not de-Dyed it and it had the management team in place it has today, I would never have resigned. Many of us thought it should be one of the great clubs in America of which to be a member. For me, there's only one person who prevented that. Greg Norman. It's sad. He was the greatest golfer on the planet, charismatic, attractive, a magnetic personality. His mismanagement of the Medalist and his comments about many issues in recent years have caused me to look at him as a pathetic figure. Sad but true.
Jim Kaat
former medalist member
