From diving in deep sea caves and hiking in active volcanoes to safariing with lions and partying with presidents – Greg Norman’s life goes well beyond his sporting career.
The 62-year-old Australian, much maligned for his disappointing haul of just two majors, has lived a life more appropriate to an action hero than a golfer.
With a net worth of more than $300 million and a stunning lodge spanning more than 12,000 acres, ‘The Shark’ revealed to the Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz the details of close calls with death and what is still left to tick off his bucket list.
‘(My love of thrills) came from growing up in the outback. We could go hunt crocodiles and do all that crazy stuff. We have some pretty ferocious and poisonous snakes in Australia and I’ve been attacked by brown snakes,’ Norman said.
‘I grew up with that so nothing really gets me.’
From diving in deep sea caves and hiking in active volcanoes to safariing with lions and partying with presidents – Greg Norman’s life goes well beyond his sporting career
Norman revealed the details of close calls with death and what is still left to tick off his bucket list
‘(My love of thrills) came from growing up in the outback. We could go hunt crocodiles and do all that crazy stuff. We have some pretty ferocious and poisonous snakes in Australia and I’ve been attacked by brown snakes,’ Norman said
Norman’s pride and joy, his 12,000+ acre $90 million ranch in the Colorado mountains is home to ‘copious amounts of mountain lions, elk and bears.’
‘I take people there just to hear the animals and feel what mother nature is all about.’
It is also the location of the now famous image of the incredibly ripped 62-year-old posing naked, diving in to a lake.
Among the ranch’s highest profile guests was Norman’s friend President Bill Clinton. He revealed to the LeBatard Show the details of an evening with Clinton that had been previously untold.
‘We came in late one night and were playing golf in the morning. The President caught his heel on one of the steps and torn his quad off his knee cap and he went down in excruciating pain,’ Norman said.
‘It was an interesting 35 seconds because all the counter assault teams and secret service teams came running out. Accidents happen, well leave it at that.’
Norman’s pride and joy, his 12,000+ acre $90 million ranch in the Colorado mountains is home to ‘copious amounts of mountain lions, elk and bears’
‘I take people there just to hear the animals and feel what mother nature is all about’
The ranch is also the location of the now famous image of the incredibly ripped 62-year-old posing naked, diving in to a lake
The daredevil, one and off the course, says the hairiest moment he has found himself in involved his passion for deep sea diving.
‘I was in the bahamas and I was trying to find the end of a cave system Jacques Cousteau was looking for. We did a really deep penetration into this cave, about 195ft (60 metres below sea level), and it got very tight and very claustrophobic,’ he said.
‘It was very dark, all the light disappears. One of my team got into a bit of a panic mode, we had to settle the situation down and get out of there as safely as we could.’
‘You either calm yourself down and assess the situation or you may not get out of there, one or the other.’
He has found himself face to face with a pride of lions in Tanzania, had dinner with the man who killed Osama Bin Laden, caught mountain lions with his bare hands and constantly surfs with Kelly Slater, but there was always a life that alluded him.
‘I’ve skydived and scuba dived and done crazy things in racing cars. I’ve flown with the blue angels and taken the stick and done inverted rolls.
‘I always wanted to be an air force pilot, i wanted to turn and burn and have the hair on my butt burn off chasing bad guys,’ he said.
‘The Shark’ has came into close proximity with his own kind, diving with the creatures off the coast of Australia
Norman and his wife hiked through an active volcano in New Zealand
Norman, of course, is also a qualified pilot, mostly flying helicopters
Norman has accepted he will never be able to reach the summit of Mount Everest because he doesn’t have the time to dedicate to the climb, but there is one experience atop his bucket list that he is hellbent on achieving.
‘I’d love to dive under the antarctic pack, that’s one thing I’ve never done,’ he told the LeBatard Show.
‘I wanted to do it for my 60th birthday but we couldnt get it done but i will do that one day. The big concern is when you cut a hole in the ice, if the ice freezes over your hole freezes over and you wont be able to get out.’
His infamous 1996 Masters collapse perhaps can be explained away by his constant desire for adrenaline. Norman blew a 6-shot lead after finding the water on the 12th and 16th holes.
‘I’d love to dive under the antarctic pack, that’s one thing I’ve never done,’ Norman said
‘The competitive edge in golf was great, it challenged me to pull of crazy shots. sometimes it worked sometimes it didn’t, but it got my competitive juices going,’ Norman said
The two-time major winner has had a life complete with risks, which may be the reason for the puzzling shot selection during his career.
‘The competitive edge in golf was great, it challenged me to pull of crazy shots. sometimes it worked sometimes it didn’t, but it got my competitive juices going,’ Norman said.
Despite the perceived underwhelming results of his career and the things he has done since it, the 62-year-old surprisingly still said the sport has provided his fondest memories.
‘Golf is at the top.’