That's odd that you guys say this, because I've found Norman courses to be pretty playable. His course at Barefoot Resort in Myrtle Beach is very playable; pretty easy, actually. Likewise, further down the Grand Strand, I found The Reserve to be fairly tame, although I only played the front nine. I've also played the Great White course at Doral, and though I've heard the horror stories from when it opened, since they've redone it, it's fairly mild. In the case of all three of these courses, Norman opted for big fairways, no rough, and a lot of waste areas. His green complexes seem very receptive, as there is often a lot of room around them.
All this considered, while my Norman experience is likely tainted a bit, I find his designs playable, unspectacular, but fairly enjoyable nonetheless.
I hope I get to play Lansdowne at some point, though, since I quite like really really hard golf courses, for some reason.